What did you do to your E21 today?

[rob0r]

Very busy at the moment but if there's some pressure I'll get one off when you need one.

A bit steep for me unfortunately, last weekend I bought a very nice 328i touring for £600. Wheels and LSD are only a "nice to have"

[e21-Mark]

which ones?

e36 rims. Just need to confirm the offset will fit an e12?

[Reck]

Was fairly busy over the bank holiday weekend - stripped out old interior, installed Nas's old 'symphony in beige' as replacement inc. door cards. Removed tacky boss and racing steering wheel, installed stock. Removed the old stereo system, rewired, installed new speakers and bluetooth head unit. Flushed the cooling system, and did a reverse flush on rad. Reinstalled mechanical fan (as electric fan was sucking too much juice - not sure what it's off but it's huge). Replaced thermostat (had a look inside and the seal was flapping about). Still overheating slightly at idle but at least I don't have to drive with the heater on now. Sits about 2-3 needle widths above halfway at idle, and less when driving.

So fed up with overheating issues tbh.. Got a feeling either my rad is still clogged and I made it worse with the reverse flush, or the new thermostat isn't working properly as the lower rad pipe isn't really getting hot - can thermostats go bad or 'sticky' if they've been sat in a stockroom for years? The water pump looks new, but didn't pop it off. Made sure it was bled properly several times. Might take my rad for a recore if it's cheap, but before I do that I want to make sure it's not the temp sender.

Can anyone clarify - there looks to be two senders from the coolant divider part, where the two large hoses meet. One of mine has disconnected as the spade has rusted and snapped, but I'm still getting a temp reading at the dash. Are they both for temp?

[edit] Just looked it up. Apparently one is a temp sender and the other is a 'temperature switch'. What is that switch for? M10's have a mechanical fan/thermostat, and iirc there is no temp warning light on the dash. Part 6 on this diagram;

[Duracel79]

Reck,

Get an infrared temperature gun on the pipes to and from the engine and the rad top/bottom whilst its running.
This should give you an idea of how accurate the sender/guage is and if the engine really is running hot.

It sounds like the guage is reacting correctly to conditions (dropping once on the move) but it just indicates a higher than expected temperature. Not all guages will read an identical value and can be affected by voltage and earthing issues as well.

Hope this helps

Ben

[Reck]

Thanks Ben. Do you know if the cheapo ones off ebay are any good? At the very least it'll put my mind at rest. The water isn't boiling out of the cap/overspill line so it can't be getting that hot!

Anybody got any idea what that switch does?

[mr edd]

Hi reck
I think the temperature switch controls the electric choke on a standard carb..your water pump/ fan/old rad/thermostat ect off your old engine are here if you need them ...might even drop the off if you need them asap as i fancy a short trip out in the e36 this weekend

[rob0r]

After umming and ahhing over my 323i M50 I've got it insured and it's booked in for an MOT next Weds. I've lost patience with it a bit knowing I'm likely to destroy many more driveshafts if I drift it and that I still need to get the sump done. The sump is due in a few weeks and I'm stockpiling the driveshafts!

The insurance was an interesting one. 26 years old, no claims, no points, no disabilities, good area, 4 years NCB on my daily, declared mods (2.5 engine, coilovers, LSD, steering wheel, exhaust, wheels). Heritage and Footman James couldn't quote as it was "too modified". Heritage really were my hope for a reasonable quote. I phoned Lancasters at 11am and they too had to refer the mods to the underwriters. In the mean time Flux quoted me £530 and Sky £560. As my 2nd car those quotes are enough for me not to bother with the car at all, so I pretty much gave up hope. Lancaster rang me back around 5pm... £250

[Jeroen]

See, it pays to be patient sometimes, good!

[Reck]

Hi reck
I think the temperature switch controls the electric choke on a standard carb..your water pump/ fan/old rad/thermostat ect off your old engine are here if you need them ...might even drop the off if you need them asap as i fancy a short trip out in the e36 this weekend

Thanks MrEdd. Makes sense! Running dellortos I've no need for it then.

Give me a shout if you do decide to go for that drive - though I'm in work on Sunday 9-5

[TopCat]

Haven't heard of structural issues with other cars where the power was increased. Maybe just bad luck, factory error, old unit? Any idea what part of it exactly gave up? With high torque values, a lowered car and a limited slip diff usually the universal joints give up but that's more regular wear to me.

J You are quite right (as usual) one cv joint sorted of exploded damaging one driveshaft- interesting what the ball bearings did- Steve will post a picture when he gets back to island next week

Wallace & grommit have them on offer along with all the bearing units etc- so have ordered 2 complete- don't want this happening again] quote

Dear All
I set out below pix of the exploded rear driveshaft bearings etc!
see:
Look at the bearing damage
-
and the explosion!:


Now all sorted with the new ones - interesting- how good the quality is on the standard ones (I suppose I shouldn't be surprised as they are BMW - I suppose I am just used to Chevrolet stuff from 20 years earlier (which all needs improving in this area!)

[Jason_323i]

I have been playing around with cv's and e36 6cly look like a fit and also off the shelf Gkn Motorsport ones will fit, going to e28 large case ones also look possible

[TopCat]

I think that perhaps we should share parts nos and experiences over driveshafts etc here as there are some valuable lessons here?

Anyway today we swapped the seats over along with a bit more levelling to even them up

see;


quite surprised that the floor runners are at different levels hence all the hassle trying to get a more rear oriented seat stay level!
Plan is that the pass side (RHS) is hardly used and the drivers side is fairly well used and since it seems nigh on impossible to find the early Alpina Fabric- herewith the solution. Of course the perfect answer would be to find someone with a rhd E21 with Alpina seats to do a swap!
Decided not to change the Roundals back to BMW ones - (now arrived) as we were concerned over damaging the paintwork- will sort it out next week with proper tool that does not damage paint along with clunk in exhaust.

[drjim]

I started by taking the boot lid off the slug so I could get at the petrol tank and siphon some fuel out, straight into the tank of my lawnmower. The mower is a new Honda Izy, and once I put the super unleaded 99 RON stuff in it ran better, cut the grass better and had better emissions.

Then I washed the Baur, theoretically to take some pics for a for sale ad, but I then ran out of time/light but I did take it for a nice drive around motorway, A and B roads and concluded it is a nice toy to have!

[TopCat]

sorted the banging exhaust -was hitting propshaft after teh driveshaft operation

changed the Alpina Roundals for more sober BMW ones see:


Front and rear

[Jeroen]

Didn't like the Alpina ones?