1982 e21 323i - Sysi

[sysi]

Hi everybody,

As I noticed that my friend Nuga has already introduced his favourites, I will introduce mine as well.

It is a '82 (by VIN 11/81) 323i that I bought in Feb 2004, in a quite bad condition:
You can see photos here

For now, I have owned this car for a year and a half and today it looks like this:





The photo-diary of how the car got refreshed is fully available here

It is my first car restauration project and I have learned a lot about resauration during this 1.5 years. I have to say that there are quite a lot of things that I'd do in a different way if I started this project from the very beginning right now.
But I'd say that I'm quite satisfied with the result though.

The car has had the body completely restaured and repainted (the car was Lapisblau metallic but now is Calypsorot metallic). This "Alpina" panel in the back is a substitute for the previous "323i", that some idiot broke

The interior has been changed - black seats and sidepanels originate from a 315, other missing parts from 3-6 different e21's that were torn apart somewhere in Estonia. The roof has not been covered from inside due to the ugly sunroof the previous owner has cut into the roof ... I yet don't know what to do with it. The steeringwheel is a "momo sprint" - I am trying to find an original 3-spoke to take its place soon.
Suspension parts have been mostly changed (the suspension has also been lowered -35mm).
The engine got its complete refreshment the previous winter as well. Also, the interior of the trunk is "custom" - although I am trying to keep the car original, the trunk now looks much better to my mind.

The car has quite no extras that originate from BMW AG - only "openable" rear sidewindows and big toolset. I have added power steering, 15" MSW alloys with 205/50, BBS front spoiler, Hella lights set (actually, somebody else before), central locking + alarm (essential in my neighbourhood ) and maybe something else that I can't recall right now.

For this winter i have planned to fix alternator charging problem that occured (12.x V only :S) and also refresh all 4 brake calipers.

Regards,
Sysi.
http://www.e21.ee

[Jeroen]

Wow if you look at the condition of the car when you bought it... must have been hard work to get it like it is now! Oh and... welcome here!

[ac/dennis]

That's one beautifull restored e21 mate!

The custiom trunk interior looks kewl too, thinking of doingthat to mine e21 as well.

Keep up the good work,

Regards,

Dennis

[crunch]

Sysi, I love your E21!

Did you do the spray job yourself? That colour, I know it has a name, but is it very similar to candy-apple red? (If you know what that looks like that is).

I have an E21 that is currently silver and I was thinking of spraying it gun-metal grey, but now that I have seen your colour, I am converted!!

[sysi]

Hi

As this car is like a hobby to me and in my everyday life I have nothing to do with cars, the paintjob was done by a professional here in Estonia. I must say I am 100% satisfied with the result, some defects that occured were fixed afterwards for free.

The color is calypsorot metallic - It is a BMW color, but originally was not in the list of E21 exterior colors. I saw this color on a E34, and got the idea from there
There are 3 shades of this color, mine is the darkest one.

... but I must say that if I start re-building an old car once again, I will leave the color original... you can't possibly imagine how much time and how many litres of paint it takes to paint a car from dark blue to red
So i'd advise you, crunch, to paint the car the same color as it was

[Mat (of e30 fame)]

Beautiful e21 Sysi!

You did a fantastic job, and that colour was worth the trouble . Although Im an original fan, I do think it looks really good on an e21.

Congratulations!

[dek323]

Nice Job!!
Cool looking car.
Also the front without the bumper looks pretty cool aswell

[Carlo]

Very nice color, well done! I don't know about the lack of a front bumper, it can look cool but with the spoiler there is a pretty obvious gap...

[sysi]

I have a certain reason for not having the bumper - the reason is this:



I had an unfortunate meeting with a Mazda 1.5 years ago... I have been looking for a nice used bumper since then.. and have got used to the looks the car now has

The price for a new bumper - more than 350 euros - is a bit crispy for me. But in future, I most certainly will install a bumper.

The funny thing about e21s is that during the time I have owned this car, e21s have become really rare. This fact sort of like obligates me to keep the car original - and therefore I think should install the bumper for sure.

[jamese21]

love the car can i get some pics of the wheels? they look so close to what i have

*edit 1* yes they are the same i have been looking for a car with msw's for so long..there is none in australia. i wonderd if i could ever get a replacement.



*edit* sorry for OT pics my car is also in owners gallery

[E21Dane]

WAUW!!

That looks really clean James...

Can we see more pics of yours too please...??

[sysi]

Got my brakes refreshed

[rushtillyoudie]

what kind of front bumper is that?

[-creative-]

...and do you remeber the name of the color??

[sysi]

Hi, haven't been here for a long time

Front bumper is original BBS spoiler (and now original chrome bumper as well):



The color of the car is called Calypsorot metallic (to my mind there where 3 different shades, this one is the darkest). The code should be 252, and the color originates from E34. So it was not in the official E21 colorlist.

What has been done recently... I had this awful roofwindow that someone had installed himself...


It had been getting on my nerves for a long time, so I was looking for a solution and found it:



Also, the inside part of the car was still unpainted and completely rusty


This problem was solved:



Also, the handbrake was not working as it was supposed to... had some trouble last year in TUV. So it was refreshed:



Some noise-isolation:


And that's about it for now

You can always visit http://www.e21.ee/galerii or http://www.e21.ee/forum as well. The forum is in Estonian but as for the gallery - there is a lot of pictures about local "sharks"

Best regards,
Sysi