1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

adragonr
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1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by adragonr »

Hi Everyone,

I've just purchased myself a 1982 320/6 Opal green metallic E21 and thought I need to introduce myself.

It's a 5 speed manual with power steering and a tilt and slide sunroof and as you can see a wind deflector. 13" x 6 BBS alloys, actually in very good condition but it's only had 5 owners including me and been in the same town all it's life. Fortunately 2 of the previous owners were also BMW mechanics, or at least that's what I was told by the seller.

There are a few issues to deal with, some rust in the boot floor pan & wheel arch. Passenger door needs repair at the bottom. Seats need rebuild/springs. But it's not a problem overall. I have big plans and a long ownership ahead of me.

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To be honest you may be able to provide me with more information than I already have so feel free if you've seen it around or know previous owners.

Cheers

ADragonR


jimbob
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by jimbob »

welcome nice car.looks to be in good condition :thumbsup
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Jeroen
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by Jeroen »

Welcome here! Clean and original car, I'm sure you'll be ok sorting the minor issues.
Regards/groeten, Jeroen
adragonr
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by adragonr »

Thank you very much for the welcome.

Like I said i'm noto too concerned I have time, rust first, suspension & brakes next, probably wheels, then interior and finally engine.

Regards,

ADragonR
max
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by max »

Hello,
I was watching this on eBay. Looks nice. I love the reg too (I'm a carpenter!!).
Where are you based?
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by Reck »

Congratulations and welcome! :)
E21James
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by E21James »

:o Looks great!
adragonr
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by adragonr »

Hi,

Thank you very much for the welcome.

Based in Milton Keynes now.

To be honest the photo's do it a little more justice. I have however taken a few more of the rusty bits ready for the before and after. Had one quote already but it was the same price I paid for the car! To be fair though it was a specialist restorer who was prepping 4 cars for the Mille Miglia, had a Ferrari 275 convertible that used to belong to Sofia Loren in his workshop and was rebodying a number of Healey Silverstones. I do know that if I gave it to him though it would come back factory fresh.
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TorEnholm
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by TorEnholm »

Do you plan to keep it original, or do you have plans to beef it up?
1966 1600-2 Turf Grün
1968 NK 1800 Bristol Grau
1979 E21 323i Baur #683 Schwarz
1985 E24 635CSi Cosmos blau
adragonr
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by adragonr »

Beef it up a touch.

I think it's on the original shocks, which are a little soft right now. I like a hard ride. Brakes are better than I thought they'd be but still I have no problems with improvements. I love the carbed engine but am undecided what to do with it really. I'm not after outrageous power and I hate electronics, but I love a straight 6 so it's NA tuning, probably to around 200bhp and I'll be happy, so maybe a 2.5 but always needs to be an M20. As it's predominantly a road car I want a bit more torque and I used to own a 1988 E34 525 with a custom exhaust which did sound phenomenal! Although it did get me in trouble with the police so I ended up changing it a little.
adragonr
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by adragonr »

Hi All,

I realise it's been a very long time and I've been very slack in posting updates so here the beginnings of a build thread from what I can remember as the timeline.

To date there are no engine modifications as my primary focus has been suspension, brakes & tyres before chucking a load of power at it.

My starting point was to build a set of coilovers as I'm of an age where I developed some unfounded opinions of GAZ products and had a preference for Koni. In hindsight it would have significantly easier and slihtly cheaper to buy GAZ. We'll see how it works out in the long run.

So I sourced some 323i front struts and tore them down for rebuild. That top nut was not fun!

I have used E30 adjustable front Konis & Integra DC2 rear shocks, adjustable also. Top mounts are adjustable also, GAZ up front & Compbrake at the rear.

After replacing bearings etc I had the threaded sleeves (Rally Design) welded to the struts, with 300lb front and 250lb rear springs. Both 12". I also had some threaded nuts made at a local machine shop to save the hassle of those bilstein nuts. They also made up some aluminium spacers for the front so that the strut tubes didn't need to be cut and I gain a little more travel on the shock with no fear of bottoming out.

Here's some photo's of the final result
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Whilst building up the coilovers I decided to replace as many bushes as I could with poly units so anti roll bars and control arms were dealt with first. I do also have the rear trailing arms but these have not yet been fitted as I purchased a 323i rear beam with diff etc so that I can convert to discs at the rear so these will be fitted at the same time.

On the subject of brakes I bought a set of 323i front calipers and have rebuilt these and fitted Ferodo DS2500 pads and goodridge lines all round. Once those pads are up to temp the difference is night and day, although there is still more pedal travel than I would like but I haven't decided what I'm going to do about that yet.

So, coilovers ready, time to put them on. Came across a slight issue with the control arm taper joints. Long week later, decided to buy new control arms. Swapped in the poly bushes and here is the result.

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If you look closely you can also see something hanging out of the bottom at the front. I was lucky enough to come across a whiteline front anti roll bar so snapped that up straight away but it is a secondary unit and therefore hangs down a little awkward. I have since removed it so that I can cut it down a bit as it was interfering with the control arms. Unfortunately I have also purchase an Ireland Engineering lower brace, which I can highly recommend, but with that in place I am unsure if the Whiteline bar will fit on. Damn it! I need it back on as the cornering would be fantastic with the coilovers, bracing and roll bars, whilst maintaining a relatively civilised ride quality. Anyway, I digress, there are solutions out there.

As we all know, given the rarity of parts, you purchase as and when they come up. So, in my hoarding I also came across some MIM 1800 wheels which are to my preference as I would like to keep the car looking semi period. Having had the green paint grow on me I chose to have the wheels refurbed with a gold powder coat, cut back with a diamond face.

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In the flesh they're even more shouty! But I still love them.

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Apart from some bodywork, replaced bonnet & passenger door, some rusty sill and boot floor, thats it so far. I have still hoarded a bunch more parts and have nearly all I need for the engine swap but that probably wont be till next year now. I might put these in soon though.

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Hope you all enjoy and after 3 years of ownership I still love the car and can't wait to feel it go with that new engine!

By the way, if anyone has any advice on how I can drop the ride height a little further without the control arms fouling on the subframe that would be much appreciated. It would be an interesting project but I don't really fancy designing a set of custom control arms.

Thanks for the heads up on the photo's. Hopefully these work Ok.
Last edited by adragonr on Sat Oct 31, 2015 11:21 pm, edited 5 times in total.
jimbob
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by jimbob »

pics arent working
E21 323i [kashmere] Off the road pending restoration
E21 3231[Graphite metalic] Restoration and conversion to M52
E36 318i Had it nearly 10 years work in progress
E36 328i Daily driver
E39 520i Family car school run workhorse
E36 328i Touring
jimbob
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by jimbob »

theyre working now.

Great work on the suspension looks quality
E21 323i [kashmere] Off the road pending restoration
E21 3231[Graphite metalic] Restoration and conversion to M52
E36 318i Had it nearly 10 years work in progress
E36 328i Daily driver
E39 520i Family car school run workhorse
E36 328i Touring
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uwbuurman
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by uwbuurman »

Looks great! Nice rims to. I hope to see more frequent updates. Lots of respect for your work sofar :thumbsup

A mod should move this topic to the 6 cilinder part.
It's the man next door!

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Peter V.
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Re: 1982 320/6 Opal Green Metallic

Post by Peter V. »

That looks nice indeed.
Gr Peter V.

.Some say he eats nuts and bolts for breakfast, all we know is he is called the carburetorman.

BMW E21, 1981 320/6 Ascot Grau.
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