bmwe21.net forums

Great!

I made it to retrorides and back again this year, another great event.

I even got a mention in the slam sanctuary write up of the event which i'm chuffed with.

http://www.slamsanctuary.com/2016/09/re ... ring-2016/

Looking good and living the dream

Spotted you on the M60 today, driving to Sheffield to pick up my Wife's new car and saw an E21 up ahead so I stuck my foot down to catch up. We were in a black Kuga - you wouldn't have known who it was if I had beeped you so just drove past, then got stuck in that traffic jam!

And after battling all the way to Sheffield they found the wipers on the new (as in brand new) car weren't working so we did the paperwork and drove home in the old one which is very annoying. They are going to drive the new one over when they have figured out why the wipers broke.

Anyway it was nice to see an E21 out on the road again!

Ah no way!
Oh good luck getting to Sheffield this morning with that traffic!
I was probably distracted, it was at that point hitting the traffic that my fuel light came on so I was bricking it!

On another note, anyone know how long you have after the light comes on? I've not been brave enough...

Fortunately the blockage ws to the left of the denton roundabout and I was going right, took a while to get through the roundabout but clear after that.

Fuel light - just assume you are about to run out!

drjim wrote:Fuel light - just assume you are about to run out!

That's exactly what I do!

Just full her up as soon as the lights goes on, than you know how much fuel was left with the light on. I think about 5 liters, but you'll know soon

Oh yes, of course!

So last week I took a bit of a plunge by buying this, an M42 from an E30 318is.
I still don't know exactly all of the steps required so I'll be asking for help, but I plan on documenting it all here for anyone else doing it in future.

Firstly, a note on the reason for choosing the M42.
Everyone's decision process is different and you'll have different factors which dictate the direction you go.
This is my only car so it's my daily driver and hence has to be reliable, economical, comfortable, and practical but also fun.

An engine swap to a more modern and powerful engine seems to fit in with this.
Of the options available, M20/M50/M52/M42/M44 etc, I chose the M42 because:
-It'll be much more powerful than the existing M10
-It'll be more economical than the M10
-Be as/more reliable than the M10 (not that it gave me any real trouble bar the oil consumption )
-It should be easier/cheaper to install and run than the M52
-My insurance company will like it a LOT more than the 2.8 idea!
-It will allow me to use my exising gearbox and diff arrangement with the swap to the correct bell housing (i hope) see here:
http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=19851

Some unknowns for me:
-Sub frame requirement
-driveshaft requirement
-radiator
-I'm sure there's lots more I can't think of at the minute so any help is welcome!

I finally got my 323i rear swing arms with E30 discs finished off.
A pleasant Saturday afternoon spend in a wheel arch.

I'm quite happy with the braking power of the car now, ready for more power!

Some progress prepping the engine.

I've practically stripped all the ancillaries off for everything to be cleaned up and painted, new gaskets etc fitted where necessary.

We took the sump off to do the same and check for the common M42 problem of sump bolts coming undone.




Lo and behold some of the bolts had come undone.


Cleaned up and torqued up with locktite to make sure they don't come undone again


The block cleaned up and painted in high temp paint

I popped down to ASWR BMW parts and purchased another Getrag 240 from an E30 318i (M40 engined) to use the bell housing with my M10 gearbox in order to keep the speedo functional and got a radiator from an M44 engined Z3. Its a bot big and a bit crusty but it has a port for a temp switch to operate an electric fan so it'll do for now.

Always nice to get parts in! Nice progress!