My 1982 E21 320i

andy781 · Post by **andy781** » Thu May 27, 2010 5:45 am

Ok so bought the car about a fortnight ago (i love that term) for 350$ heard it start off carb cleaner so it does run and the motor sounds right good. Compression numbers were also decent 160psi on all cylinders roughly. Currently it needs the gas tanks cleaned out very well, and the fuel pumps wired back up correctly no like a monkey did the wiring as it had been done. The interior was in decent shape seats are immaculate and amazingly no cigarette burns. I think i will be working out a lot of little electrical bugs to be honest with you but so it goes with a 30yr old car. Partly the reason I purchased the car was I had never seen one anywhere. A few 2002's as they are a bit more popular in the US but still not a common place car. The car had a bit of rust by the drivers door also some more on the rear below the tail lights due to a slew of dents which i have since repaired. No more rust to be seen on the body... though the drivers floor pan is in need of replacing... no biggie. It originally was safari Beige however it was painted BRG sometime ago but was done fairly well. So I will still probably go with that seeing as it will be much easier than trying to go back to the original beige its ugly too. Front bumper has been removed as well as the shocks rear bumper has been taken off for painting and will be tucked. Still searching for an option to cover the ugly holes in the front. Maybe a euro front... still not sure any options will be greatly appreciated.

Total build so far
400$ after gas is totaled in
90$ in tank Fuel Pump w/ sending unit
6$ Muriatic Acid for the tank
12$ in bondo primer and sanding stuff

and some pictures

Gedas · Post by **Gedas** » Thu May 27, 2010 9:08 am

Very nice color, would like to see the results of polishing

.

andy781 · Post by **andy781** » Thu May 27, 2010 2:09 pm

well its getting resprayed so eventually paint will be even better. Along with some sportmaxx 501's

Gedas · Post by **Gedas** » Thu May 27, 2010 2:32 pm

You mean these

These are HOT

Since the old ones looks like Alpina's, I'd stick with the oldies though.

Pho21_girl · Post by **Pho21_girl** » Thu May 27, 2010 3:45 pm

Can't wait to see it after the re-spray

andy781 · Post by **andy781** » Thu May 27, 2010 9:28 pm

Yep that them, i am really hoping to get the silver ones with the polished lip but the black and gun metal colors aren't bad either. As far as sticking with the oldies thats one luxury of wheels... its something that changes the entire look of the car but is still reversible. i will be keeping the old alpina stylish ones and refurbishing them. They are in great shape they just need to be repainted. And once the car is all resprayed I think it will look awesome, i am most likely going with the same British Racing Green but metallic. This is the same color that i want.

e21-Mark · Post by **e21-Mark** » Thu May 27, 2010 9:30 pm

Nice.

My old 2002tii race car was that colour with 8x13 Alleycats in gold.

andy781 · Post by **andy781** » Thu May 27, 2010 10:18 pm

Sick i love the 02's but just too hard to find in the US I got amazingly lucky to find this e21. I was just looking around in the local classifieds and saw 82 bmw needs fuel pump 500$. I was like no way theres an e21 in south carolina in need of an owner. Went and took a looksie and low behold my new 320i. Another point i wanted to make was 13" wheels are just too small for the 320i they look best in my opinion with 15" thus is the reason i am opting for something different.

m3gaz · Post by **m3gaz** » Sat May 29, 2010 9:25 pm

Boston Green or Oxford Green are two BMW dark greens and either would look great.On a 320 i had a few years ago i had Alpine Green above the side bump strips and Oxford Green below.I was well pleased with the result.

andy781 · Post by **andy781** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 6:32 am

Ok not much of an update im waiting on parts from the other side of the US so im just touching up some of the body filler and working out misc interior stuff. I narrowed down the fuel pump issue to a bad relay, gas tanks have been knocked about quite a bit but they are still in need of the acid bath. I wired up an aftermarket oem replacement fuel pump. Totaled about 80$ which is cheap compared to the original 260 bav auto wanted this is for the sending unit and all the guys with the car before tore it up. The relay was only 28$ shipped. found some more door moldings as well for 10$. I want to get the car running soon so i can start on more pressing matters like converting the ac to r134a i am guessing it works as it still has pressure in the system meaning it is mostlikely mositure free. It hasn't changed much as far as looks go beside the rear body looking alot better than it did and no rot in the front fender. Or in the rear of the trunk. Interior is also getting a strip down to fiddle with it and work on the many issues it has besides the rat that was living in the rear seat. And the copious amounts of spare change that the prev. left for me to find. totals almost up to 10$ i may pay off this project yet.