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Welcome here Rob! A nice read and photos on a sweet project. And after a test drive in Ite's M535 I know what these cars are capable of, I understand your passion! Anyway, keep us posted and enjoy the forum!

He jeroen, I just bought an another e12. Lets build yours...

Nice project.

I know two recaro seats in black leather. They have to be refurbished but are complete. They are from an E24 type 1. But they are the same as from an E12.

Contact www.classicbmwparts.nl and they can tell you if they are still for sale..

grtz Peter Kapteyn

Hi, this is Joost, the friend of Rob, we're building the E12 535i together.
We want to keep the looks of the car as a type 1, so also the mirrors and interior.
The rest will be like frankenstein, a bit E28, a piece of E24 and also E34. So not a replica, just a really nice looking car that will drive like hell!

here is some extra info about the project:

Via the other thread I've learned to strengthen the Diff mount. So thats going on the to do list.

the motor compartment is pretty decent, only the place where the battery lives is a bit rusty.


As you can see, the stabilizer runs in front of the car, under the oil pan.
And the part where the motor sits are more to the middle than a E28/E34


Here you can see the stabilizer running under the oil pan, so we fitted this E12 pan to the B35.
Plus we replaced the oil pump.



We also replaced the water output on the back of the head for better cooling
The B35 is closed up in the back:


The B28 has an opening, where a hose fits:


fitted on the b35:


We are going to use the e28 rear axle and diff, so we can use the speed meter of the E28 (E12 has a cable to the gearbox)
We unbolted all the parts of the rear suspension/axle (its still on the car) and we compared the E28 with the E12.

The stabilizer of the E12 is connected to the suspension so it will come of when we remove the whole rear end.


But the E28 stabilizer runs on the backside of the car and is connected on the car itself.


We will use a stabilizer of a E28 type 1. This has the same stabilizer as the type 2 we already have, but then with the curve in the middle to go around the diff mount.
We will weld the brackets on the axle assembly, so not on the car itself. A lot easier when the axle is in the open than welding under the car.

We found a 3.25 diff of an E28 type 1 with the mount in the middle, so it will fit on our E12


Next steps:

finish the painting of the car and then the technical stuff, first change the rear suspension/axle and the new diff.
And the front suspension etc.

- what exhaust manifold can we use for the B35 in our E12?

nice, good progressive

a beautifull car like that needs also a beautifull interior. What is coming inside?


greetings loentje

Welcome .. nice project guys

haha, as you know Loentje, we found Recaro front sportseats.
We also have a nice black type 1 interior, but we're probably going to sell it

Today was a good day! First we worked on our car and find more rust then expected but nothing we couldn't handle.
We want to finish the paint job in two weeks... And with some luck i find a e24 type 1 recaro interior.
We gone refurbish it with black leather.. But we wil do that when the car is almost ready.

here are some pictures!

Green, my favorite colour.

These recaros are not type 1 i am afraid. These are the very rare real recaro with the big sides.
The ideal sitze which you need have lower sides on the backrest.
Nevertheless: this set is very rare and expensive altough!

That is weird.. Because those were mounted in a e24 type 1.
But i will find out if they fit when the car is back from the painter.
Otherwise i will sell them.

They look like Type 1 e24 recaro's to me. I'll check with the type one E24 at classicbmwparts.nl I'm there friday I think and will make pictures.

That would be nice and otherwise we will make them fit...

I do not have any pics yet, but these are original for a e24 type 2.
These seats with the big sides are very expensive!
The ideal sitz 81, which belong to our older cars have smaller shoulders and wings at the side.
Nevertheles, they are rare and very fine to have!

Recently i sold a superb leather set to spain for euro 1650,-..