My BMW 323i 1982

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ZenderE21
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Post by ZenderE21 »

I have zender bits for my car, different ones though. Too much plastic not enough chrome, but its not my car so my opinion is nothing. Noinetheless sounds like a great car and looks good. Congrats.


1983 318i - Sapphireblau Metallic, 5spd
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Bobben
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Post by Bobben »

ZenderE21 wrote:I have zender bits for my car, different ones though. Too much plastic not enough chrome, but its not my car so my opinion is nothing. Noinetheless sounds like a great car and looks good. Congrats.
Well, we all have different tastes :wink:

And thank you for the compliments!
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ac/dennis
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Post by ac/dennis »

I like the Chrome, but I like your Zender very much too!
Never saw it before, I think you have a very unique e21!

@zendere21: What does it mean, an elephant in your tank?
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Bobben
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Post by Bobben »

ac/dennis wrote:I like the Chrome, but I like your Zender very much too!
Never saw it before, I think you have a very unique e21!
Thanks!

Well, yes I like the original crome look too, like Jeroens BMW and all the other original BMW's on this forum.

Although, I think an E21 looks a bit "naked" without the Zender spoilers, but I wouldn't mind having an original looking E21 either.
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Bobben
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Post by Bobben »

I decided to add some "fun" facts :)

This car was bought in 1982 by a man named Göran who then modified it with the Zender spoilers, the 280 degree Dr Shrick cam, electrical cooling fan, the sun "protector" on the rear window, the Alpina plastic cover between the rear lights, Supersprint headers, Supersprint exhaust, seat covers in black with red stripes and the Pioneer soundsystem, which is Pioneer speakers front and rear and a Pioneer console with a Pioneer cassette player and an amplifier/equalizer that has now been replaced by a Pioneer cd-stereo.
I'm not shure if this Pioneer soundsystem was available from BMW or separately from Pioneer, since I haven't seen any other E21 with that Pioneer console or speakers. And as luck would turn out, my oldest brother was working at the same place as Göran, so he bought it from him in 1987 and he had it to 1993. During that time the headers was removed, the front seat covers removed and got a small repaint because the clear paint, over the metallic paint had started to fall off.
After that my next to oldest brother bought it and had it to 1999. During that time the Supersprint exhaust had to be replaced and original system was mounted. He also had a small "fender bender", so the engine hood and the right front wing had to be replaced, the only bad thing about it was that the insurance company was a piece of s**t, since they didn't fix a new engine hood, but a used one that has more rust than the original had, so it consists of a lot of putty :)
And in november 1999 yours truly bought it.
And during this time the 13" BBS alloys has been replaced with 15" MIM's, once again both headers and Supersprint is mounted, the head has been replaced with a brand new one (the old one had 2 cracks in it) which is actually for E30 320i and E28 520i, the nice thing about that, is that it has bigger inlets :) It was a complete head with everything new, valves, springs, cam etc and ofcourse the cam was replaced by my 280 Dr Shrick one :)
A new electrical fan, new radiator, new brake discs/calipers front and rear and a lot of other small stuff...

And finally this year 2005 the plan is to replace shocks and springs front and rear to lowered ones and to replace the clutch and a new sound absorbtion mat above the gearbox and new master and slave clutch cylinders and a new left front wing and a new complete set of keys and locks, so I only need to use one key. Now I have 3 keys, one to the doors and ignition, one to the boot lid and one for the fuel tank cap.

Well, that's it for now!
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Bobben
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Post by Bobben »

Well, I'm pleased to say that I have finally fixed so that I only need one key!

After a lot of 5-56 in the fuel cap lock and a slight bit of violence, I managed to make it work again, so one key less...

Then took a look at the bootlid lock and couldn't find any problems with it (not shure why it was replaced), but took some stuff from the newer lock and moved the lock cylinder over to the newer housing and greased it all up, I now only need one key!

Also "peeled" of the black plastic on top of the newer keys and glued them on to the old keys, since their plastic was very worn and about to come off...
Oh, and the newer keys only fitted the bootlid lock, hence the surgery :)

So, I managed to save about 150 Euros for a new lock set 8) :D
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Bobben
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Post by Bobben »

Updated the the first post in this thread with new links, so the images are working again.
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Bobben
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Post by Bobben »

Finally a video of my BMW: (you probably need a good speaker system with a subwoofer to hear the deep sound from the exhaust :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEGU71SKJnk
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Bobben
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Re: My BMW 323i 1982

Post by Bobben »

Still alive, hasn't happened all that much, been off the road pretty much since 2010, just drove it briefly in 2012 when the prop shaft bearing gave up just after an MOT :-)
But now in 2017 I finally was able to put it back on the road again, now with a fixed prop shaft bearing.
Also replaced gear shift bushings and the rubber disc while I had the prop shaft out.
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uwbuurman
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Re: My BMW 323i 1982

Post by uwbuurman »

Nice, great to hear it is still alive. Mine is also off the road since 2010, but not quite roadworthy.

But, pics or it didn't happen ;)
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1978 BMW 323i
1980 BMW 528i maior restitutio
1987 BMW 325iA cabriolet
2006 BMW 320d touring High Executive
2015 BMW 320dA touring xDrive High Executive ///Msport
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gerrit323
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Re: My BMW 323i 1982

Post by gerrit323 »

Well done .. another e21 on the road again

Any pics of the car in its current state ??
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Bobben
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Re: My BMW 323i 1982

Post by Bobben »

Yes, here are some pics from the work I have done:

Image

Jacked up, ready to crawl under to get to the prop shaft bearing.
Had to remove the exhaust, which had become slightly stuck to the downpipe, so I had to cut it up a bit to get it off, which I then had welded up and painted.

Image
Image

Didn't weld myself but I did paint it myself :-)

Image

New bearing, the old one sounded really bad. The old one wasn't that broken, it was me who cut it up, to get easier access.

Image

And while the exhaust and prop shaft was gone, I thought it might be a good time to replace the gear link bushings and it made quite a bit of difference!
Previously the play from side to side, especially in gear was just ridiculous. And the part that made the biggest difference was the "Gearshift rod joint".
Also replaced the upper and lower ball cups.

Image

And also replaced the rubber "donut", the old one had cracks in it, not to bad but better be safe than sorry.
The odd thing about the donut was that the small raised arrows on the outside had to be completely smoothed down, otherwise it would make a rubber squeak every time the arrows passed the gear rod when I spun the prop shaft by hand. So the rubber donut seems to be extremely close to the gear rod. Ordered it from Walloth&Nesch, so it is the correct one, but still ... odd.

Image
Image

Also replaced the radiator, which always wanted to leak around the upper housing, possibly from the fan controller which had a copper thingy with tubing that had to go in to the upper hose, which is difficult to get 100% leak free and because I had to clamp down hard on the upper hose fitting, I was a bit unsure about the plastics structural integrity, so I thought it would be safer with a new radiator and a new fan controller.

Image
Image

(The oil cap has been polished since I took that picture :-) )
Which I found with Revotec, not the cheapest but at least now it's leak free finally!

Oh, and I also had to fix a new rear light lens (left side), which had cracked to bits, but I didn't fancy spending some £200 on it which the dealer wanted, but after some searching on E-bay I managed to find a left side lens in good condition in Australia which came in at about £70 including shipping to Sweden!

And also replaced the timing belt, which was five years ago since the last time...
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Re: My BMW 323i 1982

Post by uwbuurman »

Good job! But that lens, don't they drive on the wrong side of the road in Australis? Ergo, is that lens for RHD or LHD?
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1978 BMW 323i
1980 BMW 528i maior restitutio
1987 BMW 325iA cabriolet
2006 BMW 320d touring High Executive
2015 BMW 320dA touring xDrive High Executive ///Msport
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Bobben
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Re: My BMW 323i 1982

Post by Bobben »

No, the rear light lenses are exactly the same. I'm guessing you thought about the front head lights. :-)
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Re: My BMW 323i 1982

Post by uwbuurman »

Oh rear lenses. But what the hell, there are plenty of those over here in the Netherlands. You've gotten it from Australia??
It's the man next door!

1978 BMW 323i
1980 BMW 528i maior restitutio
1987 BMW 325iA cabriolet
2006 BMW 320d touring High Executive
2015 BMW 320dA touring xDrive High Executive ///Msport
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