Hi all:
Picked up a fairly straight and clean 83 e21 a few months ago. Took it in to one mechanic for a look see and he says "it's a pretty good little car, runs good." I take it into another mechanic and he says I need an $8,500 , "maybe more" refresh, which includes head work, new piston rings and a clutch. This sounds a bit on the expensive side.
Car is a little pokey, definitely needs a tie rod end on the drivers side and a guibo for sure.
I was thinking maybe just find a used engine and do a swap.
Any thoughts, advice, possible budget scenarios?
Thank you in advance.
What is his reason for the rebuild ? I would take it to one more shop that likes old BMW. I get this in my area all the time. Other shops give out huge estimates because a: they don't want to work on the car or b: they think they are going to make $$$
Does it smoke when starting or during load, like going up hill? Run a couple bottles of fuel and valve cleaner, and drive the car. The tie rod you can do yourself for 40 bucks. Clutch shouldn't be more than 600 plus the parts.
I have had 2, one with 430k km and the other has 200k and don't need rings or rebuild yet...
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e30 325i, the mighty 4 door granma mobile....Gone
e39 528i, 4 door sports tank
I have two also both over 200,000 run good.
Tune up and new injectors can make a world of difference! The shop says it needs $8,500 dollars of work needs to pay some bills. M10s are really easy to build putting them in not real bad just a lot of little things to do.
Always FUN TO DRIVE - Build Thread & Tech info - 79 320/6 track car build thread -- Videos of track car -Adam in car Auto-x video - Start-up video - 4/2011 Adam's TOP BMW time San Diego BMWCCA - 4-5-15 Dyno break-in run new M20B25 - Exhaust Thread - Link
e30 325i, the mighty 4 door granma mobile....Gone
e39 528i, 4 door sports tank
Regarding mechanics... Im hot and cold with em. I have a mechanic I go to every year to get a laundry list and pay for his time. Completely honest dude. then last time he quoted up $3000 of stuff and gave me a list of stuff that wasnt close to valid. Sometimes I feel like they are beholden to a shop owner, bills, etc.
Take his quote as an opinion and if youre really serious maybe get another opinion.
Yeah, that's a great idea: find a more worn-out used engine for cheap and do a swap.
I was thinking maybe just find a used engine and do a swap.
24879875_1964462423768511_7463705613806008291_o.jpg
Thanks for all the advice. Really appreciate it. Soon as it gets a little warmer here in the Pacific Northwest and I get a little caught up on work, I'm going to spend a few weekends in the garage getting my hands dirty. That's kind of the reason I bought the little bugger in the first place. Can't do much more to my 235 than mount a set of wheels! hahah. It's actually a pretty clean car. Said mechanic got it up on the lift and said it was in great shape physically.
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And I hear what you're saying on the "laundry list." When I picked up my e46 last year (2001 330Ci with 27k original miles) I took it into the local dealer and the tech came out saying the car didn't need anything. That's never happened in my life ever!
For $8,500 you can get a nice built engine from a reputable place like Top End Performance and then have $4,000 left over for everything else.
https://www.racetep.com/engine-perfo...s-and-building
I've done a cylinder head replacement / refresh when overheating AND head gasket breaking (2 separate occasions) but haven't dived into the bottom end yet. Mine smokes sometimes when doing a combination of engine braking then stepping on the gas but otherwise runs good. No reason to take it apart if I can still drive it.
'81 E21 320i / '90 E30 325i / '̶9̶2̶ ̶E̶3̶4̶ ̶5̶2̶5̶i̶t (sold) / '15 Toyota XW30 / '̶̶8̶0̶ ̶E̶2̶1̶ ̶3̶2̶0̶i̶A̶ (sold)
get the head overhauled, then install new injectors and injector seals.
then you can do a compression test and leak-down test to maybe decide if you have bottom end blow-by and could use new rings. new rings and crankshaft bearings if you want to go the next step, but you can probably do without bottom-end work.
Another thought on this, I have rebuilt and reinstalled three M10 so far, they all still ran so-so. One of the biggest issues that is really hard to deal with and address are the 35+ year old wiring harnesses in our cars. Hard to do and $$$ if you can find one but I am sure most of our E21's would run way better with new wiring harnesses!
Always FUN TO DRIVE - Build Thread & Tech info - 79 320/6 track car build thread -- Videos of track car -Adam in car Auto-x video - Start-up video - 4/2011 Adam's TOP BMW time San Diego BMWCCA - 4-5-15 Dyno break-in run new M20B25 - Exhaust Thread - Link
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