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A few of my friends usually send cars along to each other, and I've expressed my interest in getting something a bit older than the various E30s I've had. My friend Dave sent along a clean-ish looking E21 320i on craigslist with little information, fuzzy photos, no price, and some incorrect information about what engine was in it. Best of all, it had 90,000 miles, zero rust, and 1 owner. Worst of all, the tags on the license plates read 1991 and it hasn't ran since before I was born. I shot him an email while I was sitting on the porch drinking some coffee and offered $500 and left my phone number.
I was spending my labor day weekend replacing the clutch in my neighbor's XJ to try to make some side money and crawled out to check my phone. There's a text message from this guy and he basically said "okay, I don't know anything about BMWs but some other guy wants to come next week and he said $500 is too low, but you can come tomorrow to look" (I'm paraphrasing). We arrived and I started looking over the car. It was true, zero rust. The trunk floor, floorboards, shock towers, rockers, all sparkly clean. I knew I wanted it. Farther up the hill, in his garage, I spotted a pretty red convertible E30 and decided to ask some questions about it. He told me he was going to keep that one and try to restore it, but as I probed him for more answers, I could tell he knew nothing about it as well. I peaked inside and noticed it was a 5 speed, had a crack free dash, and was completely intact. I checked for rust and found none, and I started to realize this was a diamond in the rough. Curious, I asked how much he wanted for both as a package deal. He threw out a number that was very very very good. Like, almost unbelievable. I was so surprised that I wasn't sure what to do, so of course, I threw caution to the wind and made a deal.
Time to load them up. The e21 was first to go. The tires were ready to pop at any minute, it had no brakes, no clutch, nothing. With some heaving, pushing, and ratcheting, we got it on the trailer and set off to my house to drop it off. My mind was racing and anxiety was setting up. What would I do with these things? Now I owe someone money, why did he let them go for so cheap? Was this all a mistake? Oh well. #sendit. We went back and grabbed the e30 and I sent him the rest of the money. By this time, the whole neighborhood was out watching the circus and the operation went very smooth the second time around. We got a running start, and with the help of a gentle downhill slope, i rammed the pretty red e30 up on the trailer and we headed home.
The next morning I listed it in the usual places for a price I thought was kind of high. I was immediately met with an onslaught of interested parties and before lunch had several people lined up to view it. I was wrapping up that Jeep and would have to roll out from under the thing every 5 minutes to respond to the messages and texts. Eventually a guy and his brother from PA messaged me saying they had a vert that was wrecked and it had all of the parts that this one needed. They sent me a deposit and they're supposed to come down in a few hours to pay me asking price and take it away.
But wait, isn't this about an e21? Shut up, I know. So now that the E30 has paid for the e21, what do I plan to do with it? More details to come.
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Some underside photos
Interior leaves something to be desired
Threw a battery in it. It cranks fine, has spark, is sucking in air, but I believe there is a fuel problem. My model has two fuel pumps, one mechanical on the head and another electric in the tank. I pulled up the rear seat to find... this.
Three dead mice and their home. Also, lots of poop. I took the shop vac to it and ripped the insulation out. I'll be looking for new seats. I checked voltage at the pump, but I don't think it's turning on, so I'll search for one of those and also use the opportunity to drain the tank and refill. Fingers crossed she fires right up. The sunroof is stuck partially open and the crank does nothing, so I need to find a way to get the sunroof open enough to take it apart. I don't care to make it work, I just want it closed. We tried all we could to pull it closed by hand and it's in there tight.
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Leak fixed with jb weld and hose/hose clamp coverage. Confirmed getting some fuel and air at the fuel distribution block. Pulled the injectors and confirmed I'm getting some fuel through the injector lines but the injectors aren't opening.
Disconnected the injectors and blew air through them and cleared them, still no start but it runs healthy on starter fluid.
This leaves fuel pressure to be the culprit. Unfortunately on KEJet injection, there's a million ways to lose fuel pressure. My in tank lift put gets here Friday and I hope that will feed the main pump enough to create adequate pressure. If not, I'll put a pressure gauge on it to make sure the block is getting pressure. Next steps after that is to check pressure at the outlets for the injectors and if that is low and the inlet to the block is good, that most likely means the pressure release valve is faulty. There are other possibilities but I find that most likely.
Also in tank pump was nasty
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I determined that the external fuel pump was sucking in air from the suction side. Found a loose clamp and tightened it down and immediately got amazing fuel pressure at the distribution block. Confirmed the injectors are firing now and the engine even starts and runs for a minute or so on its own. Kind of like the dog chasing the mail man, I'm not sure what to do now that I'm here. I would get backfires into the intake if I gave it throttle, so I assumed the timing was way off, but it's really hard to get the timing set when starting the engine, then sprinting around the car with a potentially broken toe to try to turn the distributor before it dies. I'm hoping it's just a lean condition from fuel pressure being low considering I'm only running one of the two pumps these late models require. That pump comes in today so I'll install it and finally put the rear seats back in the car. Confirmed the slave and master cylinder for the clutch are dead so I'm going to replace that today and in theory, the car should be able to move on its own. I also ordered new plug wires, a rotor, and a cap from FCP. Any points experts able to tell me if these look worn? They seem fine-ish to me.
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Lots of progress yesterday! Got the engine timed by ear, did an oil change, and did some more tweaking and now it starts and runs without issue. Pulled the wheels off and started bleeding the brakes. Didn't get any fluid out of the rears but I did on the front so now that car starts. I also replaced the clutch master and slave cylinders and bleed them, which was much more of a PITA than I expected, but overall it only took about an hour and a half.
Just like that, I've resurrected this car from the dead and it now runs and drives! Transmission acts flawlessly. New tires ordered from TireRack and I continue to tinker with it while it's listed for sale. I'd consider keeping it, but this Sunroof situation has really frustrated me. I'll do anything mechanical, but body related stuff drives me crazy.
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Sniped a DMV appointment for today and got the MMoped titled and got antique plates for this. The old plates were severely rusted in place and took a lot of work to remove. I'm rocking no front plate for now.
I checked the lambda readings from the O2 sensor and they don't seem correct, but the O2 sensor is a wear item at like 30k miles so it's due for its third at this point. I put the timing light in it and got it dialed in, then took it for a romp up and down the street and it feels REALLY good.
Sanded and threw some black gloss on the rusty gas lid too.
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Progress comes fast and it comes often!
Got the speakers working this morning and the radio works flawlessly! I took some photos of the trunk area because I'm so impressed with how clean it is and how shiny the paint is!
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Took it on a long drive around Tyson's. Idles, drive, shifts, revs, turns well. No clunks or bumps. I'm very very very impressed.
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When I bought it, the sunroof was 100% stuck. One friend spun the handle while another friend and I PULLED AS HARD AS WE COULD and the sunroof would not move. It works by a handle turning a gear that pushes or pulls two metal cables with teeth on them. The cables push or pull the sunroof back and forth and the rails it slide on were completely jammed with 2 shop vacs full of leaves. I spent probably an hour hitting the sunroof with a block of wood and a hammer to get it back open all of the way so I can dissamble the rails and pull the cables/gearbox out to inspect. The cable is wrecked (and NLA, expensive) so I greased up what I could and and reassembled it from the top. I also hooked a fuel line to the shop vac and sucked out the leaves I could, then used compressed air to blow most of the rest out. Another 30 minutes of standing in the sunroof and heaving and hoing as hard as I could and eventually the sunroof itself could KIND OF slide in the rails. This gets us to the part where I could get it slid shut, but not raised up to be flush, where I used my feet to push it up (like an idiot). l did some thinking and had one of those ah-hah moments this morning and ran downstairs to pull the headliner panel off the sunroof (which is only possible now that I freed up the sunroof to slide) and that revealed that the cables mount on these sliding blocks. When the sunroof closes and is unable to move forward more, the cables then pull the blocks they are attached to (instead of pulling the sunroof) and these blocks slide forward and move an peg that raises the sunroof up. I shopvacced out more leaves and then manually slide the blocks forward to raise the sunroof. So now I've got a fully functioning sunroof as long as I leave the headliner panel off. I'm talking to Al Taylor (of GRM fame) and he may have a cable assembly and gearbox for me at VIR, so with those installed, I should have a functioning sunroof.
Spent some time yesterday cleaning the interior and gave it a wash. Also started to buff the trunk to remove some swirls. Replaced the rear speakers and added a little bluetooth charging thing for whatever time I spend driving this.
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Shampooed all of the carpets and that made a big difference in look, feel, and smell.
My friend Joey came by and did a quick and dirty detail while I literally spent an hour and a half scrubbing two wheels with scotch brite and wheel cleaner one spoke at a time to make them silver again. The paint cleaned up very nice. The GF and I went to a Cars and Coffee then spent time in old town Leesburg which Betty looked right at him in. It cruised at 60-70 without issue and drives and shifts as well as any BMW I've ever had. I've put 100 miles on it already!
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New rear seats from Al Taylor. Front seats from Dave's 02. The 2002s had seat belts on the trans tunnel and the late e21 had seat belts on the seat itself. There is a shaft built into the seat frame that allows a place for the seat back hinge to mount on and the shaft for the title handle runs through it. The shaft on the e21 seat is longer to also allow the seat belt buckle to mount on it. I had to grind down the base of the shaft to allow more space. Sketchy, yes. Smart? Probably not. I worked on them for a while and eventually got enough space for everything and then could just BARELY get the circlip snapped in. The seats are a major improvement in looks, but are inferior to the original e21 seats in build quality and comfort, but they do have better lumbar suppor
t
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500 miles on her! Got all of the junk out of the air conditioning vents and all of them work now. Heat blows well and the ac compressor kicks on. Continuing to bathe everything in leather/vinyl conditioner to get it supple and healthy. I'm also letting all of the rubber and plastic soak up back to black whenever I can and it's really making things look nice. Replaced the front two speakers as well and it sounds pretty good now. Took off the rear brake lines and blew compressed air through them and now have 3/4 brakes. Still need to figure out why the back left doesn't get fluid. I check and air gets through from the soft line to the bleed valve on the caliper, so the blockage has to be between the T in the line and the hardline on the trailing arm.
Got all of the lights working as well and picked up some Coco Mats from a Porsche for $50. Sure they don't fit, but they're the best mats out there and I couldn't even buy parts store mats for much less. Pulled the fuel sending unit and have it soaking in vinegar to try to free it up as it's been stuck at the level the tank was at Doe 30 years. Put a new oxygen sensor in it as well and reset the oxygen sensor timer, which is a box that tracks mileage and flips on a light every 30k (?) miles to remind you to install a new sensor. The engine still idles high and I can't adjust the air fuel mix because it seems the screw is mixing. That will have to wait because the air volume chamber is a crazy complex part and must be dissembled to put a new screw in. I. Also believe there is a small vaccum leak through the oil pan gasket. It's on the list.
Met a guy at cars and coffee would wanted to talk about about E21s. He had told me about his super clean example he had down at VA beach for storage. He finally brought it up and I was blown away when I saw it. Has a bunch of IS goodies and that color is so beautiful. Interior is 9/10 due to a crack in the dash, but otherwise perfect. Absolute goals.
Great success! Soaked the fuel sending unit in a mix of water and vinegar. I checked it this morning and could feel the float moving inside it, so I reinstalled it and plugged it up. Bingo! Working fuel gauge.
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New master cylinder installed and the car is a completely transformed. It went from being something that was a hassle to drive to a car that feels modern and simple. It's great having brakes! Previously even with the pedal to the floor, I was unable to knock the rust off the rotors. With the new master cylinder, I knocked the rust off on the first stop and it locks up the front wheels at like 50% brake pressure.
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I debated doing a bumper tuck as I enjoy keeping cars stock or OEM+ at the most. Eventually did it since it's easily reversed.
Another tank of gas down!
The reflector of one of the headlight bulbs was oxidized so it put out zero useful light. $13 and 15 minutes later, we have lots of light!
I've always diagnosed the rough idle at start to be a slipping alternator belt. It slips and doesn't provide enough current to the coil and the car misfires. (Originally thought it was running rich, which is almost partially true here). I've had a new belt and alternator bushing sitting in the garage, I've just been lazy.
Cars and Coffee Pics.
First is pre bumper tuck.
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First improvement! E21 sport wheel from an IS model!
Swapped tan 02 seats out (thanks Dave!) And installed real tan e21 seats. In the photo, you can see the e21 seat on the driver side and the 02 seat from Dave on the passenger side. You may remember I modified and installed those a while ago to get rid of the disgusting cloth seats. The 02 seats are a very old, spring design and not comfortable or supportive.
Poached the toolkit from the parts car, which mine was missing.
Also snagged the steering column trim on the bottom I was missing from the other car.
Center console side panel was torn in my car, parts car had a minty one.
Shift knob
Mirror in much better shape
Better, but not great sun visor. All of them turn to mush after 30 years.
More to come!
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Swapped out this piece of trim that's been bent forever and got the center console piece swapped out. Drove it to cars and coffee and met up with my e21 mentor. Whenever I need to see how something is supposed to be on these cars, I look at his.
I also spent about 3 hours tonight swapping sunroof parts around. I eventually got it worked! Then it stopped working! The screws holes are stripped on one side and it let's everything come apart and get wonky so I'll need to take it all apart again.
It's a shame that it is actually 100% impossible to replace the sunroof cables without destroying the headliner, hence why mine is so messed up. My plan is to get the sunroof 100% working so I never need to touch it again, and then get an upholstery shop to do the headliner. It's a full glass out procedure to replace the headliner so it's not something I want to do and risk messing up.
Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
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Slept on my sunroof disaster, did more thinking, and figured out where I had gone wrong.
Took it all apart and tried to massage my mangled pieces back into the correct shape. I believe the rails are too damaged to ever get working properly, but I was able to get the sun roof to go back in, be aligned, and even have the sunroof headliner installed correctly! It can't open, but it can at least tilt now and the headliner looks a lot better. I believe the sunroof doesn't want to slide back because the passenger side rail is too bent up to let the slider portion of the cable to push through it easily, and I also believe the "new" cable for that side is now stripped. Before the parts car goes, I'll try to pull ALL of the sunroof stuff out of it, then maybe purchase an actually NEW set of cables and try again.
The bad news is, during all of this, the "rod" that is on the sunroof headliner that attaches to the slider "rail" some how came off and got jammed UNDER the sunroof slider. The only way for me to fix it was to cut the rod and push it through. This means if the sunroof ever does go back into the roof, the headliner panel slider rail probably won't back forward since it's only attached to the sunroof headliner panel on one side now.
It's wild that it took me 4 e30s and 2 e21s to finally understand these sunroof mechanisms.
Before:
After
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Made a low offer on a set of OE Sport Package wheels (13"x5.5"!!!!!!!) BBS wheels with good summer tires on them. Buyer accepted it and turned out he was in Richmond. I was already heading down to meeting a buyer for a transmission from VA beach and I also needed to pick up a free M3 bumper I was getting from someone, so the stars aligned and I knocked out all three in one round trip to Richmond this morning.
As I was walking out, I spotted one Recaro seat in the corner and inquired about it. Ended up getting that for a very good deal too! Now just to find one more seat and I'll have an almost complete 320is!
The Fiesta was completely packed on the way back.
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Having a parts car is so nice.
Swapped intake boot to one not shredded.
Ordered an owners manual from eBay for completeness.
Also bought a gas lid off of someone else doing a part out and now have good paint on the whole car.
Engine is out of the parts car. About to start harvesting the fuel injection parts as the person buying the engine only wants the long block for his Weber converted e21.
This car was originally optioned with fog lights (big deal!!) But did not have them installed when I bought it. It came with one fog light that was broken in the trunk. The parts car also has two fogs and one was broken. Took some time to piece together the good parts and got one fog light that works and one that doesn't, but both are complete (one is cracked) and they bolt right up. Got them wired up and the switch still works! I really love the look.
The OE bosch fogs are NLA right? So it's a bit of street cred to have these on there.
Last edited by SenorTaylor; 04-05-2021 at 02:24 PM.
Member
Impressive! Great looking car and fast work.
I almost never open sunroofs. My 2002 had broken cables so I just kept a wedge of wood in it to keep it from sliding open by itself
Member
I take the E21 to cars and coffee about 40 minutes from my house every Sunday. I've made friends with another E21 guy out there and have been bringing him little parts he needs for his beautiful hennarot 320i. This weekend he returned the favor with some 323i trailing arms with disc brakes! I can't wait to get these installed.
Later that day I took the E21 on a trip about an hour away to buy an E39 for my roommate (Tyler).
The car did well the whole way back until I was 4 miles from home on a dark, narrow, steep hill with lots of traffic. Engine died halfway up a hill and I couldn't make it into any driveway and there was nowhere to turn off so I dumped it in a ditch and partially blocked traffic. I waited a while for traffic to die down and I rolled back down the hill and into someone's driveway. Knocked on the door of the house and explained my situation, and the lady's little puppy came out to see me, then peed on my shoes. I went back out to the car and started checking things and figured maybe the ignition module had died, so I asked Tyler if he could bring me a spare from the house (thanks parts car!). I posted on an E21 group asking for suggestions for things to check and someone suggested I check the fuel pump fuse. It seemed way too simple and I had overlooked it. Popped a new fuse in it and we were good to go. It's funny because I was checking voltages at each fuse the night before and noticed the fuel pump fuse was a newer style glass fuse and it was running pretty hot. I may clean up the contacts on all of the fuses and see if the car runs better. It seemed peppier, so I think the fuse may have had too much resistance and the fuel pump was not getting the amperage it needed. E21 adventures!
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- - - Updated - - -Originally Posted by cgifool
Impressive! Great looking car and fast work.
I almost never open sunroofs. My 2002 had broken cables so I just kept a wedge of wood in it to keep it from sliding open by itself
I'm so jealous of folks with sunroofs that aren't broken disasters. It's something you never think about until it goes wrong. I'm still a bit angry at the previous owner for breaking it.
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Since I bought the car, it idled at 1500 and it was way more annoying than you can think. I'm not making a joke when I saw I had to turn my car off at the starbucks drivethrough to order my coffee before cars and coffee (lots of jokes to be made there). I had been hunting vacuum leaks and found none and my last resort was perhaps the oil pan gasket leak causing a loss of vacuum. I was doing some late night forum browsing last night and saw one post where someone claimed their idle screw didn't turn as far as they thought it should. That seemed relevant to me because I had cranked on mine and it seemed bottomed out. I went outside this morning and unscrewed my idle screw to find all kinds of crud and corrosion coming out of the threads as the screw came out. Then I saw the o-ring fall out in two pieces.
Parts car to the rescue once again! I pulled the idle screw out of the parts car intake, inspected and cleaned it, then cleaned out the screw hole on my car and reinstalled everything. The screw rotates much more freely now and I was able to get the idle down to 800rpm with no issue!
Now that the idle was right, I was able to finally identify that exhaust rattle that annoyed me so much. When the idle dipped below 1000 rpm, the heat shield on the manifold would rattle around. I took it off and now I have a MUCH quieter and less shaky car
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Thanks. Porting this thread over from another Forum and I haven't taken the time to clean up the formatting and links.
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The original rear insulation was covered in dead mice and mouse poop. I ripped it out and threw it away immediately when I bought the car. The insulation in the parts car was good, so I cleaned it and threw it in my car today. I also swapped out one of the seat belts that was chewed up and also finished stripping the bad carpet from the parcel shelf. I plan to recover the parcel shelf soon, but I need to figure out what kind of material and whether or not I'll just buy a full carpet set for the car.
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Wow that's some quick progress. Keep us posted as the work progresses. Another one saved!
Member
Awesome progress, thanks for sharing!
Member
Thank you both for the kind words!
My friend has an up and coming automotive blog that is taking off, so I've been making some content for him. E21 has been a star!
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Swapped in some vinyl door cards.
Better passenger mirror.
Spent the day installing the AKG bushings. Transmission mount went in without issue. Improved shifter feel a lot. Dropped the subframe and pressure washed it. Installed the poly rear trailing arm bushings in the euro 323i trailing arms for my disc brake swap. Installed poly diff bushings as well and attempted to install the subframe bushings they sent me, but they don't seem to fit. This is kind of expected since I'm test fitting most of these parts for them, but these subframe bushings were specifically meant for the e21.
Everything is back together and there isn't much noticable changes except a bit more NVH and a smoother shifting action. That said, nothing was really worn out back there and the stock subframe bushings like really good, so there's not much to improve on. I hope to put new shocks and springs on it eventually, which make a big difference.
I recorded all of it and have a couple videos for Out Motorsports which hopefully will satisfy some folks.
Next up, valve adjustment, valve cover gasket, oil pan gasket. I noticed the differential is leaking from the pinion seal, the trans is leaking from the output shaft seal, and some other small things I need to tackle. The left speakers aren't working after I took them out to clean the sunroof drains. I have dash lights to install as well and eventually I need to nut up and do the alternator bushings, bit that requires taking off the oil filter housing and potentially the intake, which is very time consuming.
Last edited by SenorTaylor; 01-25-2021 at 08:48 AM.
Member
Nice work, I am gearing up to do a suspension and rear subframe overhaul pretty soon too. Those bushings look nice!
Member
I really like AKG stuff. I run all AKG in my E36 race car so it seemed like a no brainer to reach out to them for E21 stuff.
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If you haven't yet done the back "dash" area, I just re-did mine using a low profile rug from Walmart. It was about $15 I think, and turned out GREAT. There are a few color choices, with tan or black both an option. Leave about an 1/8" in the front and back to push into the crevasses. We actually used PowerGrab to attach the rug to the cardboard piece. Hope this helps!
Tim
Member
That's a good idea! I've been planning to snag the RockAuto carpet kit and that comes with a new parcel shelf carpet.
Member
I'm taking care of a buddy's 2002 for a while, so Betty has company! Unfortunately, they both sleep outside on the street since the race car and my roommate's car stay in the garage.
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Member
New plugs and wires, and then a reset on the timing. She's running better than ever when warm.
Still seems to have a leaking injector. Running super rich and lots of pops and burbles on the overrun. I think that's my warm start issue too. These injectors are not serviceable, so I'll swap to the other set I have and start saving my pennies for some new ones.
Cold start takes a second, seemingly like there is no fuel in the lines and it has to prime. Warm start is quick, but will stall immediately unless you mash the accelerator. Then it will miss for a second like it's too rich, then clear up. If you do not catch it and it stalls in the hot start, then it takes forever to start. Like 30 seconds of cranking.
My thinking is an injector is leaking and pooling on top of the intake valve. On a cold start, it's had enough time to leak past the valve and it's just no fuel in the lines. On a hot start, there is still liquid fuel sitting on top of that valve. You get a chance to fire it off on the first crank since that fuel on top of the valve just falls into the cylinder and you can keep it alive with a lot of throttle. If you don't catch it, then the air fuel ratio is way off with that liquid fuel in there and it doesn't start, plus the lack of fuel in the lines. I think
Also, posted a video on Jake's thing of some brake service.
Member
Injectors aren't serviceable by taking them apart, but they can be backflushed and cleaned using the right equipment.
I gave this a try on my car rather than opt for a whole new set of 6 with good result.
I had similar issues with my car but reversed (warm start is perfect, but very hard to start after stalling when cold) - in my case, I believe the WUR was out of adjustment, and the mixture screw used to compensate.
This resulted in the car running either really well cold, or really well hot (depending on the mixture screw adjustment), but never both.
Once I learned the procedure for adjusting the WUR, these issues were greatly improved, and the fast idle even started working.
Have you checked and verified the system & control pressures, cold and hot?
Last edited by cgifool; 04-01-2021 at 11:12 AM.
Member
Yeah, I'm going to send my original set to my friend at Injector Pulse and see what he can do.
Member
The manifold heat shield bolt holes had rusted out, so I welded some washers on and painted it.
Also finally bit the bullet and installed a cheap head unit. Huge upgrade. The stock one wasn't outputting a good signal to the left side of the car and was barely driving any of the speakers at all.
I swapped ignition coil, ignition module, and all of the injectors around and only made the issue worse. I think of the 8 injectors I have, at least 6 are leaking. Time for rebuilds!
My roughly prioritized list for what I want to fiddle with next?
Get AC working
Battery relocate with rear shock tower brace
H&R lowering springs
New shocks
Get the engine running 100% (warm up regulator, frequency regulator, new injectors, tune fuel mix, get ignition timed)
Valve adjustment
Oil pan gasket
Control arms
Engine mounts
Revert to stock transmission mount (too buzzy)
Shifter rebuild? (Feels fine)
Replace all fuel lines
New hard lines for fuel accumulator
Rebuild fuel accumulator
Repaint wheels
PDR
Get sunroof 100% fixed so I never have to worry about it again (may not be possible?)
New headliner
New carpet
New Dash
New Blower Motor bearings
New windshield
Deep cleaning/detail of underside and engine bay
Euro Bumpers ($$$$$)
Source tan recaros
Source LSD
Source rear sway bar
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Looks like a pretty solid list and great progress on the project!
Fuel accumulators aren't rebuildable exactly, are you just talking about refinishing it to look like new?
David
Member
When's the last time you did a valve adjustment? If you never have, I would put that at the top of the list.
Getting the AC working may be a pretty involved process, I'll look forward to seeing how this works out for you !
I took mine off a couple years back to get it out of the way until whenever I was ready to put it back on, and bought everything I needed except the sanden brackets, and its waiting until pretty much everything else is done (eg forever so far
David
Member
That was my understanding as well, but a local fella I know from Cars and Coffee just rebuilt one that I gave him, so I'm going to see what he did and see how it performs for him.
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This car sat from 1990-2020 when I bought it, so it's very safe to safe the last valve adjustment was some time in the 80s. I'll actually do the valve adjustment next. It'll probably help a lot.When's the last time you did a valve adjustment? If you never have, I would put that at the top of the list.
Getting the AC working may be a pretty involved process, I'll look forward to seeing how this works out for you !
I took mine off a couple years back to get it out of the way until whenever I was ready to put it back on, and bought everything I needed except the sanden brackets, and its waiting until pretty much everything else is done (eg forever so far
David
I have a spare compressor, but none of the tools to really do this. I'm probably going to reach out to a local shop that I've gotten to know the owner at, EAD Motors in Tysons Corner. They've done it a million times, so I may get their assistance.
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