bmwe21.net forums

Hi Everyone.
just joined the forum and its looking good already.
had a change of car, sold my mk1 focus rs, and decided to go rwd, love my 2.0d x3 so a BMW it was.
I have bought a 1982 e21 316 from a friend for £500, comes with 5speed box, better carb ( webber one??) some period recaro's has been previously "restored" but not really up to scratch.
will be a complete strip to metal hopefully,due to the poor red over white paint job. already purchased a 4.1 lsd from germany, a genuine LH rear inner arch and 2 pattern rear arch repair panels,
i am looking for a rear boot panel and possibly a boot floor if any one has anything for sale,
will start posting progress pics in another thread soon.
thinking the car will be minimal/hotrod interior, painted to match exterior.
slightly stretched wings with 8j fron 9j rear period splitrims,
better get my goggles and paint stripper to get rid of 20kg of underseal. haha

thanks martin

Welcome here. Enjoy the forum but please let us see the car. Pictures are a must over here!

Welcome here! Yeah we want some pics! Please post them in this topic, I'll move it over to the owners gallery section. Enjoy!

Hi Guys,
was going to post a new thread in the owners cars, but if you say so.
they may need resizing plz









hope the pics work.

as it stood last night. now has most interior stripped, only rot so far is passenger footwell. most of the work will be cleaning, removing sound proofing and loosing a bit of weight.
been inspired a lot by hotrod.com's recent article on "build a cool bare bone interior".
it has had new sills in the past, needs new inner outer rear arches and rear panel if i cant find a new one will need to be repaired.

Your opinions please on stripping the paint??
aircraft paint stripper from cirrus systems looks good, then D/A sand and cleanup??
will try to make a spit of some kind to get all the spatterings of underseal from the underside off, as much bare metal as possible, repair, acid etch, 2k primer,seam sealer, upol gravitex, colour, laquer.
i really love the Sepang bronze e21 but dont like to copy, but it may have to be done.
time scale, mid to end of summer 2013, with luck.

boot was getting wet and needs some patches, so a new boot seal is needed.
also have a set of 4 pot brembos from a late 90's 7 series to install with the 323 discs.

Can a moderator change the title of the thread to something more suitable like "pandemoniums E21 restoration" please?

didnt get much done today, took pics of yesterdays time remiving doors and trim.

not to bad i dont think i have seen cars worse after 30 years.


when do you think it will start to spool up??

brembo's have been PMB'd

if required


if your seat wobbles a bit and you just bought the car always check!! it might be like this!!


gathered a few bits over time.


i also have the full charge cooler setup from my old RS after installing the FMIC


spent a bit today, bmw cotswold , new rear boot panel, boot floor, rear right/left outer wheel tub halfs and rear arch repair panels on the way.
new boot seal ordered as well.

Nice plans mate!

nice amount of car for 500 notes lad

best thing ive found for paint removal is the kinda honeycomb stuff on a grinder

something like

http://www.screwfix.com/p/oakey-paint-r ... tAodk2QATA#

what are your plans for your interior and steering wheel/boss? I am after a boss and wouldnt mind some supportive but period seats.

whats the engine going to be or have i missed that? just original turbo'd?

I was thinking along the same lines for paint removal,
you get the same kind of discs for 115mm grinders as well "poly" something strip discs about £60 for 20 of them.
a combination of these and cirrus aircraft paint stripper, it biodegradable, can be washed down the drains, and about £150 should strip the whole car.
stil trying to decide on wheels for a decent price, i like wide and offset, but need to get them and Gaz GHA's before i can really do the rear arches incase there is a bit of clrearance required.
a nice set of oz turbo split rims 15" 8j 10j
bbs rm 15" 7.5j 8.5j
interior will be minimalistic paint coded to the ouside, no cage just clean and tidy,
i will be keeping the steering wheel and boss for now but might change to a different momo or period motorport steering wheel.
The seats are quite comfy, but the idiot who installed them cut a bit of the passenger tilt handle to make em fit, and things like that bug me. so possible a set of kirkeys or fishnet heated recaro's from a jdm isuzu trooper,
Engine plans will be confirmed after the body trim and rear drive train are all done, but thinking possible lightened balance and blueprinted m10 on r1 carbs with megajolt ignition, it is easy then to just bolt a turbo on and run blow through if i wish.

the turbo in the pic was bit of a joke, its a holset hx35 the other is a garrett air research t25 and a garrett gt18vnt which needs new seals and possible brgs from my 2.0 X3.
i also have another plan for an engine which will cost a bit more but would be great fun.
i want to keep the torque in the limits for the e21 shafts and diff, so for more bhp that means more revs!!

my focus was 310lbft and 308bhp
so i will be hapy with 180lbft and 7500rpm if i can get the weight down enough.

well some nice bits arrived in the post today.
.

stripped som more of the car today. took out the rear speakers and found this

some people!

as the car stands now

top work

Nice work mate. Do like a red e21.

just wondering is tha hx35 going spare?

its spare ATM, but i dont like to get rid of things with potential.

dash and front window are now out, will load more pics tommorrow.

dash was taken out yesterday
[/img]
easy job, this many nuts

take the cluster out.

disconnect 3 heater cables unplug everything, disconnect the easy brackets you can see and pull it out releasing the 2 clips in the middle



whole loom is out the car now, will crack on with mechanicals on monday, 20hrs this weekend, my weekend on at work.