My 83 316 E21 Project

[Doey]

Just joined the forum been browsing for awhile thought the best way to introduce myself is starting a build thread so here you go

Always wanted an E21 but could never find one until now..

Came across this on a classic car website , the advert had no pictures just a discription after calling him up he sent me over a couple pics, soon as i saw them i drove just over 2hours to view it and payed a deposit.

Turns out he's owned it from new so basically the last 30years always been garaged and only done about 4k a year from new , I'm the second owner....

Anyway heres the details

83 Bmw 316 (1.8 carb) 4 cylinder
112k on the clock
Original paint with no dents and basically no chips
Its so straight and clean only bit of rust i could find is a tiny bit by the bottom of the windscreen but its only surface
Still has the tool kit and spare wheel with michelin tyre from factory
Only changes its had is a weber carb because the original pierburg ones fail

And the pictures



























Thanks for looking ill be updating it regularly with the plans i have

[G_e21]

that looks a great car,what plans you got for it?

[Jeroen]

Welcome! Congrats on a rare clean and unmolested example... hope you plan to keep her that way!

[Doey]

Well as for plans they may not be to everyones taste but ill be changing the suspension to air bag struts and I'm undecided on wheels at the moment

Also ill be changing the front seats to period recaros and re trimming the interior in the original blue or as close as possible

[BMW CLUB MACEDONIA]

please dont. find another one and make that things.

[Peter V.]

So, that's a nice one. Pure car in a perfect colour. Any plans with the car or are you keeping it original?

[G_e21]

sounds good,looks like a really clean car you got yourself,where are you about?

[Jeffrey]

have u bought this bmw from welwyn ?? i call to gay and he told me it is sold.

[Doey]

Haven't updated this in awhile been busy with work ect anyway here are the plans i have for the car and what I've been working on

Plans :

Air suspension
Recaro front seats with full re trim and new black carpet
Upgraded audio
New wheels to come later in the year

Ill let all the pictures do the talking

Air suspension setup :








How the boot install currently looks still have the wiring to finish and obviously all the panels need to be trimmed



Also the boot install will include Hardlines once finished



Next the interior i wasn't going to change it that much but i got a bit carried away when i removed the carpet and noticed how faded it was





Heres the recaros and all the interior out



Front seats fitted using the original subframes also you can just about see the new black carpet



As for the re trim I'm going for tweed centres





Also doing an under seat sub plus upgraded 6x4 speakers and headunit , more pics of all that once installed



So thats where I'm at hopefully getting some of the interior back from the trimmers soon and installing all the audio this weekend so more updates then

Thanks for looking

[arshad76]

I've never thought about tweed and black leather, but I think it will make a superb combination. Like the other plans too. Look forward to seeing more photos .

[Doey]

I've never thought about tweed and black leather, but I think it will make a superb combination. Like the other plans too. Look forward to seeing more photos .

Cheers mate ,i thought about full tweed but i think that might be a bit to much if you get what i mean

[arshad76]

I think that would also look ok, but I like the subtle contrast with the black and it will be much more hard wearing than alacantara. You may just start a trend here!

[Doey]

I think that would also look ok, but I like the subtle contrast with the black and it will be much more hard wearing than alacantara. You may just start a trend here!

Don't know about a trend I'm pretty sure its been done before ha

[Jeroen]

Not exactly sitting still, nice progress!

[Doey]

No big updates I'm waiting for the interior to get back from the trimmers

But i purchased a new steering wheel 350mm nardi