better rot than rust

peter coomaraswamy
Newbee
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2016 1:34 am
My E21(s): 1981 320is
Location: Austin, TX

Re: better rot than rust

Post by peter coomaraswamy »

I did a little cleaning up and changed the plugs which increased the throttle response quite a bit, also as you can see the 35 year old paint got pretty shiny with a little elbow grease. I like to clean things pretty thoroughly as I go through because it gives me the opportunity to inspect whatever it is that I'm working on. After changing all the fluids it's time for work on the underside, I got most of the bushings in and now just need to disassemble, and refresh everything. I also need to find a new A/C compressor since someone deleted the original one. I'm not too good with A/C so I will be learning quite a bit. Here in Austin it is crazy to drive without A/C, so once the safety items are addressed that will be a priority. Any comments will always help-

Thanks

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peter coomaraswamy
Newbee
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2016 1:34 am
My E21(s): 1981 320is
Location: Austin, TX

Suspension

Post by peter coomaraswamy »

I ordered the Sachs shocks and struts since they were much less expensive than the Bilsteins. I am going to leave the springs but replacing the top strut bearings and of course the lower control arms with bushings, ball joints etc. Basically I want to bring her back to the stock ride and see how I like it before making any grand modifications. I got a whole lot of clunking going on underneath and I suspect the U-joint although nothing would surprise me. If anyone has any ideas of what goes clunk between moving her forward and backwards or if there are any trouble spots you know of please chime in. I am assuming the LSD is ok but you never know-

Thanks,
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