Project: BMW E21.

[Eddie.]

ffs, im stuck which one to choose. i dont think i can live with choosing a sapphire over a E21 :quiet:

* saves more and buys both *

I'm sure you know where I stand on this.

Cosworth.......that is all.

Ha, this no longer applies then:

bmw 0, ford 1

​

 

[Dr HMS Derv Destroyer]

im bloody usless at choosing an old car.

 

[Eddie.]

If you want any help or advice on E21's get onto the E21 forum:

http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/

Plenty of advice on there, and loads of guides.

Likewise, you can always drop me a PM, I'll be happy to help where I can

 

[DaveDreads]

im bloody usless at choosing an old car.

Don't worry, i've started looking at Triumph Dolomites,
old cars are cool.

 

[Dr HMS Derv Destroyer]

If you want any help or advice on E21's get onto the E21 forum:

http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/

Plenty of advice on there, and loads of guides.

Likewise, you can always drop me a PM, I'll be happy to help where I can

ta, will look at this now for the next hour. no works getting done now

 

[Dr HMS Derv Destroyer]

Don't worry, i've started looking at Triumph Dolomites,
old cars are cool.

was looking at them last night, plus some uber cool looking old fiat, they look abit like dolomits sprints.

 

[katana2]

Good project !
I've a 316 in France.

 

[Eddie.]

Good project !
I've a 316 in France.

What year/shape?

 

[Christopher]

So much awesome.

 

[danzel]

Great project, so good to see some decent progress too, still my favourite shape of BMW aswell.

 

[Eddie.]

Nothing overly exciting today:

Struggling to get the bushes out of the new control arms. Going to try sawing them out over the weekend.

A change to my personal life now means I have a lot of spare time, so hopefully progress should pick up to a decent rate soon

 

[MarcoB]

Random Q and you might have answered it but have you changed the rubber brake lines?

 

[Eddie.]

Random Q and you might have answered it but have you changed the rubber brake lines?

Nope.

The "plan" (if I can really call it that) is to get the car rolling again and usable, then I'll get started on upgrading parts once it's a rolling project.

Braided hoses/brake upgrade are among the many plans!

 

[Tez.]

Have you been dumped ? If so carry on with the BMW and drive it into her house !

 

[theduck]

Subtle as a brick Tez!

 

[Tez.]

Sorry about that post ed ! I'm a new dad (3 weeks) and I drunk a bottle of wine for the first time in a year.

cars coming on lovely, loads of good prep work gone into ths

 

[NoahRobinson07]

Don't worry, i've started looking at Triumph Dolomites,
old cars are cool.

Pfft, almost bought a 1300 Spitfire a couple of weeks ago, and another Mini...

 

[Eddie.]

Have you been dumped ? If so carry on with the BMW and drive it into her house !

Subtle as a brick Tez!

Sorry about that post ed ! I'm a new dad (3 weeks) and I drunk a bottle of wine for the first time in a year.

cars coming on lovely, loads of good prep work gone into ths

No worries, congrats on the little'un

Sorted the control arms out today.

Original rubbers were destroyed, arms were looking rough, and threads were rusty.

Popped down to a local car place, picked up a pair of random ball joints for a couple of quid:

Burnt the rubber out of the ARB to control arm bushes, then hacksawed the metal sleeve out. Tried a socket and vice, it would not move at all.

Metal sleeve certainly bit the dust:

A bit of a clean with the wire brush, some hammerite, new rubber boots on the ball joints, and new polybushes

Better than stock

 

[Rob]

Nice work dude, slow and steady but it must be so rewarding seeing it get closer every time you're out there.

 

[Eddie.]

Nice work dude, slow and steady but it must be so rewarding seeing it get closer every time you're out there.

Yeah, I've fully tripped up recently, female s**t has probably put me a month behind where I wanted to be.

Lots to catch up with.

Can't wait to have this mint for Trax.

 

[Rob]

People say you can put a s**t load of money into modifying/restoring a car and you often don't see all of it back when you sell, but you can plough just as much into a woman and when it's time to get rid of her you don't get a penny.

And people say cars are a waste of money FFS.

 

[Eddie.]

People say you can put a s**t load of money into modifying/restoring a car and you often don't see all of it back when you sell, but you can plough just as much into a woman and when it's time to get rid of her you don't get a penny.

And people say cars are a waste of money FFS.

f**king. A. To. That.
:cheers:

 

[Eddie.]

Got the ARB all fitted up today.

Was going to fit the coilovers today, but my hubs don't fit, I was told they would but it turns out I need 323 ones.

Anyway:

Yet another delay.

 

[welshname]

Those bushes were a nightmare to get out!

Took a lot of pictures the other day but only a few actually looked semi decent.

IMG_2847 by welshname, on Flickr

Also available with wheels... by welshname, on Flickr

 

[Joe#]

The paintwork looks fantastic in those pictures. Coming along nicely Edd.

 

[welshname]

It's stupidly dusty at the minute too. When you see it in the sunlight on parts that are clean it looks so god damn good.

​I can't wait till it's on the road again.

 

[Eddie.]

Love the first one Rhys! That's perfect!

+1 on getting it back on the road, really can't wait.

 

[Christopher]

Not seen this for a week now. I might pop over one day this week when you're working on it.

I'll not lie, I'll probably bring a chinese again so I can sit there eating it whilst you all slave over the car.

 

[Eddie.]

Not seen this for a week now. I might pop over one day this week when you're working on it.

I'll not lie, I'll probably bring a chinese again so I can sit there eating it whilst you all slave over the car.

Anytime mate, just holler.

 

[Eddie.]

Some progress.

Yesterday myself and Christopher got to work on the suspension. Namely, fitting the new dampers.

First off, it was a fraught day, everything we tried to do just went up the wall.

- New ARB doesn't fit, had to revert back to my original one and clean the threads up on the control arms.
- Coilovers appear to be missing a thread on the caliper mounting bracket, need to investigate further.
- 323i hubs I bought so the 323i coilovers would fit, have a cross-threaded wheel bolt hole.
- Retaining screw on the 323i discs was rounded to hell, and I had to angle grind it out, meaning the thread is still in the hub.

All in all, a tedious day, that said, we did achieve victory:

With the wing test fitted:

Need to do some work on the wing, it doesn't seem to quite fit properly atm.

I'll get some better pictures of the front suspension over the rest of the weekend.

Got the door stops on too:

Still lots to do, but it's getting there, if a little slowly!

 

[Djw Dave]

I check back in here daily just to see if you've done anymore. Fav thread on here ATM

 

[Daniel]

Can you not put a bit of rattle can silver on the door lock thingies? They look minging up to the immaculate paint!

 

[Djw John]

What he said

 

[Eddie.]

Can you not put a bit of rattle can silver on the door lock thingies? They look minging up to the immaculate paint!

I started with all that sort of thing. I've started realising that doing that, will leave me with this thing finished in 2 years! In the interest of getting it finished, I've got to accept a few things won't look brand new. Not just yet anyway.

 

[welshname]

I started with all that sort of thing. I've started realising that doing that, will leave me with this thing finished in 2 years! In the interest of getting it finished, I've got to accept a few things won't look brand new. Not just yet anyway.

Precisely this. It's not a big job to take them off at a later date and paint them. Get it to a driving project first.

 

[Eddie.]

You know who your real mates are when they're prepared to stay and help hang some 36 year old doors while I shout and bark orders.

Massive thanks lads, today was fantastic. Great progress, great effort, this thing is going to look the fecking dogs!

 

[welshname]

We'd have taken even less time if we'd have had ANY sleep and didn't feel rough as f**k.

​See you tomorrow

 

[Eddie.]

The fitment on the second door.

​DAT FITMENT!

 

[Djw Dave]

Yes!! Proper!

 

[Mr R.]

When your ready you can send off a bag of bits to get plated, they do "clear" (sliver to us) or yellow (gold to us) for about £30.
Its not worth spray painting tbh as it wont last (bits like door catches)

I got my Clio wheel bolts done while my wheels where away being powder coated, that was almost 2 years ago now and they still look like new.

Great project btw, your doing a cracking job.