1982 e21 320/6 (more rust, less rocket)

[rjuk1982]

Hi guys, I've always promised to create build threads for my cars but never done it, here goes..............



1982 320/6
Hennarot
5 speed
Kamei front spoiler (probably for sale if you're interested)
Nice side stripes

So the image above is the car as it arrived at mine, via a couple of months on a friends drive. I purchased from forum member Millar, it was previously the rust rocket, see here:

http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.p ... ust+rocket

Anyway, lots of minor problems to fix and a few major ones noted on delivery:

1. RH Fuel tank leaky.
2. Nice hole in the boot floor RHS
3. Nasty squeak/rattle/vibration from the timing cover / water pump area 1200 - 3000 Rpm.
4. Odd steering vibration / shimmy. Quite pronounced and rocks the steering wheel between 20 and 40 mph.

Delivery to mine sorted I went in for a cup of tea, more to follow.

Rob

[rjuk1982]

So tea drunk, sandwich eaten it was time to reverse up some ramps and find out why the fuel wasn't staying in.

So in I got, RR seat base up, fuel lines removed (one was rather perished and practically fell off, I'm guessing it was the feed).

Next underneath, link hose protector thingy off (to be cleaned and painted later) and hose off, remaing fuel (very little) drained into a tub, fuel filler disconnected then round to the trunk to try and wriggle this free:



Now I tried moving it around, contorting it and even though the large rusty hole below it was allowing extra movement I couldn't work out how it came out, then I thought 'Rob, this is a German car, what would a logical German do that you're missing cos you're a dumbass?'

Oh yeah:



Next, the first heart in mouth moment for this car me, the rear bolt that holds the tanks up. I should have taken a picture, it's right above the RR suspension cross member thingy and was tight and rusty, lots of out a bit in a bit finally got it free. I have to say I was very impressed, I've broken rusty bolts of much larger diameter on my Japanese cars before with less than I had to put through that diddy M8!

The two bolts at the front of each tank were easy in comparison and left me with this (after a bit of cleaning):



What more it wasn't hard to find why it failed to hold fuel:



Doh!

Anyone got a Right Hand fuel tank for sale?

[rjuk1982]

Ah well, tank diagnosed I thought I'd have a bit of a poke around.

Millar had sills welded on this car, and paid good money too. It's a pretty neat job from what I can see but I'm not convinced they're seamed all the way around. I couldn't get a picture but sticking my head inside the rear 3/4 below the window revealed a series of spot/tack/plug welds on the inside, not ideal, but at least they're neat.

What isn't so neat is the inside of the sill, uncovered by removing the RH tank, I don't think the guys Millar used did this, they just failed to spot it:

Hmm, interesting inner sill:



Basically the inner sill was bridged by large clods of black mastic (I removed some before I took the pic) and a piece of rusty steel plate which just seemed to be hanging around. It's interesting to note that pushing / pulling on the suspension crossmember moved that plate up and down, not so good.

That repair has definitely been there a while and I suppose it's made it through MOT's because it's hard to spot with the tank in. I almost resolved to leave it alone but came to the conclusion that an e21 deserves better than that.

So, peekaboo:



Some tugging and swearing later and the limpet was removed to leave this:



Now I have a question, the plate I've labelled A, how should that attach to the car? with the mastic gone it appears to be hanging in free space, as I see it there are 2 options:

1. Weld it to the inner sill?
2. Bolt it through the sills to the (M8?) captive nuts in the plate (2 in total, 1 pictured)?

It appears to be number 2, which would make sense as it would allow the rear suspension to be stuffed vertically into the car, but the capttive nuts seem quite small for quite an important job.

I can't really trust the other side because that also has a repair which is (kind of) all welded together:



There's the remains of a bolt in the captive nut on this side, but its broken off.

That was me done for the day, aside from pulling the clutch slave cylinder out of my mini, but you don;t want to hear about that.

Any comments or advice very much appreciated and welcomed BTW.

Rob

[rjuk1982]

So I suddenly remembered Real OEM exists for BMW owners (how good it that?) and answered my own question (almost):

http://realoem.com/bmw/diagrams/o/j/4.png

So it seems it's called a rear axle carrier, and almost looks like you can change the bushes without dropping the rear suspension, very clever.

Now I have 2 new questions:

1. Do the big nuts usually come undone easily (to allow me to get the bracket plates (number 9 in pic) off?
2. The reinforcer plates (number 8 ), do they just sit behind the bracket? I think mine have either left the party or been welded in.

I'm beginning to wonder if rear axle movement was contributing to the shimmy I experienced.

Rob

[Wondermike]

The big nuts come off easy, depends a bit on the tools you use.
I have a extension of around a meter and no nut has stayed on it's place with that.

Number 8 is on the outside of the outer sill and not welded, just the two bolds connected to number 9 with outer and inner sill between.

Good luck!

[rjuk1982]

Wondermike,

Thank you, that makes it all clear.

Rob

[Millar]

bugger mate, i had no idea it was that bad. I shall stop in at said shop and have a go at them for leaving that mess, it was in for an extra week because they said that they were sorting all of that stuff out, thieving bastards would know that i couldn't see it with the fuel tank in. you have my apologies, again. i'll keep an eye on this and hopefully it doesn't throw up any other problems.

[m3gaz]

10 out of 10 for thoroughness.