Irish44's '77 e21 320i build - with M42

[blue plates]

Awesome. I like this build so much I'm following it on bimmerforums too.

[irish44j]

Awesome. I like this build so much I'm following it on bimmerforums too.

lol.....it's the exact same thread ;)

though this is the one I consider my "boring" build thread compared to the e30 one, which had a lot more stuff going on at a fast pace!

[blue plates]

I have an e30 and a 77 e21 as well, so I'm on both boards. I started your thread from the last page to the first on bimmer, and first to last on here so it felt like if different threads!

Talk to your buddy about bolt on mounts :D

[dirty30]

Still in the works! Clearing out other small projects then I can focus my time on the E21.

keep an eye on Ryan (dirty30)'s e21 build thread. I think instead of modifying the subframe like I did, he's possibly going to design some new mount arms off the motor that can bolt to the original subframe. Or at least I think he was considering it.

My fabbing skills aren't quite to that level myself, lol.

[irish44j]

A long day/night at a buddy's wedding yesterday meant I couldn't run at the Northeast Rallycross National Challenge (incidentally, Nick won Mod RWD class in his e28 with two e30s right behind him) this weekend. So with perfect weather today I got down and dirty and did something I've been dreading: Draining the 6-7 gallons of fuel that have been sitting in the tank for the last 7 years. I had kind of hoped that with a half-full tank at least the tank wouldn't be in too terrible condition, but unfortunately that isn't going to be the case I don't think, which was pretty clear once I pulled the lifter pump/level sender



hard to take a pic into the tank, but there's definitely some rust in there.


Since apparently the e21 tank doesn't actually have a drain plug (?) and I couldn't easily get the connector hose off, I just slit it with a knife and drained



Almost filled my big pan to the brim



Siphoned it out of the pan into an empty 5-gal tank (and a couple old oil jugs)



is it bad that I'm tempted to use it in my crappy lawnmower? lol....

So, with that done did some cleaning up of the interior and engine bay, which had about a bucketful of dust on them. The plan is to drop the engine in as soon as I get my lift back. Also have been continuing sanding, priming, etc on the body. It's getting there. Some random pics...

[dirty30]

Nice valence lol

[irish44j]

Nice valence lol

and hood.

though still kind of watching out for a decent driver's door. The one on the car still needs some more bondo to get it smooth, and the one off your blue car is even worse. But not like it's getting painted for a long while anyhow, so not rushing on that one.

[dirty30]

keep an eye on Ryan (dirty30)'s e21 build thread. I think instead of modifying the subframe like I did, he's possibly going to design some new mount arms off the motor that can bolt to the original subframe. Or at least I think he was considering it.

My fabbing skills aren't quite to that level myself, lol.

Not trying to hijack your thread but I have made progress with the M42 swap mounts for those that are interested:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?p=4235877#post4235877

[irish44j]

hijack away. Mine is moving so slow I have to search for it pages back every time I want to update anything :)

[irish44j]

so, I got my hoist back tonight, and decided to do a test-fit of the engine (without transmission) to check the clearances and mounts. Long story short, it fits and my altered subframe/mounts line up perfectly, so I'm pretty damn pleased with myself :)

Only issue is I forgot to grind off the little lip on the passenger side of the rear oil pan when clearancing for the steering rack, so will have to lift it back up and do that. Otherwise, looks to sit exactly where I want it to. Not much else to say at the moment other than it's one less thing to worry about now that I know that the mounts line up right :)









[img][/img]

[irish44j]

cleaned the garage and started figuring out what to do next on the car. Need to score up a few bolts and stuff to put the clutch/tranny in, but after grinding the lip off the oil pan the engine sits well and right where I wanted it, so pretty pleased with that. Also deciding where to mount the coil packs (I'm not doing COP).





hooray for clean garage

[irish44j]

after doing some pre-race work on the e30 last night, had some time to fit the transmission on the e21 now that I have all the bolts.



With the engine already in, figured I'd just bring it up from underneath and hook it up. Um....no. Not enough tunnel clearance to do it that way, unfortunately. So I went ahead and lifted the engine out, hooked it all up, and then put it all back in as one assembly. Tedious for one person to do but only took about an hour (trying hard to be quiet with the rest of the house asleep late last night, lol).







so, it's in. And happy to see that I clearanced enough around the rack



That said, a couple issues that concern me:

First, the place where the tranny crossmember sits is mighty close to the "slots" where the support bolts are removed. This doesn't make me feel all that good, so may have to do something about that (not sure what, yet).



Also, for some reason everything is a little bit crooked. The shift linkage is about 1/2" off centerline, and I've always thought that the engine looked just a little bit crooked. I can't really understand why, as my mounts, so far as I can tell, line up perfectly square on the frame rails. I'm probably just going to elongate the holes a tad on the engine mount arms to allow me to "straighten" the engine, IDK. I'm pretty OCD about that kind of stuff, so it's driving me crazy...

[RoDo]

It's been over a year - any updates. Great thread that I just stumbled across...

[phenryiv1]

It's been over a year - any updates. Great thread that I just stumbled across...

He sold the car to focus on his e30 rally car.

[irish44j]

Yeah, sorry.....I sold it to a buddy to use for Chumpcar (with the rebuilt engine). In the end, I couldn't really find a true goal for this car.....I already have a vintage weekend driver (GT6) and the e21 is basically just a not-as-good version of an e30 but much harder to find parts for (especially performance parts).

With the e30 being built for stage rally, that's costing a good amount and I wanted my funds (and my garage) available for that. The e21 went to a good home though!

If you like this thread, you'll love my e30 rally built thread....it's about 100x as long with the same kind of photos/descriptions throughout. So check it out!