Uwbuurman: 1978 323i polaris: almost done

[uwbuurman]

In 2010, I started a topic in the Dutch 6 cylinder forum, regarding my 1978 323i. Since 2011 I’m restoring this car, and as it turned out, in 2010 it was beyond rescue. Never the less, right now it’s better than it was for the last 3 decades. And I’m not done welding (and spending) yet. So I decided to share my pics with the rest of the world, starting a topic in the English forum also. My Dutch topic is 65 pages long, and very much alive, so it’ll take a few weeks to get this one up to date all the way.

My mum and dad drive BMW’s since 1968, so I practically grew up in them. They had 4 brand new e21’s, 1976 white, 1977 Inca, 1979 polaris and 1982 Zypressen grun. The last two, I can remember. The Polaris, my dad got, one day before I was born. In 2010 my son was born, and that was a good trigger for a search.

But, because of the little fellow, my girl had to have a bigger and saver car, so I traded her Fiesta for an e91 320d. And with that, my 323i dream shifted backwards and I went looking for a 318i of 320/6. Than a very nice 323i appeared on internet, and Jeroen said to go for the faster ones, so I did…
A polaris 323i from 1978, 2.7iconversion. Electric chrome mirrors(type 1) electric antenna ,BMW Bavaria cassette player, headlight wipers, recaro interior, BMW sportsteering wheel, Bilstein/Eibach with 15" Alpina's in perfect shape and good rubber, green tinted windows and a nice shell. Altogether, beyond my budget, but my heart already knew… So I send an email to the seller. No reaction.

The next day the add on internet was gone. To late? By now my heart was crying… I wanted it!!! A few hours later, I was zifting threw the forum and I found the owner hier, so I send him a PM. The 323i was still for sale for the right person, he took the add away because of all the idiotic reactions, testing pilots and tirekickers. Long story in short: I went to look the next Tuesday and collected it the next Saturday. Got to spare doors and a bonnet to go with it. As I was on the road with a friend of mine, we made the trip together.

At the BA (BMW addicts anonymous) this week I said:

I’m Koos and I own a E21.

At the sellers:


Parts and car loaded up


On the trailer:




Drove it home the last kilometers:


More to come in this story!

[Lars-Nord]

Nice to get your story in english also. I have gone true your story many times, and got some panic When arnold did the frist welding under the side window. Remember i went out 01.30 and tok the backseat and sidepanels of to look for rust. It turned out good for me. It look's new all the way on my car, but it is bad to see your car and all the work you have done to it. Good work and hope you again can say that you have a good Nice E21 that you are proud of. At least you Are doing a lot yourself. I just hierd Jeremy to do my work.

[Mihajlo]

I read your Dutch topic fiew months ago and all I can say is

[Jeroen]

Thanks for the start on a thread that is likely to fill a few more pages, Koos

[uwbuurman]

Well, the e21 is very nice but not perfect. I knew that when I bought it. The day after the very first Sharknosemeeting ever, which I attended, I took out the left rear window. As it turned out, the whole rubber sealing was glued in, so I had to use great force to push it out. Of course, I took of a nice strip of paint…
Under the rubber seal I saw: rust and a hole, more rust in the corners and lots of filler. I’m learning that this car has lots of filler, putty and sealant under the paint. So at this moment, august 29th 2010, I think that there is quite a bit of extra weight on my car in putty. Probably the whole car has to be stripped down in the next 3 years for some restoration work.

[uwbuurman]

So I told my girl that I really would drive it up to my storage and take her apart right away, but that’ll be too expensive for now. Besides that, I need to understand more of the e21, or she’ll probably end up in boxes, for sale. And that would be a shame for a car like this!
So the hole under the left rear window had to be repaired. Weld it shut and paint it properly. Than a new MOT in 2011 that ‘ll last me for 2 more years and somewhere in 2013, I’ll start taking her apart for restoration. We’ll see about that, but first the pictures.

[uwbuurman]

Like I wrote before, the 323i has some attentionpoints. Right now, in 2010, it’s 32 years old old, so it just happens. The most urgent matter is the rusthole under the left rear window. This is wat it looked like, before I took out the window. At this point I still had the hope for a simple repair.











En van binnenuit, de achterkant van het gat:



At first I cleaned it all up, to see the full extent of the damage.





Than I put some rust converter on it. That makes a chemical reaction between the metal and the oxygen and solves the rust, converting it to solid material again. After that I cleaned it up and put some zincspray on it

The rotten part had to be cut out, so a new piece could be welded in to place.





At this moment in 2010 I don’t know how to weld and I don’t have a welding machine. But our great member Arnold D. has a nice welder and knows how to use it. . He helped me out, big time!





After that I grainded down and primered it again.





After that i finished it up, filler, primer, colour and clearcoat. Doing it the best, the whole panel had to be painted, but I need a new door as well some time soon. I’ll have it painted all together, but not now. So I bought a praycan at the dealers. OEM BMW Polaris paint.
Primer:









And colour







clearcoating



At the end of the day, my rusthole is gone!





After this, I have to put the window back in, but I’m still cleaning the seals. After that I have to put the doorcards and the rearseat back in.

On to the next job! Many thanks to Arnold!

[uwbuurman]

Just curious: How's my English and how do you like the story so far? Continue or not? If yes, than there will be more than 500 pics posted...

[polov8]

English is good, way better than my dutch!

Have to say, I cheated and went through your dutch thread, obviously, only for the pictures, but wow, you really got stuck into that thing! Please post more in English!

[uwbuurman]

Thanks! Will do! And yes, I'm in this, neck deep....

[uwbuurman]

September 2010, time for the Ardennestour. My first multiple days tour, having fun in the hills! A 2.7 6 stroker comes in handy in those surroundings. 9.15 on the 18th of September in Cugnon-sur-Semois, ready for the start! My beautiful 323i was ready for the start, oil: check, coolant: check, petrol: check, mood: very good: weather: very good!
We started last of the field, and that’s how it would be all day… Jeroen, Ite, Arnold, Lars, Gerrit, Gerwin, they all thought they were Schumi on a good day, so the people behind them had to drive like the stole the car, to keep up. So I did.

After a few fast corners, my oil light came on every now and then, so I let the others go and slowed down. Some 10 minutes later I meet up with the front of the team, when they were taking a break. Good moment to check my oil level, !! NO oil on the dipstick NONE NADA ZIP, dry like a hooker on a holiday… I poured in my whole spare litre oil. Still dry!!! Ite was kind enough to give me two litres, nice and thick 20w50. That would last me all day, right? Wrong…

Whomever was driving behind me, appeared to experience some thick fog every now and then. Pedal to the metal resulted in a big cloud of oil fume. Speeding up and then release the throttle was success granted, big blue clouds… Never the less, every 20 kilometres I checked the oillevel, but no massive oil use.
At the end of the tour in Nuefchateau, the level was down halfway the dipstick again. Arnold sold me another spare litre so with the oil on level again I drove via Antwerp towards home, all the way up north of the Netherlands. Tseard and a friend of his live nearby and drove up with me, just is case the car would brake down.
Right from the start to Antwerp the car was protesting heavily, not delivering any torque, shaking and thumping badly. A little elevation in the road meant that Tseard disappeared in thick smoke. And that damned car was stuttering all the way, still having another 450 kilometers to go…

In Antwerp I rechecked the oillevel, again way to low, so Tseard gave me another 4 litres. The car needed about 2,5 to 3 litres. Back on the motorway the car handled much better, I could maintain a speed of about 120 km/h. Stopped at the McDonalds for a burger and an oil refill. I needed the rest of the 4 litres to put it on max again. So another 4 litres used.

After the McD, the car ran better than before, spurred like a kitten at 140, 150 km/h, but faster than that resulted in horrific sounds and thick smoke. We drove towards home, but about 100 kilometers from I needed another litre.. pffff Finally at home the dipstick was at ¾.

Problem: It burns oil like a jet burns kerosine midflight… every 50 kilometers 1 litre…
Coolant is clear, no oil, on level.
Engine was overhauled 20k km’s ago.
This engine is probably very much dead, need to do a compression and a leak test this winter.

Al I know for sure at this point: the season is over. Period.

[323baur]

Those were the days

[uwbuurman]

crap, by doing this, I'm reliving it again. Painfull to lose my 323i like this, Ite....

[Thegs]

But it will be back, better than ever!

[Peter V.]

But it will be back, better than ever!

That's a fact.