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

[irish44j]

After rallycrossing Sunday (see build thread in my sig for pics/discussion),

today's job was to get the car to the backyard out of sight of my neighbors, who are probably tired of my car collection :)



gave it a good wash/scrub and took off 7 years of grime and nasty. Also noticed that the car has a very good (and legal) tint job on it :)


Think I took off some deteriorating paint as well, lol


The aluminum on the bumpers and trim is surprisingly very good once cleaned up


And tucked away in the shed until I get a chance to do some work on her (probably in late June after the next Rally-X and Lemons race.



The rest of the crew back where it belongs

[irish44j]

So here we go again. The rallycross e30 is mostly done (a few tweaks to make) and the GT6 has a few things left, but it's time for a new project.

I've really enjoyed working on the e30, but I can't just do the same car again, that wouldn't be as much fun as something different. So I went with something similar but not the same.

I'll update this post with more information when I have time (rallycross tomorrow - need to pack the e30), but here's the quick and dirty on this new one:

'77 BMW e21 320i
Cost: $200
Engine: I think this is the 2.0L version of the M10. Supposedly ran when parked (I actually believe the guy) but I coudln't get it to turn over with the starter after it was sitting for 6 or 7 years. Will look into that later.

Overall appears to have been well-loved by the previous owner until he died 6 years ago, unfortunately. The toolkit is complete (but rusty from a trunk leak). The factory jack is still stored. The spare tire is mint. All panels and trim are there (I mean ALL of them, there is NOTHING missing that I can tell). The service and owners manuals, in perfect shape, still sit in the glove box. THe seats had fitted leopard-print covers on them.

The car looks rusty on the outside but it's all surface rust and no rust-through that I can identify. This being a non-sunroof car it actually doesn't seem to have leaked at all, aside from the trunk. The floors and rockers are very good with far less rust than my e30 had (which wasn't much). The interior is complete and in very nice shape (aside from a broken seat mount).

Anyhow, the plan:
Strip it
Sell most of the interior stuff that's worth selling
Sell the OEM 13's
Sell the engine/tranny
Drop my spare M42 into it (modify front subframe)
Brake upgrades
Suspension (haven't decided yet)
Pretty it up (I hate bodywork, but guess I'll have to learn to like it for a bit).


I had some thoughts of doing Chump/LeMons/GRM Challenge, but the more I dig into this car, the more I want to do a full restore and make it a nice weekend cruiser, rather than gut and strip it.....

This is going to be a much slower build than the e30 was (I'm busier with other things, my budget is pretty tight at the moment, and I still have some other projects to do on the e30)...but hopefully you guys will have some comments/advice/thoughts on whatever I end up doing.

I'm going to do carbons of this thread on R3V, bimmerforums e21 section, and Grassroots Motorsports, in anyone cares. I like varied perspectives :)