New to this forum, my E21

jrcook320 · Post by **jrcook320** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 7:39 am

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum but a regular over on bimmerforums. Here are some pics of my car...

Some of the good stuff:
-2.0L stroker, flat top pistons, ~8:1 compression
-Ported/polished head, 280 cam
-TEP lightened flywheel
-A/C delete
-electric cooling fan
-Cold air intake, header, no cat, ansa muffler
-------------------------------------------------
Driveline:
-Metric Mechanic ultimate tranny (getrag 240)
-Bav Auto adjustable short shift kit
-3.91 LSD
-------------------------------------------------
Suspension/Brakes:
-15x7 et35 Ronal Wheels
-205/50ZR-15 Dunlop D40 Sports (NLA)
-lug stud conversion, 20mm spacers (front), 10mm spacers (rear)
-Girling 4 piston calipers, 323i rear disk conversion,Wilwood proportioning valve, Goodrich stainless brake lines
-Eiback Springs
-Bilstien Sport Shocks
-Polyurethane steering rack mounts
-25mm front, 19 mm rear swaybars w/ poly bushings
-Hartge front strut tower brace
-Slotted rear subframe w/ poly bushings @ trailing arms

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:24 am

Welcome here!

Beautiful car man! Some great upgrades.... we're currently discussing brake upgrades in the technical forum, maybe you can help us out?

Any detailed info on upgrades, pictures or a report of the work done... guess many of us here are interested!

Windy · Post by **Windy** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 12:50 pm

Ohhhhhh Awesome!!

Welcome aboard!

Nice to see some 4cyl grunt

Cheers
Windy

E21Dane · Post by **E21Dane** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 1:10 pm

Welcome to the greatest E21 forum around...

Looks awesome mate and I really like your mods!! Not over-the-top, but sounds like it's effective...

How about some interior pics...
And do you know the brand of your frontspoiler (don't think I've seen one of those before...)?

jrcook320 · Post by **jrcook320** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 6:27 pm

Thanks guys! Here is all I have of the interior right now (I just formatted my hard drive and haven't reloaded my pics yet). I have an anthracite grey cloth recaro interior, with matching clothe door inserts. 140 mph speedo from an e12 530i with 5mph hash marks hand painted in. I dyed my original tan carpet black with decent results. I decided to permently hot wire the car rather then replace my faulty ignition switch, so ignition and accessory switches are on the center console and the start button is where the fog light switch goes. The amp gain control is now mounted behind the factory fader knob rather then velcroed to the center console.

1982 323i · Post by **1982 323i** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 8:51 pm

Very nice car!!!

i especially like the missile launch buttons on you center console, just make sure the backblast area is clear when you fire them:-)

Let us hear more about the brake work.

Windy · Post by **Windy** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 5:12 am

Oooooooooh im really motivated to start work on mine now!!!

Love the motorsport wheel

What electric fan did you use in the engine bay?
Did you use E30 battery cables to locate the battery to the boot?

jrcook320 · Post by **jrcook320** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 5:12 am

And do you know the brand of your frontspoiler (don't think I've seen one of those before...)?

Its a Zender front spoiler. Looks like the BBS but is a lot deeper.

mbuus · Post by **mbuus** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 9:01 am

Your car looks amazing, excellent work. Brake conversion and engine has been done superbly! Plus those wheels look the biz hehe.

jrcook320 · Post by **jrcook320** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:00 am

Windy wrote:Oooooooooh im really motivated to start work on mine now!!!
Love the motorsport wheel
What electric fan did you use in the engine bay?
Did you use E30 battery cables to locate the battery to the boot?

Thanks.. your car looks pretty good in your sig. The steering wheel is made by "Personal". I've never heard of them before, it was a lucky ebay find. I'm running a 14" Hayden electric fan wired into the factory cooling fan circuit so it uses the factory relay and fuse. To mount the battery in the trunk (boot) I bought a trunk mount kit from Summit Racing. It basically consisted of 2 gage wire and crimp on ends and a marine battery box. Right now my battery is temporarily strapped down till I can weld up a rear strut brace.

Windy · Post by **Windy** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:30 am

Thanks for the info jrcook320!!

I'm slowely working on mine. I wan't it to be pretty the same as yours!!
I'm really impressed with your car - well done.

Some pics of mine here:
http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=560

Except I have a blackout kidney grill now

Cheers
Windy

arshad76 · Post by **arshad76** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:45 am

Hello,

Yes a lovely car, tasteful modifications. I'd be interested to know how you dyed the carpet though!

jrcook320 · Post by **jrcook320** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 6:04 pm

arshad76 wrote:Hello,
Yes a lovely car, tasteful modifications. I'd be interested to know how you dyed the carpet though!

Used lots of Ritz fabric dye (available at any grocery store here) and a very large (and very clean) trash can, of course mixed in the proper quantities for the amount of water it took to keep the carpet submerged. I let it soak for a couple days and let it dry for a couple more before I installed it.

edit: For before and after pics of the carpet, click the " yahoo bmw photos" and scroll down towards the bottom (pic 114).

MikeG · Post by **MikeG** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 6:56 pm

Great looking car! Like the modifications and the euro bumpers.

Looked at your pics on yahoo and you did an amazing transformation from stock to what you have now.

How is performance now compared to stock?

jrcook320 · Post by **jrcook320** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 1:53 am

The car has a lot of punch in 1st and 2nd gear, and feels pretty quick. I can slide the rear out on the turn pretty easy, and it'll smoke both rears pretty good from a 3000 rpm dump thanks to the 3:91 LSD. Keep in mind thats with sticky 205's in the back with camber correction, not the stock 185's.

For a frame of reference, I ended up next to a stock 4 spd 323i at a stop light in Toledo, OH (USA) a few years back, which is a very rare occurance here in the states. We ran em and I stayed with him to the top of 2nd gear, then he started to pull slowly away. He ended up a few car lengths ahead of me by the time we quit. Now I have a few more goodies, like lightened flywheel, electric cooling fan, etc. It will blow the doors off of any stock 320i, but its not fast enough for me.

My next major project will be a turbo kit using CIS injection. My motor is begging for it with my 8.1:1 compression ratio (flat top pistons with the 1.8 head). So far I have a Dinan turbo manifold and a HUGE brand new fuel distributor and AFM. I just need to do a little more research and math, select a turbo and intercooler, weld up my plumbing and tune the K-jet in and go. I'm hoping for around 200 - 220 hp which should be a lot of fun.