An E21 I3MW rustoration

[StevenHenriksen]

I like that interior color, what are you using for dye?

[I3MW]

I like that interior color, what are you using for dye?

Thanks, it's SEM vinyl dye. I think I got it on summit racing.

[I3MW]

The interior is coming along, finished the rear deck and installed new speakers. Was not impressed with the sound until I realized the PO didn't have the rears wired up to the head unit. Was an easy enough fix, just a few more wires on the aftermarket harness of the HU.

IMG_0436.jpg















Not shown, but I removed the old carpeting underneath the last upholstery and replaced it with new carpet I had leftover from the kit I bought.
IMG_0474.jpg
















IMG_0476.jpg

















Any tips for getting the rear seats back in properly? They were a lot more difficult this time around and I don't want to damage them.
thumbnail_IMG_0543.jpg

[I3MW]

Looks like the locking collars on the coil overs were removed to go extra low. This was really not needed on the fronts because there was still enough room. The backs, well I'm at full low with all three collars on there now. I didn't take a lot of pictures but in an attempt to save my alignment and remove as few parts as possible, I un threaded the coil over bodies while they were still on the car. I rotated that assembly so many times to get them out. Not sure I would do it like that again but all's well that ends well I suppose. Oh and shout out to CA Tuned, nothing but good things to say about the coil overs themselves and their customer service is great, Igor got me everything I needed.

thumbnail_IMG_0649.jpg


I decided to ditch the Style 21s so that I could get rid of these sketchy 4x100 to 5x120 wheel adapters. Got a good deal on some enkie92s with tires and bolted them up with some spacers. Very happy with these wheels.

thumbnail_IMG_0668.jpg




Last but not least, I replaced the corner lights with the euro style housing and paired them with these smoked corners (The PO painted the ambers black, think mine will work better). I really like how it turned out.

thumbnail_IMG_0663.jpg

[I3MW]

Oh and i tucked the rear bumper a while ago, that was one of the easier things to tackle. Structurally there two large large 19mm (I think) bolts that go through the frame rails in the rear and two 10mm bolts that keep it sitting straight. There's a few 10mm joining the plastic trim together but I would remove as few of those as possibly and pull the whole assembly out. I cleaned up with bumper and painted it black because I figured that would look better than a tiny about of chrome shining through. I took measurements of the struts but as soon as drilled them about they retracted fully. I was going to spot weld them to a desired length but they didn't want to come back out. No matter, happy with how it turned out.

thumbnail_IMG_0078.jpg

thumbnail_IMG_0089.jpg


thumbnail_IMG_0092.jpg



thumbnail_IMG_0095.jpg

As you can see I've been playing around with different options for the rear lights, heckenblende, etc. I think they are an improvement over the first picture but still not to my liking. But the bumper tuck came out well IMO. it's actually easier to see from the profile shot in my previous post.

thumbnail_IMG_0337.jpg

[mitsakosgt]

I like the all red tailights,I did mine too.Now I am going to do it again better on the good lences that I bought because the older ones were broken....

[I3MW]

Yours look great, how did you do them? I used VHT tail light tint. I like it but I think I want to keep the reverse light part clear. Also I didn't polish the taillights after I painted them, I usually do that and I think it helps with clarity. Maybe I will remove the tint from the reverse light portion, then clear coat everything and then polish. But yeah every pair of E21 lenses I bought have had some kind of cracking and I haven't been able to find a decent replica.

[mitsakosgt]

I got some red tint like these we use on the windows and with the help of a hotair gun I was able to wrap them nicely....the indicators need some work but overall its good....

[I3MW]

Ok, while I'm saving up for some big ticket items I did a couple more "creative mods". I'm focusing on the back of the car, trying to make a little more minimalist. So I filled in my heckenblende. The plan was to drill out the tunk lock hole before paint but I was working on another project in parallel and that got me thinking. I was already working a low profile version of the US rear side markers, and the lock assembly was right size...

thumbnail_IMG_2879.jpg


thumbnail_IMG_2958.jpg



IMG_2806.jpg

IMG_2811.jpg

I was going to laminate these in smoked polycarbonate but I was curious about something... turns out the lock assembly fits pretty nicely in there. Just need a custom mount...

thumbnail_IMG_0754.jpg

[I3MW]

So I got to CADing


Capture.PNG

Capture2.PNG

thumbnail_IMG_0796.jpg

thumbnail_IMG_0795.jpg

thumbnail_IMG_0797.jpg

[I3MW]

thumbnail_IMG_0947.jpg

thumbnail_IMG_0979.jpg

thumbnail_IMG_0975.jpg

thumbnail_IMG_0976.jpg

B4ACDBD3-0FDB-469F-8140-6A4D7E62672D.jpg

[I3MW]

Getting the dead spiders out of my instrument has been on the to do list for a while. Would be nice to see how fast I was going when I drive at night too.



thumbnail_IMG_0859.jpg

thumbnail_IMG_0865.jpg

thumbnail_IMG_0870.jpg

thumbnail_IMG_0876.jpg

thumbnail_IMG_0888.jpg

[I3MW]

The finished product:

thumbnail_IMG_0949.jpg



thumbnail_IMG_0983.jpg

638EC696-BB43-4CED-9E17-6047F84E11F0.jpg



Oh did an oil change too (sorry this is really just for my notes lol)

thumbnail_IMG_0973.jpg

[cgifool]

Looking good, thanks for the updates!!

[jjgbmw323]

Cool what part of Mass are you located in?

[I3MW]

Looking good, thanks for the updates!!

Of course!

Cool what part of Mass are you located in?

Somerville! It'll be cruisin season soon Just took the E21 on a 3 hour drive to western mass, ran like a top.

[I3MW]

So a few updates, mostly maintenance. First up, valve adjustment - don't know when it was done last but it the numbers were actually pretty good, I just did one that was on the looser side. Might as well do plugs and a new VGC while were at it right?


valve cover overhead.jpg



VCG exposed.jpg


























































































valve specs.jpg


































plug comparison.jpg

[I3MW]

I also did the steering rack bushings but forgot to take pictures of the finished product because after fighting with the steering rack that entire time, I was too angry to remember. Tips I read about in this forums were helpful. My cliff notes: use the smaller holes on the rack towards the nose of the car w/ screws and bolts to temporarily hold the rack together when sliding it back in between the subframe. That's probably why those holes exist. I still had to C-clamp the side opposite to get the thread engagement on the actual mounting hardware. Remember to slide in your metal bushings before you start clamping things!

steering rack.jpg

I'd like to think the install is harder with poly bushings but I can't confirm. I got the Eurometric ones and paid extra for the green color so imagine how great it looks now with green bushing and the frame brushed and sprayed!


Anyway she was back to sittin pretty:

side edit.jpg

[I3MW]

Next up, lighting. There aren't as many options that I could find for the 7" vs the 5.75" found on E28s, E30s, etc. I've done HID retrofits in the past but I wanted to maintain a more "vintage" look for this car. I had a pair of yellow Hellas I purchased a while back but once I proved I could retrofit E30 buckets to the car I changed my headlights over to a pair of smoked Hellas. Originally I was hoping to find a dual filament style 5.75" headlight but I got a good deal on a set of LED high beam projectors and tried to hide them as best could. Basically low beam is halogen, high beam is LED. I think if I wire in a diode I can have halogen and LED on for my high beams. Not exactly "street legal" but well see how the output is. I think I can create a setup with good out put and proper aiming.


DR side lights no grill.jpg




front yellow w high LEDs.jpg















LED cup welded.jpg



EDIT: I 3D printed a headlight ring/bezel and sanded+ painted it to fill out what would be empty space between the grill and the headlight.

hella sm up close.jpg

front end parked EDIT.jpg

[I3MW]

At some point during the battery relocation I cut the OEM box and refurbished the charcoal canister. I plan on getting rid of the OEM battery support completely but because it's also a ground point I probably won't worry about it until the engine is out of the car.

battery support stripped and cut.jpg

canister rusted.jpg

I think I got a little carried away but the those hood latches were kind of oxidized and looked like bare metal so I did those too. You'll also notice the bracket I made for the trunk solenoid. I'm close to finalizing some custom work in the trunk, but more on that later.

custom bracket and hood latches etc primered.jpg


canister and bracket restored black.jpg

hood latch finished.jpg

[I3MW]

Whelp after driving the car to work everyday for a few weeks and taking it on a couple road trips, it developed an exhaust leak. I was able to pinpoint it pretty quick but removing the exhaust was a nightmare. I know I keep pointing fingers but I don't think it came this way from the factory . I've got an exhaust manifold and then a single piece that starts as a y pipe and merges to one and goes continuously to the muffler with no flanges etc. So besides not being able to get the lower portion off the car and I had some pretty gnarly bolt extraction to do. Luckily I was able to get the manifold off the engine.


Headers Pulled.jpg

Header off 1.jpg

Look at the fused metal here, it is essentially one piece.

Header off 2.jpg

I tried a welding a nut to the end of the stud first but no dice. After doing everything I could to center punch right down the middle, I started drilling. Lessons learned; Titanium Nitride coated bits ~1/8" on low speed with lots of coolant were the only thing that that worked. 5 drill bits later...

Header off 3 bolt hole.jpg

IIRC - I stepped up to ~ 8.75mm (tap size for M10x1.25), a little under actually using fractional drill bits but because it was free hand it ended up being pretty perfect. Tapped it very slowly with lots of chip breaking. You can still see a tiny lip leftover from the bolt, I genuinely can't tell someone welded the stud at some point or if heat cycles really did that. It was truly one piece. I grinded it flat after.

Header off 4 tapped.jpg

[I3MW]

Here's the OEM stud length in case you wanted it. I was able to get all new studs, cooper nuts, and a gasket for the engine side as well as a gasket and cooper nuts for the down pipe side but I had to forage to get the three studs that mate up for the down pipe.
Head down pipe stud.jpg


I took the 02 sensor off and let the whole thing sit in a de-rusting solution. Then I used a wire wheel on an angle grinder to brush it clean.

Header brushed 1.jpg

It was at this point that I realized there was another broken in bolt in the manifold. I guess there are supposed to be 4 holes for a heat shield. I don't have one but just in case I figured I'd get that one out before I painted this thing.

Header off 5 tap finished.jpg

Header brushed 3.jpg

Header high temp ready for paint.jpg

[I3MW]

Time to start painting, here's a sneak peak of the my new brake setup, since they are both getting high temp primer.

Header high temp primer.jpg

Header high temp silver.jpg

Gave the muffler a quick polish before putting everything back together.

muffler before.jpg

muffler after.jpg

[I3MW]

I did the Volvo brake mod. Vented rotors and green brakes

There's already a great DIY on this so I won't go into too much detail but I used off the shelf brake lines that were pre flared and already had fittings on the end. This was great except the fittings can get in the way if you are trying to do a bend close to tip of the line which you need to do on the caliper side. So on that end I bended it "free hand" (see the DIY on here) but the others I used a pipe bender made specifically for this size of brake line. It was cheap and worked great, would recommend. Also of note, I was able to keep the factory dust shields. Only had to cut a tiny bit off on the side where the brake pad sensor goes. Bled the system with a motive power bleeder and my last supply of "vintage" super blue, RIP.


High temp brake green.jpg


venter rotor.jpg

venter rotor and cal 2.jpg

I did a clearance check just to make sure it would work. I have 15s so I knew it should but just to be safe. Also make sure the wheels spin freely! I somehow missed that you need a washer to add a little height away from the mounting surface. Luckily I had the same washers the DIY called for. I measured a few with a Vernier caliper and took 4 that were closest in thickness (were talking .x mm so it should be negligible but it's a best practice). So 1 washer per bolt, two per side, four total.

cal clearance.jpg

cal lines.jpg

[I3MW]

Then plan is to convert the rear drums to brakes in a few weeks, hopefully lol. You'll notice I didn't slot my front calipers yet. We should be getting a mill where I work soon, and I plan on slotting the front calipers when I do the rear conversion. I got my OEM pads for 40 bucks so upgrading to something a little more performance orientated after the fact shouldn't break the bank. Anyway, the car has been running cold so I replaced the thermostat. Now I'm back on the road and the car feels good. Brake travel is a little longer but stilla confident pedal feel. The tires definitely can still lock up. Braking does appear to better overall but its not night and day or anything.

front BBK.jpg

cal install.jpg

cal install 2.jpg

bay new therm.jpg

back end.jpg