Grey-market/US 323i rescue

[blue7500]

Hi all, before I ask for help and use the forum as a resource I thought I'd share what I'm working with. I found this car on craigslist with a broken timing belt/bent valves and in the process of being parted out back in March (3/23, ha!) and purchased it outright from the seller without front seats, transmission, rear disc brakes, and front bumper. Since then it's been a gradual process of gathering parts and reassembling it.

It's a 1982 323i that was brought into California at some point early in its life, although I purchased it with a Montana title and registration.


Pictured as purchased.


Engine bay the day I bought it. Bent valves live inside. All of the accessories/injection parts are in the trunk.


I've always liked single 7" headlights, so I bought a set. Airdam and valence are from a donor (very rusty) 320is.


I bought a heckblende, trunk spoiler, wheels, and tires before getting the car to run. Wise? Probably not.


Reupholstered Recaros from the same donor 320is.


The engine so far. Note the, uh, custom exhaust manifold and heat shield, cut/drilled for an oxygen sensor.

This is my first E21 so I'm still relatively new to the platform. I've had a '69 2002 for about 16 years now, so most of this car is familiar to me but certain areas (especially K-Jet!) have been a learning experience. I hope to learn a lot being here.

[uwbuurman]

Oh cool that you'll save her. I can imagine that it is hard to come by parts for a 323i, overthere?

Of course we can help gathering parts, if needed. Over here we still have sufficient stock, also NOS sheetmetal.

Keep us posted!

[blue7500]

Good into know. Yes, 323i-specific parts can be found in the US, but are rare. All of the gearboxes have been snatched up by 2002 guys looking to M20-swap their cars. There is a pair of disc brake trailing arms for sale locally, but for $1200, I'll stick with the 320i drums. I've seen that E30 rear calipers will bolt up to the disc brake trailing arms, so I have a tentative plan to weld extensions onto the trailing arms to mount these calipers to use with solid rotors.

The main things I've been searching for are a decent late HVAC control panel (mine broke all of its cable stays), and a kastanienrot right fender, hood, and valence.

[uwbuurman]

E30 calipers is not a straight fit, you have to machine the bracket a bit. I have those on my 323i. But drums are not sufficient for driving more happy with your 323i.

[blue7500]

I went through the full ETM wiring diagram of the car to make sure everything functions as it should. I took this picture right around Christmas, so here's a fully illuminated gauge cluster with all its pretty lights The only issue I don't quite understand is the fuel gauge - it drops to 0, until I pull out the sender and move the float - then it goes up and down the scale as it should. Maybe some kind of grounding issue with the tank? Not sure.


In the process of defornicating the wiring harness, I found the worst splices on earth inside the fusebox. Barf.


Fixed with an uninsulated butt splice and adhesive heat shrink. Done.


Checking the fuel system - system pressure looks great.


The control pressure was a challenge to set up, but I think I got it mostly to where it should be...


... most of the challenge was due to the fact that I installed the bimetallic strip into the WUR upside-down. The control pressure would decrease as the system warmed up! I got that all squared away and now it looks good.

After some coaxing, I got it to start and run! I'm pretty happy with that considering that two months ago I didn't even know how K-Jet worked. I rebuilt the fuel distributor and warmup regulator with parts and rebuild guides from kjet.biz – I highly recommend them, Colin was very responsive and helpful over email.

So after I got it to idle and start to warm up, I noticed it dripping coolant, from somewhere on the radiator. I had to track it down and see if it was fixable.


Found it. That little tiny split on one of the tubes caused it to hemorrhage coolant. (The broken fins are the result of my, maybe less than elegant, inspection methods.)

Being that this car was never sold in America, OEM(ish) radiators are impossible to find here. Obviously one option is W&N, but it's not cheap, and even less cheap to have shipped halfway across the world. eBay, however, is another story.


I found this on eBay for $122 shipped. Definitely Chinese. Might need some modification to fit, but for $122 you can't go wrong! (Note: you can.)


I am pretty sure this radiator was designed over the phone. First, I had to cut the flanges off the sides of the core because otherwise it was too wide to fit in the core support. The cups on the bottom to locate onto the rubber mounts were mid-plane as they should be; this works fine for a radiator that's 2" deep, but not so much for one that's 3" deep. Hence the mounts are off-center by about .5". I also doesn't allow the mechanical fan to fit.


You'll also notice the lower hose barb practically points forward compared to where the hose meets it.

The seller was apologetic and tried to help me make something work, and gave me a partial refund. But ultimately, I think this is just different enough to not work. I could chop off the mounting cups and lower barb, and have them relocated by someone who can weld aluminum, so I will keep that in my back pocket.

But for now - and hate me all you want for this - I'll just hit that crack with JB Weld. Will this radiator fail at the next weakest point? Well, I mean obviously, the end tanks have a 1981 molding date on them. That will just keep me on my toes while driving it.


Current state of the engine bay. If you didn't assume by the white core support, hood, and fender, this car definitely was crashed at some point.

That's all for now. Are there any fellow California 323i owners on this board? I have questions about federalization and smog requirements!

[uwbuurman]

Ah, great work on the K-jet parts! To bad though, that that chinese rad didn't work out for you.

[blue7500]

I'm trying to understand the vacuum system on this car.



Someone correct me if I'm wrong - hose 4 goes to brake booster, hose 7 to valve cover breather, and 3 goes to the manifold.

I'm also really curious of the purpose of #1, listed as 11611284269 AIR PUMP in the parts diagram. It seems like it's some kind of check valve; E30 325i's use it as well. There, the in-line ports go between the manifold and the booster check valve, and the branch goes to the intake boot. But it also has a hose that goes directly from the manifold to the check valve. It appears that in that application, people simply remove it and plug the holes left by its absence.

If this is the case, I feel like I could plug its hole in the manifold, and plumb the water/air bypass intake into the tee at the intake boot+valve cover breather.

[bealo]

Nice to another one being saved

[Jeroen]

You are correct on the #1 part, AFAIK this can only be found on the very latest versions, like from 1982. Haven't seen those often, also don't know its purpose, but I'd reckon you can do without.