What did you do to your E21 today?

[e21-Mark]

Some progress on the TWR today. Finally have all the trim either with the car, or located and awaiting collection. Also have a new suspension set-up from GAZ. The original parts have been wrapped and stored away safely. I know some people will think I should run the car as it left the factory but I've already survived one near fatal car crash and I'm not keen to have another. With over 270bhp I want the best suspension and brakes I can have. It might be a rare car but it's still going to get used.
As soon as the ECU and trigger wheel are done, the engine will be ready to be fired up again. I've asked Dave to take photos and a video. I don't want to tempt fate and name a date again but we are aiming for November 10th. I'm really excited at the prospect of finally having the car back!

[DrGonzoPOW]

Went to see the car at the bodyshop only to be very disappointed with the outcome. The colour is miiiiiles off He's gonner ave to try get some paint mixed up to match. Whoever painted this car before i bought it is a c**t!!! The original colour is alot lighter than what they sprayed it with

[drjim]

I halped Reck gat his car moving, then sneaked round to my Parent's house and fixed the fuel pump wiring on my Baur. Just need to sort the subframe bushes and get it polished now.

[Five]

Washed and ready for a few hundred miles trip following the WRC rally through Wales.

[e21-Mark]

Went out for a drive to make sure the ECU hadn't thrown the towel in and reverted to ''limp home mode''.

It hadn't.

The map it's running now makes the whole conversion so much nicer to drive. I guess I knew no different before and I sort of got used to only have 5000rpm available to me. Being able to rev cleanly through to 6k plus and the added power really notices. I thought it was quick before but it's really quick now. The engine note and exhaust just sound terrific. I'll try and make a better video as the other one was just my phone taped to the rear view mirror hence the poor audio. I absolutely love MIB again and it's the e21 I always wanted.

[nas80]

END tuning knows his stuff, more so then most of the other bmw tuners. Im indebited to him for going through the hex values and figuring it all out. V.clever individual.

im keen to see if it will demolish the twr now. wait till you fit the bigger m50 inlet it makes a massive difference as the 2.8 is starved of air with the stock effort.

I cant wait to finish off Matts car and jackos and my own now.

Well the other day I worked out my rear beam bushes were knackered. I have a spare pair so I decided to make some homebrew bushes with some polyurethane from rs components.



I then taped the hole the big ass bolt goes through and drilled some holes in the rubber and removed some rubber too.



Here's the result.




now the high speed stability is awesome, much much more confidence now as it feels planted. I have finally sorted out the handling of my car (just need higher rate springs to solve the rear end squatting when at full throttle!)

[Jeroen]

Sounds like one hell of an improvement! I'm not into home made urethane but what would be a good setup for a road going 323 that is pushed hard from time to time, anything ready made that does a much better job than the stock Motorsport bushes without ruining the ride comfort? Or just go for the Motorsport bushes?

[nas80]

There is noticeable vibration but I turn the tunes on when I drive.

However I do believe schmiedmann supply a harder version of the stock rear bushes. U can get softer grades of poly urethane. Maybe 60 shore A would be better?

[e21-Mark]

I'll try and find out what bushes TWR used? I know they certainly upgraded from stock e21 items.

[murran]

did wonder why youd not posted them to me yet nas. lol.

[nas80]

aye i thought it would be rude not to have a go myself tbh.

[TopCat]

Collected Herman

and brought him home on new IOM plates B6 35 MAN

Bliss!

last time I was in it was some time ago en route for the Drag races in July

pictures and full story to follow under car details in Alpina section

points noted:
interior is sorted except the rear view mirrors electric switch is mounted upside down doing everything in reverse- must have happened when new leather panels were installed.

Looks like Herman beat the much fancied TWR to the draw as being first to registration etc- will I regret this...........? Will have to see in Manx Classic in April. I expect Mark E-21 will have his revenge and beat us clear??

Also picked up Butch- having had some small items sorted/checked over- collected from bodyshop to erase those creases and the rest from that famous altercation with Sarel van der Merve's Gallaxie from Cape Town in Feb.

[e21-Mark]

Came up north in MIB yesterday as spending the weekend on the dales with the mrs. MIB ran a treat despite a couple of hours stop,start on the M1.
Drove through Headingley this morning and spotted a wild golden Baur. Anyone on here? Will try and get a photo if I pass that way again later.

[TopCat]

Just spent the afternoon travelling back and forth along the TT course dropping off one of my sons for Athletics and collecting afterwards.

Herman is going well
If you recall herman eventually got registered with the B6 35 MAN reg number with Manx authorities after some extremely helpful input from Liam Foley at
BMW Group
Technical Support Analyst
V1-UK-A-2
Ellesfield Avenue
Bracknell RG12 8TA
Phone: 01344 480698
mailto: liam.foley@bmw.co.uk
http://www.bmwgroup.com/
Who, with a bit of help from Buchloe was able to show age and chassis number and that the car was originally sold in Germany etc- Thankyou Liam!

Anyway the current crop of pictures are at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59577851@N03/

Hope this works?
My current view is that Herman is a surprising handful- the road was a little greasey and slippery in parts admitedly. I think we will be looking at some of those top strut mounts from RPM as a way to dial in a bit more neg camber at the front- seems lazy in turn-in.
I also think it is a bit undertyred esp. at the front. I note that a B6 in Germany has 205 50 15 on the front and 225 50 15 on the rears with the original staggered Alpina wheels. We have 195 50 15 front and 205 50 15 (per original).
I should really try a test day or some work on the skidpan? Definitely before Mark comes here and shows me how it's done at Manx Classic 2012!

Mark are you allowed to share some set-up secrets with a competitor??

On an unrelated issue I had forgotten how good the ventilation system is for E21- cool air direct to face and warm air to feet- better than the E30 set up!

[e21-Mark]

In the quest for added induction roar I ordered a Gruppe M carbon fibre air box/intake. Hopefully, it'll be here for next Tuesday when I swap to the m50 inlet manifold.

Spent an hour fitting an alloy rad in the M3.