bmwe21.net forums

What can one say.
Happend to me a while back driving my mates lotus esprit turbo. I was driving home after filling up with petrol.
I looked in the mirror and to my horror the engine was on fire.
Electrical fault was blamed. Luckily car was ok. Engine re build of £3k.






















3

Completely gutted for you when i lost my graphite one in the ice
It was horrible to lose. I'm sure your next e21 will be just as good if not
Better

Posts on the newly acquired 320/6 are moved to a separate topic: http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=18262

Much as I liked the spec of my black e21 it just never felt like MIB. I had never owned any one car as long as MIB and to be honest black just never really did it for me. It was also a right PITA to keep clean. Anyway, there was no shortage of offers for it so it has now gone to its new owner.

This meant I was able to buy another tidy e21, with a view to re-shelling MIB. I actually found a super tidy 316 that had been waxoyled from new and stored for several years. It cost a bit more than I'd hoped to pay but it was worth it not to have to have to do loads of welding etc. It really is about as rock solid as any e21 I've seen.



If it wasn't for the fact that Jamie has already built what is one of the nicest (if not the nicest!) Sahara beige cars out there I might have stuck with the original colour, but really I just want MIB back. So I decided to go get MIB back and strip everything off ready to rebuild MIB2.



The new shell has never been smoked in and has a really nice, clean interior although that's all coming out anyway. I'm going with Recaro style seats up front but will be losing the back seat and carpeting that whole area. I've got a Nakamichi head unit and JBL speakers to go in and replace the Blaupunkt. I just want to make the interior a nice place to be.

I'm not going with coilovers etc this time as it's strictly a daily driver road car. I'm looking at Bilstein, Koni or Spax depending on availability and cost. I'll be dropping the ride height as far as the local speed humps will allow, which is about -60/70mm. Brakes will be the larger Cossie set-up on the front and a disc brake rear end, LSD and new bushes all round. I think I'm going to go with some properly dished 13'' rims as opposed to going with 15's.

I had considered dropping an s50 or s54 in to replace the m10 1.8 but, having talked things over with Mick @ Pristine, we've decided to go with an m52/2.8 running standalone ignition and a low-pressure turbo set-up. Hopefully we should see 280-300 brake but it's reliability I want, as opposed to ultimate power. I'm also going to fit the twin exit 323 style exhaust as it's one of my favourite styling cues from the 323. What we also want to do is install the M52 but keep it at the correct angle. We're also opting for standalone ignition so we can junk all that bloody wiring!

Finally, as well as going with the original orange of MIB, I am also going with a single wiper and Engelmann door mirrors. I also want to fit factory Motorsport front and rear spoilers. This time though, I am going to bond a fibreglass rear spoiler to the bootlid and paint the whole thing body colour much like the Capri RS3100 of the same era. I know the look I'm after but I also want to keep it as an unmistakable e21.

So, with MIB stripped of everything I could use, the 316 is now at Pristine Bodyworks for a full strip, colour change and re-sealing of the underside.

Be interested to see how the M52 LPT with standalone looks/works. That'd be fun in the slug!

Mark

I am looking at a heater for the slug, as you have car/cars in bits can you check the size of the heater hoses for me? I suspect they are 5/16" but can't get at the one on the slug to check.

Cheers

Jim

I'll take a look tomorrow.

You want these fro a heater

http://www.t7design.co.uk/index.php?mai ... e550a32fd0

Also Mark going to ignigtion only does not many sense on a m52 to me to lose the wiring also why waste money on stand alone when the stock ecu can be used.

Also i woudl use a SC on the m52 not much room for a turbo and decent manifold in the e21 engine bay

Jason_323i wrote: Going to ignigtion only does not many sense on a m52 to me. In order to lose the wiring, why waste money on stand alone when the stock ecu can be used?

Also I would use a SC on the m52 as there's not much room for a turbo and decent manifold, in the e21 engine bay

90% of parts already been sourced so is ultimately cheaper. The manifold came from a guy in Telford and is a really snug fit, although am also going to lose stuff like OE brake servo & linkage etc. Were I looking at £1k or so, for Omex etc, I'd agree with you but I'm not. Instead www.questmotorsport.co.uk are going to supply one of their old systems to me as part of their development.

Jason_323i wrote:You want these fro a heater

http://www.t7design.co.uk/index.php?mai ... e550a32fd0

Also Mark going to ignigtion only does not many sense on a m52 to me to lose the wiring also why waste money on stand alone when the stock ecu can be used.

Also i woudl use a SC on the m52 not much room for a turbo and decent manifold in the e21 engine bay

Already have the heater in the basket on the t7 site, just need to know what size hose for the bulkhead adaptor!

Well a combination of poor health and a desire not to be single again have meant the e30 had to go. Instead I'm sticking with my 02 for daily duties and presssing on with the e21 rebuild.

The e21 is now soon to be painted at Pristine Bodyworks and I also managed to get my old LEDA suspension back. I'm really pleased about that, as it's way better than the current Gaz set-up.

Saw Lemonayd's 323 last week and it's really coming on a treat. Next year should see some really special UK e21's near completion.

In order to get things moving quite quickly we are repeating the m52 engine swap that the old MIB had. Eventually we hope to turbo it but for now I just want things to get moving again.





The LEDA kit also has TAS top mounts front and rear. A bonus as they're NLA!











The coilovers themselves are going back to Gaz and they are going to refurb' them for me. Mick @ Pristine has an identical set and they've done a nice job. I also need to make a decision on spring rates though.

Also decided to go with the e12 M535 LSD and de-cambered rear beam that was fitted in the old MIB. I had thought of selling it but it makes sense to keep it really, so that when that turbo goes on eventually, I won't be snapping driveshafts!

I also think I've found a pair of gorgeeeeeeeeeeeoooous seats. They're Scheels taken from an e3 CSL and they're luuuuuuurvly.

Anyway, I think I need to give the rear beam a coat of fresh paint.





Also picked up a piggy-back ECU from Dastek which will mean we can make the most of the m52.

Compbrake make the top mounts as they are TAS reborn

Glad to hear at least the beige car (for as long as it remains beige lol) stays with you!

Jason_323i wrote:Compbrake make the top mounts as they are TAS reborn

The problem there is that Compbrake no longer do e21 top-mounts. They were listing them, but when they arrived they are completely the wrong spec. Mick @ Pristine mailed them with the changes they would need to make but I guess demand isn't there as they just said they could no longer help and did a refund. I spoke to them again and they said they were dropping the e21 from their catalogue. Mind you, I just looked and they're still there so I have mailed them to see what changes they've made to the specification?

http://www.compbrake.com/cars/bmw/e21/-2625.html

LAs t tiem checked they had them but had the fronts and rears back to front I told them but they would not listen

I woudl not use the comp brake fronts not enough adjustabilty