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Time for the last piece of the puzzle before we can start the engine, and that is the cooling.



Bit of fiddling with a small screwdriver



New hoses



New sensors for the first and second step of the fan.



New hoses fitted

No original BMW hose clamps?

They are. Only BMW. This is what new looks like, JW

What is that strange word between 'what' and 'looks'?

Gheghe, I don't know why but my mind told me that those looked like el cheapo clamps, now I recognise.

Well Wow, I started reading at around 10 pm last night after Koos sent me the link for his build after helping me immensely with my boot floor rust woes. I peeled my eyes from my screen at half-past one this morning and I've only reached page 15 so far, I now have a moment at 12.30 pm and I'm back for more. I've had to jump ahead without looking just to say thank you for such a wonderful read, I'm new here so I didn't see it when posted, If I were on here then you'd have never have had to worry if anyone was listening, I'd have bent your ear with questions daily. I am in awe at how much you have put into this lucky little car. I seriously doubt the car was so meticulously assembled in the factory. I am still to see where you are up to as I refuse to jump ahead and ruin the ending...If indeed it has been reached yet. Your commitment and skill set are above commendable and your level of patience is something I, as a typical redhead, can only hope to attain during my life let alone my E21 project. There will no doubt be many times I refer to your thread, (which is in my view the definitive Mk1 restoration), before diving into a job on mine.
I must admit that it does strike me with a certain amount of fear about the task I am about to undertake whilst reading through though, I can't weld, I have friends who can so it's not a show stopper but I'd like to be able to undertake these tasks myself, so I'm finally going learn and I'm very excited about it. I'm pretty good with mechanics though, so I'm not a total grommet.
The horrors you have had to put straight along the way I have found genuinely frightening at times, the state of the floor pans was just downright dangerous and whoever did it needs a visit to the dock for endangerment to life and limb. I've never seen filler so thick directly on top of rust, totally unacceptable.
We too live in a seaside town so I'm hoping that the car hasn't spent its life here and that it's not quite full of so many surprises...but anyway, this isn't my thread to air my fears, I just had to offer my greatest respect for not only your patience but also to your diligence to a job well done and I hope the satisfaction of completion is as equally staggering as the Journey.

Thank you, Sav, for all your kind words. To kind. When I started this project I didn't know wat lied ahead, and I am glad I didn't. I couldn't weld, didn't know anything about engines etc. I learned along the way...

If you look in this 6 cilinder section, there is also the build of Bertbuschl. Better pics, same standard. Also a great line of pics to go through.

As for the jobs ahead on your e21, just buy a good welding machine, some chuncks if metal and fire away. Ask your friends with welding experience and just try. Like you say, you have technical skills, so welding can be learned. One step at te time.

Now the enginecompartment is all filled, it is time to finish the interior. Seats and doorcards still had to go in.

So I got the old Recaro’s out.





For some time now I had the new Recaro straps on the shelf, as a replacement for the old elastic bands.



Old bands



The new ones are at regular Recaro size, without the BMW extendable seat. So I had to adjust them.



Steel bar cut and bent.



See the difference between old and new. New ones are very tight fit, where the old ones were way over due.



See how tight a fit it is, now the middle hook is not hooked on yet.



Done



The old straps were gone, as shown here. Previous owner took some towels from his bathroom and stuffed them in there…

Seats mounted in the car, left me with the doorcards. I found out that my car should have a type 1 doorhandle, but it hadn’t. So I dove into my warehouse and found the right one. The type 1 handle has a chrome piece, usually corroded, but I was lucky enough to find a new piece.



Windowcrank pieces were not complete, but now they are.



With new dampfoil behind it (no pic) is the doorcard mounted.

I needed to blacken the harts of my Alpinas after coating.









And that is how my E21 323i got ot his four wheels!! Wings still off, haha.

Original sticky gum (or what is that crap) between the wing and body.



Heated the drain from the sunroof, so it runs right.



Wing fitted





And my Alpina’s

Beautyful, looking over this story again

Thanks Rob, I must admit that every now and then I scroll through my topic, just to look at the pics.