New to the forum and just picked up an E21!

[dups]

Found them on E28's too. They have a different part number but are just a cm bigger, if that.

Interestingly enough, I have come across ones on all kinds of cars that look exactly the same, Toyota's, etc. They mount the same too. The only difference is, you won't get that little BMW stamp on it. So beware when you buy one (ebay,etc.) It may not be the real deal.

I would be interested to know if the blue ones had the BMW stamp on there.

[charter21p5]

Hi Dups,
My blue windgaurd did not have any BMW identifying marks on it and if it did I wouldn't have thrown it out. The 1st time I took the car out at night and drove it around town with the moonroof open I realized that guard had to come off... It was blocking a lot of the view area!

[charter21p5]

Update: I am still waiting on a few more parts before I tackle the remaining work to complete the restoration of this E21. I ordered a lift for the garage and it arrived late last week. I was able to get it operational this weekend. I figured it would pay for itself over the next 2 years just by tire rotations and oil changes not including all of the work to be done on the older BMWs.

I went with a "portable" mid rise rotary lift since I didn't want to bolt down a 2 post nor endure the excessive cost of an in ground lift. I figure I can get to most of the car with this lift minus mid section of the car.

Below is a pic as we tested it out:

[sbcrockett]

cool. thanks for the pic. cost? where purchased? next time you have the car up, could you snap a shot from under the car showing access areas? just to get an idea about how much room there is to work under there. thanks!

[charter21p5]

cool. thanks for the pic. cost? where purchased? next time you have the car up, could you snap a shot from under the car showing access areas? just to get an idea about how much room there is to work under there. thanks!

The lift is a rotary revolution RMR6. I bought it on ebay and cost around $2k: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rotary-Revol...832708&vxp=mtr

I have used it a couple of times now and it is, in my opinon, a great lift for getting access to the underside of the car, minus the mid section. I will say the E21 was a bit challenging to initially get on the lift because Rotary's smallest pad is required and when this pad is used the clearance is very low when compared to the lift arms which can cause issues where the arms are pressing into the underside of the car. Once I figured out the "best" way to align the arms and pads it has now become a non-issue and is easy to setup the car on the lift.

Here are a couple of the pics you requested:








I should have more car eye candy soon... I will be removing the intake manifold, replacing all of the coolant and vacuum lines, a few fuel lines, radiator aux fan, etc.

[epmedia]

I assume it has mechanical lock devices so that if it were to leak down, nothing would get squished?

[gabmwdrvr]

What's that behind the cross member where the bottom of the transmission would be? (Square metal part with a tube coming out of it)

[DavidD123]

What's that behind the cross member where the bottom of the transmission would be? (Square metal part with a tube coming out of it)

That looks to be part of the lift.

[Tom D]

What's that behind the cross member......Square metal part with a tube coming out.....

sump pan of an automatic transmission.

[gabmwdrvr]

sump pan of an automatic transmission.

That's what I thought, for some reason I assumed it was a 5 speed.

[charter21p5]

I made some more progress today... The dash was removed including instrument cluster. I plan on either getting the dash re-done in leather or I will follow a previous post on this forum for dash restoration. Next week I am replacing a fuel line with summit racing parts and starting work on replacing the remaining coolant hoses and water pump. Getting close to finished! Definitely a lot of fun working on the E21.

Pics below of this weekends work:

IMG_1676.JPG

[charter21p5]

Yes, the lift has a mechanical lock to ensure the car does not unintentionally come back down if the hydraulics fail.

[sbcrockett]

way to dive right in! If you have any concerns about the blower squealing, now might be a good time to clean and service it. and thanks for the info on the lift!

[charter21p5]

I figured I should take a minute and provide the almost latest photos of progress made on this car. I will post them first and then edit the post to provide a bit of a narrative:

The goal for this section of the restoration was to replace all old coolant hoses, vacuum hoses, water pump, radiator fan, and aux fan.

bmw-e21-coolant8.JPG

bmw-e21-coolant20.JPG

bmw-e21-coolant30.jpg

[SilverPuddle]

What was the problem with your heater control valve?

Great job on the rebuild...very nice car.

[charter21p5]

Thanks. The heater control valve was broken inside where the valve wouldn't close.

[charter21p5]

Update: I am in process of rebuilding the fuel line up to the frequency valve. I picked up new custom line from summit racing and I am working on building out the new connections. Basically all of the rubber on this car was past due for replacement...

line.jpg

I decided to sell my E28 which will allow me to put a lot more attention and detail into restoring this car. The E28 has a deposit on it and should be sold by NLT Friday. I plan on really spending some time on getting this car back to near showroom status however I still want to be able to drive it.

I am very excited about the upcoming work on the car and plan on having it completely finished by early summer.

I also decided to leather the dash and put the same leather on the seats. Part of the full leather decision is based on the car will always be garaged going forward and the sale of the E28.

I found photos of a 2002 that had a very good looking leather applied to the dash and seats. I am using the photos as reference for the tailor shop to match.

Being part of this great group of E21 enthusiasts, on this forum, has also influenced my decision to really take the time to restore the car to what it could be.

I appreciate all of the help everyone has provided when needed!


More to come soon.

[Tom D]

....to sell my E28 and has a deposit on it ....

oh charter.... i would have seriously considered picking up your 535. the 535is is the only car i have ever regretted letting go.

[charter21p5]

Update: The car is almost done. The daytime job has been too busy to allow for time to finish up this E21

I spent part of the day attempting to install Bilstein HDs on the front and rear of the car. I found the current shocks / inserts had zero rebound and the fluid leaked out of the fronts.

I started with the left front and when I tried to insert the Bilstein shock it wouldn't fit! Apparently the HDs I have are for the E21 however not an 83 320i??? I am calling Bavauto tomorrow to get the correct HD insert. I have no idea what car the HDs I purchased fit to... These front HDs inserts are 44cm (circumference) and I believe they should be 30cm for an 83 320i.

Refer to part numbers:
bilsteinhds.jpg

I removed the strut assembly:

frontstrut.jpg

And the new Bilstein HD inserts didn't fit!!

The good news for the day was the rears were installed and it is a very easy job... It took about 20 minutes each side to pull old, assemble the new parts and install.

newbilsteinrears.jpg

I am hoping to get all the remaining mechanical work done within the next 30 days then the car is off to the shop to get rust removed and paint touched up. Fortunately the rust is only surface rust and nothing compromising the car.

sbcrockett: The rotary lift has worked out well for this car. The only caveat I have found is the car needs to be front facing out of the garage bay for clearance reasons.

Forum: I bought these spring compressors from Advanced Auto. They were $35 and were easy to use:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/a...FdU7gQodyAoLHA



More to come soon and hopefully very soon a short video of the car driving down the road!

[Tom D]

.... Bilstein shock it wouldn't fit!... the HDs I have are for the E21 however not an 83 320i.....These inserts are 44cm....

there are 2 different diameter of E21 struts, 43mm and 51mm.
all model year 4 cylinder car came with 43mm, 6 cylinders were equipped with 51mm.

the strut's I.D. of a U.S. M10 model E21 is 40.13mm.

you got 323i inserts, which i believe is NLA.

- - - Updated - - -

the correct billies will measure 38.32mm 0.D.

[charter21p5]

Thanks Tom. My research tells me I need 34-001219 for the fronts if I am going with HDs on all four. Does that part number look correct to you?

[Thecatmilton]

Since you have the dash out, now would be en excellent time to clean out the heater box and replace the heater core as preventative maintenance. It would also be a good idea to remove, clean, and replace the o-rings in the A/C box. The original o-rings have likely become brittle and prone to leak. A cheap universal set of A/C o-rings (they should be green) would allow you to do the whole system. I would also suggest that you replace the drier and change the compressor oil to ester oil.

I have an automatic transmission I am about to scrap if you need parts from it.

[charter21p5]

Update:

I wish I could change the title of this thread by removing "new to the forum".

This E21 is very close to completion. I completed replacement of all of the engine rubber vaccum lines, coolant hoses, leaky fuel lines and repaired / replaced engine bay wiring which had oil inside the sleeves from a valve cover gasket leak. I took most of the external parts out to complete this work. The valve cover and oil plan gaskets were replaced. All of the front grill plastic parts have been replaced and new Hella H4s were installed for all 4 lights. A new U.S. spec bumper was installed and all the side bumper trim was replaced with new as well. I also replaced the rear view which to me was very interesting in figuring out re-installation. All of the turn signals / side markers were replaced and the rear tail lights were replaced as well.

Over the course of this week I painted the valve cover, installed a used / new to the car dash in and re-installed the instrument cluster and installed new steering wheel. I also painted the metal plate attached to the top of the FW (seen in the last photo).

I have to order a few more parts I am missing or are in need of replacement. I also picked up a 5 speed 245 getrag for the car. I plan on doing the swap after I finish getting the E21 back on the road and after a fresh coat of POR-15 to the underside of the vehicle.



E21-car.JPGIMG_1676.JPGIMG_1677.JPGBMW-E21-ValveCover 1.jpgBMW-E21-ValveCover 2.jpg

I had some issues with the site the previous pictures posted on this thread are hosted on.. Some of the images are missing, I will restore them soon.

[charter21p5]

I am finally getting to the end of getting "restoring" this E21. I use the word restoring lightly as it has really been more of an effort to replace all the old rubber/ gasket /seals on the car and any part that is no longer functioning correctly while also trying to get the car back to a close to new look. Not looking for perfection just something that will last a long time as a garage queen and be a fun weekend back road driver.

The bumper trim arrived today and was installed. All other remaining parts are on order most sourcing out of Germany. I set a goal of this car to be back on the road in the next 45 days!

Then the car will head to a body shop to get any under body surface rust removed, the underside POR 15'd, and any chips in the paint filled in, the seats re-upholstered and then this car is done!

Bumper.JPG

I am hoping to have pictures soon of the completed vehicle.

[jaredmac11]

Is that factory paint? I love that color.