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Thread: Dlux BMW E23 build

  1. #51
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    313
    My Cars
    e3 9 12 23 24 32 34
    Amazing workmanship!

  2. #52
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Tangent Oregon
    Posts
    450
    My Cars
    79' 320i 84' 733i
    Awesome progress man! It's always cool to see custom parts being machined.

  3. #53
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Battle Ground, WA
    Posts
    294
    My Cars
    83 e21 82 E23 80 E12
    One of the final pieces for now are the Euro bumpers. It seems as though no built classic BMW can go without them. I actually dont mind the US bumpers too much but the Euro bumpers sure to make a huge difference on the E23.


    Looks are the most important part of the US to Euro bumper switch but I also found that you lose a significant amount of weight by switching also.


    US front bumper 51lb
    Euro front bumper with US bracing - no data yet
    Euro front bumper - no data yet


    US rear bumper 53lb
    Euro rear bumper with US bracing - 49.2lb
    Euro rear bumper - 25.4lb


    I dont have the data yet on the front bumper because I am still waiting for a good front rubber trim piece to complete my front bumper. I will update it when I weigh it all. Its significantly lighter though. I suspect it will come in about 25lb like the rear did. If so, thats about 50lb off the whole car from the switch.


    Front US complete



    Front Euro - US bracing..... minus the 23lb of the rear Euro bracing, the scale would not measure the front by itself. So, approx 9lb for bracing.



    Rear US complete



    Rear Euro - US bracing



    Rear Euro complete



    I did a semi restoration of the front and rear Euro bumpers by cleaning them up, adding new hardware and trying to bang out some of the dents. They came out really nice with the exception of the rear accordion rubber bits, they could use some help but at $260 ea, I will hold off and wait to find some others. They just are not that bad.


    I need to button up a couple things mechanically and this should be outside and I can get some pics and drive!













    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by DSpoljaric View Post
    Amazing workmanship!
    Quote Originally Posted by StevenHenriksen View Post
    Awesome progress man! It's always cool to see custom parts being machined.
    Thanks for the good words guys!

  4. #54
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Quadratechtown, PA
    Posts
    741
    My Cars
    5, 7, 4x4
    Quote Originally Posted by Erik Dlux View Post
    It seems as though no built classic BMW can go without them. I actually dont mind the US bumpers too much

    Coming along nicely. As to the bumpers, having a US 5 and a € 7, I'm ok leaving the 5 as is. Same with adding rear headrests, rear sunshade and headlight washers. all on the 7 so I can live with them not on my 5. Plus when you get back to the car, case of beer in hand where you gonna put it while you unlock and open the trunk? US bumpers have a shelf to support the weight as you hold the case in place and get the trunk open. But the move to the € bumpers is a nice move.

    work looks great so far.

  5. #55
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Battle Ground, WA
    Posts
    294
    My Cars
    83 e21 82 E23 80 E12
    Right? I see the point and IMO, they dont actually look as bad as people think they do. I might even like the Euro better on the back than the US? 99% of the time the Euro looks better on the front but.... I like thinking I could have a mild accident and have my car survive too. Lots of pros and cons to consider IMO.

  6. #56
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Battle Ground, WA
    Posts
    294
    My Cars
    83 e21 82 E23 80 E12
    After rebuilding the front end, fixing a bunch of minor issues and installing the bumpers, I got this thing pulled out of the shop and driving!


    This car is so fun to drive! I love it!


    IMO, this is one of the sexist cars ever made. This car is all about looks to me. The comfort and interior touches are just a huge plus.


    I just need to fix a leak in my air bag and put on the front bumper rubber strips when I get them and phase 1 will be done. (Phase 2 would just be motor/trans swap)


    I hope the motor stays together long enough for me to enjoy it before I can find the time to swap everything. I will need some time as I shoudnt even have done this project with as much as I have going on.


    Here are a couple of shots of the exterior. I will take some more along with some interior shots ASAP.









  7. #57
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Tangent Oregon
    Posts
    450
    My Cars
    79' 320i 84' 733i
    Looks badass dude! I can't wait to get my car up there to take some pics and have some beers.

  8. #58
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Location
    MT View, HI
    Posts
    166
    My Cars
    '80 733i , '76 2002
    Long, low, and lovely. Just stunning!

  9. #59
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Battle Ground, WA
    Posts
    294
    My Cars
    83 e21 82 E23 80 E12
    Working out some of the small bugs on this car but this thing is so, so fun to drive! I am loving it!


    One thing I dont get is how people drive these cars if you have even a normal sized foot. I know my foot is big but it cant be that great for regular sized shoes even? I had to bend the brake pedal out of the way so my foot would fit.


    Before:



    After:



    Bent pedal, just like the E21...



    And as promised... pictures of the interior, which I am loving...


















    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by StevenHenriksen View Post
    Looks badass dude! I can't wait to get my car up there to take some pics and have some beers.
    Quote Originally Posted by TowJamma View Post
    Long, low, and lovely. Just stunning!
    Thanks guys!

  10. #60
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Battle Ground, WA
    Posts
    294
    My Cars
    83 e21 82 E23 80 E12
    I have been driving this car for a couple weeks now and I am more than enjoying it. Its such a fun car and super comfortable.


    I have had issues come up that I have had to deal with. I suppose its just working the bugs out... I hope that it all ends, I dont like having to deal with maintenance on a regular basis. I am giving this car a break because it looks to have been neglected.


    Replaced every single vacuum hose
    Replaced upper and lower radiator hoses
    Replaced both coolant sensors
    Replaced Air Flow meter (that was fun to troubleshoot)
    Replaced spark plugs
    Replaced turn signal switch
    Replaced HVAC switches (not as bad as I thought..)
    Replaced many relays/switches
    Air bag was leaking so I had to replace a O ring.
    Still need to replace the power steering pump..


    So, lots of maintenance. Hopefully its over.


    I did figure out that you can use a post face lift turn signal stalk on a pre face lift car. Mine was worn. The brights were hard to turn on, you had to find the perfect spot to push them forward. The left hand turn signal would not turn off after turning.


    All I did on the post face lift turn signal stalk was cut the connectors off and solder on the similar colored wires. Everything worked out great except the momentary brights when you pull back towards yourself. Since the brights work, I am assuming its the actual switch thats not working? If anybody has a clue, I would like to hear. I couldn't find a schematic online. Momentary brights are not a big enough deal to me to worry about. It made me curious to why you even need them. I guess to signal someone, I never really use them myself though and figure if I had to, I could just turn the lights on if I am that desperate?


    Early connector on top, late on bottom. Side note I think early had many different types of connectors also.





    Attached similar colors and all worked out good. There is an extra power that I didnt use along with two inputs. Not sure what they were used for on the early cars. You can see them in the bottom of the picture.







    I fixed the air bag O ring and while I was there, I wanted to try out the non adjustable camber plates I had made. As suspected, they dropped the car about another inch. My adjustment was pretty good also as I am around 3* camber in the front. Since this car is more about the look than performance, I actually left them since I like them so much. Its simple, lower and functional. When I sell them, its going to be a lot cheaper also.


    Top plate





    With the top plate making the car lower, I am now barely on the ground with my control arms and it also brought the ride height down in the back so my muffler is on the ground. I think what I am running now is close to perfect for me.











    I am seriously trying to work on pictures of the car. Life has been overwhelming to say the least. I also got my front bumper situated with the new rubber trim so I am really close to where I want to be with this car at the present moment. Just two more small fixes and I think I will be there.

  11. #61
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    San Marcos, California
    Posts
    320
    My Cars
    e23 (84-86) E9 - E28
    Nice work Erik, car looks gorgeous.

  12. #62
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Battle Ground, WA
    Posts
    294
    My Cars
    83 e21 82 E23 80 E12
    Thank you!

  13. #63
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    1
    My Cars
    1978 BMW E23 733i
    Quote Originally Posted by Erik Dlux View Post
    How about we move on to the fun stuff?! Suspension time!


    After doing a ton of research, there was not much to research about the E23 and air bags. I had seen it done by a handful but only found 1 forum post about it and it was pretty vague. No part numbers, no real info on how to do it etc,. So, off to do my own research and see what I could find.


    Again, I have been a bit behind on posting this build so its going to look like I slapped this together really quickly but it has taken me close to a month to get everything right. I cant tell you how many times I had to pull the shocks, how many top plates I made, how many modifications to the camber plates were made. They should be perfect now though and the build thread is close to being updated...


    I am going to offer a kit for the E23 so you could have either the parts to do it yourself correctly or I can set you up with a bolt on suspension. After doing it all myself, I can tell you that youre going to be saving a ton of time and money and actually be able to have a proper air bag setup with little effort. There was quite a bit to figure out and make right. I could be wrong and I dont want to upset anybody but from all the E23's I have seen, and probably a lot of air suspensions in general, they have not been done correctly. IMO, you need to have a camber plate for the front and all the parts need to fit correctly for proper alignment and strength. The bummer about some of our not so popular cars is that we dont have pre fabbed kits so we have to use a "builders" kit and sometimes thats too much for some of us to put together.


    On the rear, it was pretty straight forward. I didnt want to paint myself into a corner on ride height, I had seen some info that some people were not getting enough height out of their bags in the back. This concerned me as I didnt want to simply weld it together and have regrets later. I came up with a plan to add a rod end to the bottom of the shock. This will allow me approx 1.5" more height if I so choose, not to look over the flexibility, strength and strength that it also gives. Adjustability is just too nice to pass it up.


    It worked out perfectly as my rear with this setup is pretty low. My muffler is about 1/8" off the ground when fully aired out. Granted, the muffler setup could be refined to give me more clearance...


    So, I am happy with the way the rear turned out. If I wanted, I could make this setup lower by modifying the rod end to be shorter. I will give it some time and see how I like it. Going higher or lower should be really easy if I choose to in the future.


    As for the kit I will sell for the rear, it would include the top mounting plate and weld on bottom rod end setup. I can also send just the parts for you to weld on or I can weld everything together and you can simply bolt it on.


    Rear shock top plates and bottom rod end setup.





    Muffler 1/8" off the ground...





    Rear shocks complete and ready to bolt in





    I had to drill thru the shock towers and run my air line in the trunk. I used Butyl Sealant Tape to seal the holes.





    The front was more complicated...


    First problem that I had not seen addressed was that nobody had come up with a camber plate setup. If you just roll with the amount of camber you get, its probably going to be neutral or positive camber. This is going to introduce a lot of under steer.
    If youre not too concerned with the performance of your car, thats fine but if are, there is a better way to do it. So, I set off to develop one and came up with what I hope is a great setup.


    At first, I thought this would just be a nice feature but now that I have it all installed, I feel its necessary.


    When installed and the camber plate adjusted all the way in for maximum camber, I am at approx 2.5*, which isnt bad and close to where I want to be in the end. (The rears aired out are close to 5*!) I will have to measure how much camber there is on the front with the strut centered (same as stock but I am guessing you would have positive camber or if youre lucky, no camber at all. Not good, loads and loads of under steer should be present.


    Addressing the camber plate was #1 and I thought it would be the only situation to address on the front shocks but there was one other. Air lift gives you a random tube that slides over their shock that youre supposed to weld to their shock and then slide it over the now cut strut tube on the stock side or spindle side. This doesnt really work. The tube I.D. they provide is too big. I am guessing people have just been welding it anyway and calling it good but the problem here is that since its so sloppy, your camber could be off and its just not a strong good fit. So, I machined a tube that makes up for the fitment between the strut tube and also the shock that gives a good slip fit and makes everything stronger and aligns everything well.


    I am planning to sell a couple different versions of kits for the front.


    The first kit would be what I am running. You would get a camber plate and a sleeve for the strut tube.


    The second kit would be a top plate that has mounting holes and just a standard mounted shock.


    The first kit with the camber plate is ideal for getting correct wheel geometry. The compromise is that it raises the front of the car approx 1" more and makes it so its not possible to lay the motor subframe on the ground.


    The second kit is going to be much cheaper since its just a simple top plate, does not allow for adjustment of camber but allows the car to be 1" lower.


    FYI, air lift sends you blank top plates. They are huge in diameter and have no holes drilled in them for the mounting plates. Again, more room for error and not getting the camber right. This is a lot of work and hard to get perfect.


    Edit: I just had the thought that on the non adjustable plates, I can simply move the center hole in as far as possible for maximum camber... if there is interest in this setup, I will adjust the parts. It still wont be adjustable and I dont think its going to give as much camber as the plate but it could be close.


    Front shock top plates and camber plates (sleeve for strut tube not shown).





    Motor subframe approx 5/8" off the ground...





    Front shocks complete and ready to bolt in





    I am running a 17x8 et 20 wheel and 235/45 tires. You can see that this is going to be the maximum allowed setup for this. It couldnt be more tight!





    Shock installed showing the camber plates...





    All aired out...


    Hey Erik are you still looking to sell these kits? I've got a 1978 733i that I'm keen on getting one of your kits on!

  14. #64
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Battle Ground, WA
    Posts
    294
    My Cars
    83 e21 82 E23 80 E12
    Sorry, sometimes I don't see someone replied to this thread for a bit.

    Yes, I can provide a kit for you. When you're ready to go, just let me know and we can work it out.

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