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Project: BMW E21.



Jason_E

ClioSport Club Member
  Elise, 530d
If you put clear indicators on it I'll come and take all your things from you and make you think about what you've done.
 
Detailed the car today with Chris, gave it a full decon and got some solid protection down in the form of Zaino Z2 after a heavy session of Prima Amigo. Will get some pics up when I get chance to take some, the ones I took today are a bit pap!

Looks a lot better for it, and it beads like a dream now, few things to get sorted over the coming weeks, including sorting the heater/fans out, as something isn't working somewhere.

Also:



Yum.

Get them on at some point next week, and yes I know it's a '77 and it should be a pre '73 but I'll keep a spare set of legal plates in the boot, incase I get an eager copper.

Really am loving it now, the way it drives is amazing, so direct and although the body roll is comparable to that of a canal boat, it handles reasonably well!
 

Padso

ClioSport Club Member
  Merc
Awesome love the shape of the nose on these old BMWs. Currently trying to resist temptation to pick up a 2002 and fit the racing arches.
 
Yesterday saw me spend the entire day working on the car, the plan was to get the interior stripped out, so I could locate a leak that is causing moisture on the drivers side carpet.

I went to start the car so I could move it in front of the garage, but of course, in standard fashion, it wouldn't start.

So I pushed it over to the garage, and went about finding the problem.

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Jon.G & Welshname (Rhys) came over to give me a hand with it, we started by checking the fuel lines, they seemed fine, so I tried starting it, and voila, it started. Possibly I flooded the engine with fuel with my multiple attempts, then it drained? I dunno.

Anyway, now that the engine was fine, we started on the interior. Because BMW are epic, nearly every bolt is a 10mm, so only one socket and spanner is needed to remove almost all the interior.

Once we had the seats and the carpet out, the extent of the leak was apparent. We took the sound deadening off which was saturated in water:

(sorry for the diabolical iPhone camera)

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And you can see the water damage is contained to the drivers side:

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Anyway, time was pressing on so we never found where the water is coming in from, but now the interior is out, I'm happy.

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I wanted to fit my black and silver plates, but again, there was no time, so I'll have to do that in the dark this week at some point :(

Also, and more concerningly, there is a crack/hole in the passenger footwell, looks to be a weld seam that has torn and gone rotten, so that will need cutting out and welding. Not the end of the world, but still not what I wanted to find of course.

So it's got a drivers seat and a top dash, and that's pretty much it now! Should be even more of a laugh driving it now.

Onwards and upwards :)
 
  Mk5 Ibiza Cupra
How the hell did I not notice this thread before?! I absolutely love E21s, nice progress so far. Subscribed.
 
  AMV8, Mk1 Golf
ace, looks proper mint this.

mixed emotions, reminds me of the golf project and how looking back i would never ever do it again, i really hope this doesn't end up like that for you!
 
LOL :eek: You'll love it more soon, as discussed ;).

So tonight was the night we would start the car. We weren't accepting no as an answer, so we set about the usual suspects with a none starting car.

It was getting fuel, and the fuel pump was fine. The plugs were sparking, although the dizzy cap and HT leads had a lot of corrosion on the points.

Still, it wasn't starting, plenty of easy start wasn't sorting it either, so we decided to check the carb float/auto-choke.

I got myself some site lights and a headtorch from Screwfix yesterday, so that working on the car through winter, isn't restricted to daylight :)

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And the parts started to come off:

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Carb head off:

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Everything was fine in here, so whatever it was, it wasn't the carb.

After some headscratching, we decided to try and jumpstart the car, to see if the engine would actually start at all. It did.

So a faulty battery seemed to be the culprit. It passed us by because the car was turning over and it was sparking fine, so we presumed there was enough charge to start it, evidently not. We took the car out for a drive (lol) and it started up as soon as we got back to it after leaving it for a bit, so it's probably a slowly de-charging battery.

So now added to the "to buy/to do" list:

New distributor cap.
New HT leads.
New spark plugs.
New battery.

Thanks to Rhys and Jon for your help, actually really enjoyed getting into some real engine work (ish) :eek:
 

welshname

ClioSport Club Member
It only dawned on me when we had started putting the carb back together that it could be a weak spark due to a dying battery. Then realised that the car was cranking rather slowly.

Glad we got there in the end.

Lol at how much having a double crown makes me look like I've got a MAJOR bald spot. Also first bit of reading from anything other than a PC screen I've done in a long time. I also forgot to mention but I noticed that the page for the timing chain in the manual was black with oily finger prints, so I'd assume it's been done lmfao.
 
Just remembered this morning too, we adjusted my throttle cable last night, so it now doesn't have a stupid amount of slack in the pedal!

A lot better to drive tbh :)
 
Nope nope and nope.

If anything, it's getting a cam, and bike carbs.

Engine swaps are expensive to do and insure and they would take away from the car imo.
 
I'm glad you've decided on that. As much as I love them, a straight six would ruin it tbh. Too heavy and not in keeping with the spirit of the car IMO.
Plus, speed and power aren't all that, let's face it.
 

Hixle

Hi Kiss Luke E****
ClioSport Club Member
  981 Cayman GTS
Nope nope and nope.

If anything, it's getting a cam, and bike carbs.

Engine swaps are expensive to do and insure and they would take away from the car imo.

Good lad. I'd imagine the engine is half the character of the car!
 
Too heavy and not in keeping with the spirit of the car IMO.

We have a winner.

It's a light, nimble saloon, with decent sports pedigree.

Dropping a 200kg engine in the engine bay, would ruin everything.

Whereas if I mod the existing engine, 120-130bhp is reasonably easily obtainable and a total car weight of 1050-1100kg is more than possible, and that wouldn't be stripped out, that would be with an interior full of creature comforts.

118bhp/ton would be a riot tbh :D
 

Hixle

Hi Kiss Luke E****
ClioSport Club Member
  981 Cayman GTS
Low powered RWD cars on skinny tyres are awesome!
 

welshname

ClioSport Club Member
So glad you're going the route I originally suggested.

It will be awesome because:
A) Bike carbs sound awesome
B) They look awesome
C) Ridiculously cheap
D) Cams on idle are win
E) So simple to work on that engine
F) You have to keep the engine purely because its original and awesome

You need a 5 speed box mating up though. And a wooden steering wheel.

I need a project car in my life.
 
Haha! Yeah, as I found out last night!

I will probably be losing the skinny tyres though, if anything, in favour of better looks :eek:

All I read of your comment Rhys, was:

It will be awesome because:

A) Bike carbs sound awesome
B) Bike carbs sound awesome
C) Bike carbs sound awesome
D) Bike carbs sound awesome
E) Bike carbs sound awesome
F) Bike carbs sound awesome
 
I love working on this car too. When I mean working on it, I mean watching other people work on it.

Needs more induction noise! Bike carbs FTMFW.
 

welshname

ClioSport Club Member
LMFAO!

I just love this car. And it's not just me working on it. I'm just the person who rationalises things for you.

"Are we okay to take the head of the carb off?"
"Yeah. Be reet"

I'm also the resident "that looks dangerous but someone needs to do it" guy. E.g the jump leads won't fit so ill stick a coin in the end and just hold it in place.

If you weren't a 30 mile round trip away I'd be up every night just to tinker.

Also to add to your list, ignition coil. It clearly works but they aren't that expensive so I'd just do it. You may as well do oil, filter and rocker cover gasket while you're at it it does appear to be letting a little out.
 


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