6/83 grey market 323i.. mtech I S50 5-lug

[kronus]

it switches off. the touring is currently in the garage spot of shame, waiting for some suspension bits to come in.

[e30davie]

Just read the whole thread, was an enjoyable read - very nice project.

Do you intend on putting the side skirts on?

I've been thinking about the mtech kit for my 323i for...years. The front and rear bars are cool as but the side skirts ive never quite liked that much.

[kronus]

thanks!

yeah, I have the skirts and am working up the motivation to install them - requires a lot of drilling into an otherwise pristine shell. I don't mind the skirts themselves.. the way it is now looks a little goofy.

[moatilliatta]

thanks!

yeah, I have the skirts and am working up the motivation to install them - requires a lot of drilling into an otherwise pristine shell. I don't mind the skirts themselves.. the way it is now looks a little goofy.

Sometimes I'll wait on doing something easy and very rewarding till I do something that I'm dreading, All the fruit can't be low hanging. I hope that helps!

[kronus]

skirts are on. to celebrate, went for a drive with Julien and his black car.






currently chasing a bad oil burning smell when I get on it, as well as a leak down the front of the motor - I'm suspecting a bad VCG but it may be the head.

[2mAn]

Dayum... I love it.

[dahows]

Mtech cars look great in any color but there is something special about white...nice job.

[e30m3s54turbo]

It looks great…

[moatilliatta]

Looks good! Those oem French fogs?

Excited to see what it looks like with the Weds.

[lukeADE335i]

Well done on the side skirts - they look great!

I'm about to embark on an '84 coupe project myself, so am going to go for an M-tech 1 kit when I get it resprayed. Just ordered the hardware to retrofit the coupe tilt mechanism to my 4-door sport seats to fit into it

[kronus]

Thanks folks! It’s been a long time in the making. There’s a lot more left to do than it looks..

yes - oem French fogs. One is cracked and superglued back together :(

[2mAn]

Times running out on a 2022 update

[kronus]

happy 2023! I went out to a classic meet/drive and some photogs were out.




more photos of the whole thing, which was pretty cool

[FredK]

Very nice car, and thank you for the biennial update!

How's it running? Are you going to keep it as is, or are you eyeing any upgrades?

[kronus]

it's running well since the head change. I'm getting oil smoke when running it at high RPM, though, which is supposed to be caused by loose valve guides. Annoyingly, they were done on the new head before it went in, so I guess they just weren't done very well.

Few major things left to do:
- interior. It's in an awkward place where the seats are Alpina, the door cards are houndstooth, the carpet is black, and the rear seats are natur leather. Ideally I'd like everything to match.. something.
- E30 M3 front struts. I have some, and everything for them, but they were bent when I got them and have been at a friend's uncle's fab shop for a while getting straightened and reinforced. Once they are on, I can put the Weds back on as well, although the RCs are growing on me.
- I'm also thinking to remove the tunnel-mounted shifter and go back to a traditional shift console, as I've never had a reliable 1st gear engagement with this setup, even with a 60k mile ZF that ran perfectly in the m coupe it came out of.
- I've thoroughly verified that the m coupe motorsport LSD in the car is roasted. Many 1-tire fires happed during this recent drive.