help on princing an E21 in need of repairs

[zenon]

There's an M21 I've found that's been sitting for awhile, there are a few repairs needed (as per the sign in the window).
I can't remember what they are off the top of my head but the one that bothered me the most is that it needs a new clutch slave cylinder.... how much do those go for rebuilt?

The interior seemed quite clean and there's a little rust bubbling on the passenger quarter-panel, It didn't seem like the car was repainted. However, there was some slight overspray on the bubbling quarter-panel so I suspect @ some time it was in a small fender bender and the rear-quarter was pounded out... all the paint seemed to be in the same "good" conditon so I think the accident happened when the car was fairly new.


What do you think this car's worth? It doesn't have a price (offers accepted or something to that effect) and has been sitting there awhile, @ least 2 months in total. I 1st saw it sitting there 2 months ago, right now the grass under it is an inch or two long.

It's a 320i (had a new O2 sensor and a few other things replaced lately including all new hoses) I didn't know ANY M10's had EFI !?

What should I offer? any common repairs I should be cautious of? any big money repairs to beware of? how mutch to fix that clutch?

[M1 #43022]

$100

my car was bought for $150 needed a new head gasket

[blitzed310]

Cant tell you how much its worth but not more than 900 probably, If I had pix we could give you more accurate opinions.

To replace the clutch slave is no big deal at all, takes about 2 hours and will set you back around $30-$50 depending on where you get it.

If it looks like a hassle keep on looking, but if the price is right you could buy it and maybe with a simple tune up, or a couple of hundred bucks later you could have a nice E21 on your hands.

BTW no E21's or M10's had EFI its a mechanical injection system (CIS).

[zenon]

thanks for the quick replies!

here's the list of work that's been done and some details:

1982 BMW 320i, gold in color (some german color I don't remember)

here's what's new
belts / all engine hoses
tires
rear main engine seal
Clutch assembly / master cylinder (this is how he knows it's the slave)
engine heater (not sure if he means block heater or heater core)
differential assembly
driveshaft hanger bearing and coupler
O2 sensor (it is fuel injected, I saw the injectors and it has a 3-way catalytic converter per BMW's emission plaque)
pinion seals
rotors, calipers, bushings, struts, wheel bearings
alternator
new muffler
new undercoating



claims he's sunk ~4000 CDN in repairs since he's owned it.

It has a 4-speed, the shifter was incredibly vague are they all like that or would a new shifter/bushing help things out.

The car had ~220,000km (136,701 mi) when he got it, now it has 311,550km (193,588mi) if the E21 is anything like the E30, owning one between 100k and 200k miles is costly.....



The engine bay looks spotless, very very nice... The motor has an intake that looks like the M20's does except it has ENORMUS runners and it pulls hard from 1000 RPM to redline.

It does however burn some oil, it was very smokey when he 1st started it up there was a fair bit of smoke...after it idled for about 30sec to a minute the gases were totally clear. The whole time the motor idled beautifully. There still is some black smoke under load but not a horrendous black puff.

That seems to me like the rings are going / gone so I think I'd re-ring it and put new rod bolts in.




All I want to know is if you guys think I can get 2 years of fuel efficient (maybe 60k km / 38,000 miles) motoring out of this thing without dropping too much cash into it.

[jbob]

did the guy hint how much he wanted for it?

sounds like the engine & general maintence is decently well taken care of. the fact that the engine bay is pretty clean is a very good indication that the car was maintained regularly. the oil smoke could also be valve seals...if u do a cold compression test u should be able to tell right away if it is the rings or not.
but w/ an engine w/ 200k miles, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise if it drinks a little oil.......i think there's a good chance that it 'should' last much longer than 2 years.

there are a couple shifter bushings that can go bad & make the shifter reallllly sloppy & sometimes to the point where u can't reach certain gears. and the stock 'throw' of the shifter is relatively long compared to e30's & e36's.

[zenon]

Initially he listed it in the local paper for 1500, going rate for any crapmobile car on its way out. I got the impression I'm the 1st interested party.


In canada we have the Canadian Diabetes Association
http://www.diabetes.ca/Section_Main/welcome.asp

He said if its not gone by the end of summer he's donating it to them, they'll send it to the scrapper and he gets a tax credit equal to the value of the car as a cheritable donation..... I plan to match that tax credit. :

the biggest PITA right now is that he dropped the storage insurance 2 months ago so technically I wasn't even able to take it for that spin around the block, gotta find some dealer plates to get a compression check.

[zenon]

Are there any good resources on the jetronic-k injection mechanicals?
I'd like to disassemble all the jetronic-k pieces and clean them with carb cleaner.

pretty damn neat, mechanical fuel injection with an O2 sensor!
http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/tech/fue...k_jetronic.htm

[BMWE30]

I saw this in the E30 forums and thought I'd take a look.
My 85' Mercedes 190E has KE-Jetronic CIS....the Jetronic CIS-E systems are great when new...but as a car gets older the Jetronic systems require ALOT of maitenece to keep them running right. I went through alot with the Benzes CIS-E system....its a neat Electronic/Mechanical system...but I'd take EFI over it any day. CIS-E isnt really too fuel effecient either

[BMWE30]

Also...if you need help with the Jetronic system, like information on what to clean and whatnot...shoot me a PM...I'm pretty knowledgeable with those systems.

[blitzed310]

If the price is right then I would take it. I'm sure you will get 2 years out of it. I would look into replacing the valves like jbob said, most likely that is the reason for the puff of smoke rather than the rings....

I also think it wouldnt be neccesary to take apart the K-Jet, it wouldnt hurt as long as you know what you are doing, if not you could be digging yourself a hole you cant crawl out of

[jbob]

there are different versions of k-jet......the k-jet in e21 320i's is, for the most part, very low-maintence (there are only a couple parts that can go wrong with the k-jet fuel systems). in general, it's pretty much the closest thing u can get if a carburator & EFI were to have a baby.

there is a book available that goes pretty indepth w/ a bunch of different bosch fuel systems (k-jet included): Bosch Fuel Injection & Engine Management by Charles Probst. highly recommended if ur interested in learning more about or troubleshooting k-jet (or other jetronic & montronic bosch fuel systems)

[zenon]

Fortunately the car is already running great so I don't NEED to dig into it to get things running right.

However, I have seen my uncle take a holley completely apart. He cleaned all the orifices and needles with carb cleaner and in an afternoon transformed it into a completely different car.
If I do end up getting it, I'll take the whole jetronic apart and clean everything with carb cleaner after getting that book (thanks jbob!) partially to learn how it works and partially to get it running even better / for longer.