A Brand New E21 owner is born

[irishe21]

Hello there, I've been reading through your very thorough threads for the last few days and so far they have been very helpful in gathering information up to when I made an offer on an 1982 Irish E21 320 (albeit with a 4cyl 1.8L engine) today. Its red and a bit rough and ready but a great base for someone as inexperienced as I am for a restoration project. The engine is running brilliantly and on my test drive, I fell in love with it. My only other consideration was a Mk1 Golf GTi but the e21 has more style methinks.

My idea is to keep it fairly original, by doing it retro Mod. As I haven't even taken delivery of the car I don't want to put up many pictures in case for some reason the sale doesn't go through smoothly but I really hope it does.

My first job is to lower the car so I'm thinking of just getting springs to start and get the shocks as time goes on. I also want to get wheels straight away. I am hoping that you guys may be able to help advise me on the size measurements that I should look at. I think 13x7 wheels would suit the car as I'm not ready to upgrade the engine yet and this will improve acceleration and handling with the new lower height. Could you advise if 13x7's fit and what profile should I be looking at. So far I've been looking at these,

http://www.midlandwheels.com/Shop/P-699 ... 101.6.html

Link to My 1982 Euro E21 320
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8064862@N04/9309001863/

Could you also advise what Springs would be best for me? I was looking at these
http://jkautospares.co.uk/sys/products/ ... 0&vmy=1982

Any help will be most appreciated

[polov8]

Looks like it has great potential!

[Jeroen]

Hi John,

Welcome here! Congrats on a nice dog eh car!

Do like the wheels, but I'm afraid the negative offset will become an issue. Perhaps they can supply a different offset is well, like ET10?

Never heard of Poison Elf racing goods and it looks like Chinese (s)crap metal to me, including their logo hahaha. Think I'd settle for one of the established names like Apex, H&R, Eibach for the same money or even less, or perhaps go coilover like Gaz.

I'm sure some others will pop by with additional advice. For now, enjoy the forum and above all, your E21!

[irishe21]

Ok I have changed my mind several times today but these wheels look like the best...



only problem is the offset is 25

http://www.wheelbasealloys.com/alloy-wh ... ed/15-inch

Is there a way of getting these to fit?

in relation to springs I've discarded those poison elf ones and I am looking at something like these,

http://www.europerformancedirect.co.uk/ ... ar=bmw3e21

but could you advise if I should go for the 60/40 or 60/60?

The car is a 320 but currently has the 4cyl so the front seems to be sitting higher

[Jeroen]

Lighter engine makes it sit higher on 320 spring I guess. Spax are better already I believe!

Wheels... offset being slightly higher is not a problem as that can be sorted using spacers. Spacer specialists please help us out but I think he needs at least 10mm spacers, possibly even 15mm?

[irishe21]

Thanks Joroen

I should be getting delivery of the car Monday or Tuesday so all good. I can measure out what I want to drop it by then I guess.

Will I need spacers all round?

And with the springs, yeah its a toss up between Spax and H&R. Just have to read a few reviews or get a recommendation to seal the deal.

[irishe21]

Progress Report!!

Its been a while since I last logged in but that's mostly because I've been so busy with my E21. I Lowered the car by 35mm all round and put on new wheels & Tyres which add to it's stance. Then I decided to tackle the rusty hole in the roof over the drivers head so I had to strip the interior down for fire-proofing for the welding work. When taking the lining out I realised I had to take out all the windows and strip is right back to a shell. The problem with that is putting it back together has become a real pain. I've made a lot of progress in the last few days but now I'm seriously stuck re-installing the sunroof. There is very little on the internet about the re-installation and the Haynes manual is useless. I have a lot of pictures to show you, but if some one could assist me with the sunroof I'd be greatly appreciative! I fear I may just have to swallow my pride and bring it to a sunroof specialist during the week.

















and then I started stripping down









I decided to try a bit of painting











Rust hole sanded back above drivers head and roof rail...





and repaired... brilliant job!!







a refreshed rear, new badge, exhaust tip, painted panel, polished the rest...



not sure whether to paint this or not??



The sunroof problems...can anyone see what Im doing wrong?? or even better could you post pictures of your sunroof to this post so I can compare!? Mine is a manual slide & tilt sunroof

[TopCat]

why don't you just weld in a piece of roof and delete the sunroof?

[TURBINE]

Hi irishe21,great looking car.looks loike it was a very good shell to start with.Keep up the good work!
Im in kells,meath myself only down the road from you,ive an 82 320/6 e21 myself.
What problem are you having with sunroof,locating it on the brackets? my own e21 has no sunroof,hopefully someone else here may be along to give you some advice on it

[D-M93E21]

alright mate how low have you gone and the size wheels ?

[bob147]

I have a e21 with a sunroof if I new how to upload a picture I'd put 1 up of the sunroof I'm new to this site so haven't worked it out yet I'm in meath aswell