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

[irish44j]

You may have been asked this in your other build thread, but what are all the bottles hanging up for? Improvised organization of random small bits?

yep....nuts and bolts and other small stuff. An old trick learned from my grandfather. And a good use of all the empty baby food jars one gets having two little kids :)

[TimbyMaTombo]

You may have been asked this in your other build thread, but what are all the bottles hanging up for? Improvised organization of random small bits?

[irish44j]

Well, I've posted up the M10B20 for sale. Hopefully someone wants to buy it to help me fund things I want to do on this car.

In other "good news" I found out that the car has a Stahl header on it, so hopefully that will have a bit of value on its own to sell and add some cash to the restoration fund. Not sure how much it's worth, but I can't imagine they're all that easy to find for the B20 these days, so maybe it'll fetch a hundred bucks or two...

Other than that, nothing much to report, just a lonely and naked M42, in the garage on a Saturday night

[irish44j]

A bit of an update. Did some horse-trading. A page or two back I noted that I had an interesting aftermarket speaker enclosure for the back deck. When I posted it around I got some interest, and a few cash offers that seemed perhaps low, but who knows.

Apparently that piece was made by an American aftermarket distributor that made similar pieces for various import cars back in the 80s. In any case, it was well-built, but not something I really needed. I like lightweight in my cars if possible, and a big speaker box on the rear deck doesn't fit that criteria.

After a bit more chatting around, I ended doing a straight trade of the speaker box to a gent in Michigan for a pair of new Meyle control arms and swaybar bushings. The '77-early '78 e21 used a different control arm from the later cars (though I haven't yet figured out exactly what the difference was), but apparently this guy had the 77 LCAs but a 79 car so couldn't use them. In any case, we just did a straight swap, which gave me pretty good value - at various parts places the LCAs go for $160 each, so with the bushings that's about $340 worth of front suspension stuff that I got in trade for something I wasn't going to use anyways.

Also, if I do end up doing Lemons/Chump, I'm pretty sure that a "trade" like that doesn't apply to the car budget deduction. But whatever.

Anyhow, they arrived today, and a bit of a ?? in that the two LCAs in the box actually appear to be different brands. One is Meyle for sure (stamped on the balljoint) and the other one is unknown (I don't recognize the logo on the balljoint). At one end one is narrower than the other as well, but with the bushings in they are the same. Looking around, most places list the part number as "OEM BMW Part" and are not specific on brand (Meyle or otherwise). Whatever, as long as they fit and work, the brand isn't much a concern as they both look sufficiently beefy.





so, baby steps on this project. Still doing some networking, and have found a few people (including the seller of the LCAs) who have a number of other parts I may want (LSD diffs, M42 swap stuff, suspension stuff, etc) so we'll see what's in the budget and what else I can horse-trade for perhaps.

[irish44j]

So I spent all last weekend racing at the LeMons Capitol Offense at Summit Point, where we finished all 16 hours without any significant incidents in a 325e e30. We finished 18th overall, which is pretty good for first-timers with a 350k mile stock ETA and a non-working LSD. A few pics from that. I did some work on the car, but most of the mechanical and prep was done by the owners (Spoth and others that aren't on here). I did most of the painting, decals, cosmetics, etc (except for our LeMons hood, which is different from the "regular" hood. And my old satellite dish actually made for a pretty effective rear spoiler, and did provide noticeable downforce.



Judge Phil giving us a black flag penalty, while his likeness resides on our hood




The alfa in the foreground hit a deer, so they engineered a temporary windshield for the last 8 hours of the race...I'm sure most of you have seen the screen capture of the deer hit on the internet by now, it's pretty much gone viral.



Now prepping for the 2-day rallycross this weekend in my own e30, which should be a lot of fun.

In the meantime, did some parts searching and found someone on r3v selling a bunch of M42 parts leftover from an aborted rebuild (where he instead swapped to a different engine). In any case, for $80 shipped I managed to score a good lower oil pan (which I needed) and about 90% of the gaskets, seals, o-rings, etc that I need for redoing the M42. I'll have to order a few things, but overall I'm really happy with the deal he gave me, since all these parts bought new from a distributor would have run me about $200+....so that's a good start on getting this engine in good running condition.

[irish44j]

So, in between some rallycross e30 prep for our 2-day event in two weeks, and more prep on the LeMons e30 I'm driving at Hyperfest next week, I did manage to get a bit of work in on the M42. Whole outer timing case apart and started cleaning stuff out.

I think someone has been in here not too long ago, since the main crank nut actually came off with my impact gun (as opposed to my other M42, which took about 500ft-lbs on a giant breaker bar/cheater pipe). The timing chain looks to be in excellent shape, and the timing sprockets all look good (square teeth still on the main ones, which is good news). Bad news is that the guide rail on the driver's side is the old design, so that will have to be updated.

So now I have to start rounding up all the stuff I need to do the refresh (AGAIN)....last time most of it was direct-order from the big retailers. This time since I'm in no rush at all I'll try to score as much as possible secondhand off other forum people and e30 guys....so far already managed to get a few gaskets and such still brand-new.

Here's my "master list" so far. I forgot about how much stuff I replaced on the old one, and since this car probably is NOT going to be for Lemons/Chump at this point, I might as well do it right.

Just wrote it up in about 15 minutes, so sure I forgot things (or used the wrong names), but it's for my own use, so who cares :)

M42 Refresh Parts List

11141247849 Profile Gasket (inner case)
11141247837 Profile Gastket (outer case)
11141439570 Forward Shaft Seal
11141721802 Lower Timing Case Gaskets
11141721919 Upper Timing Case Gaskets
11311247470 Updated Chain Guide Rail (make sure to get the one different-length bolt)
07119919629 The bolt
11311743187 Tensioner (new design)

11131739592 Upper pan gasket
11131709815 Lower pan gasket
O-rings for dipstick (use HF set)
Oil filter assembly gaskets and o-rings*

11531714738 Coolant hard line connector
11531709157 O-ring for ^^
Full crank bearings?
11531709157 Rear Main Seal Gasket
11142249533 Rear Main Seal Shaft Seal
11121721876 Valve Cover Gasket/Seal
(also get the plug hole seal kit)
11121721876 Head Gasket (not Victor Reinz)
11121721939 Head Bolts or studs (ARP?)


11611717761 IM Gasket 1
11611734684 IM Gasket
Injectors (Mustang – make sure they’re good ones!)

11621728983 Exhaust Manifold Gaskets (2)
18301711969 Exhaust Manifold Gasket (lower dual)
New exhaust manifold studs and nuts (same as other M42)

M20 flywheel/clutch assembly
Output shaft bearing (make sure it’s the right size!)
Correct-length flywheel bolts

11511734602 Water Pump (check old one?) - steel impeller only
11531721218 Thermostat O-Ring (check might have one)
11511714519 Water Pump O-ring (check)

11537511580 Thermostat (check, might have a good one)
All hoses (including MUTI delete stuff)
M42 radiator (aluminum pref.)

Fuel Filter
Fuel hose
Fuel Injectors
Intake Elbow

And a few pics of "progress"



I fabbed up a "loft shelf" to put all the M42 parts on to keep them separate from all my other crap. It's on wheels and just high enough to slide over the GT6 :)

[E30 Wagen]

$200!? I am really jealous right now, a m42 or m44 into an e21 has been next on my list for a while now, for when time and money is there.

[irish44j]

Subbed! I like the small progress already!

Thanks, though I don't think this build thread will be as good as my other one...especially since I might not want to duplicate all the engine refresh stuff that I documented in the first one, hah....

[SirWolfian]

Subbed! I like the small progress already!

[irish44j]

So, I said this was gonna start slow and it has, seeing as we have the LeMons race in the ETA in 2 weeks, and the weekend after that a 2-day midseason finale rallycross in my own e30.

Spent yesterday working on the LeMons car, and after some yardwork and garage cleanup today I decided to do some e21 projects. Not exciting, but stuff that needs to be done.

First attacked the trunk with various odoriferous bathroom cleaners and Dawn to get 6 years worth of dead stinkbugs, mold and other nastiness out of there. There is surprisingly little rust back there considering it was leaking so much. I aired it out all week in the shed, and then sat in ther with a sponge and hose today and scrubbed.

Came out pretty good. A few small rust spots but nothing deep or bad in my book. Now it's practically clean enough to eat off of.

Also drilled a new drain hole and inclined the car to drain the hose spray to it. It's the size for OEM e30 drain plugs, which I have a bunch of, so that's good.



This is the area up by the seatback. There's rust staining here, but it's on TOP of the sealant for the most part, so when I scrape that stuff off I expect the metal should be pretty good underneath



the sides are really in great condition. no rust and perfect paint (the original trunk trim was installed and is in great shape as well, if not a bit moldy). Only issue point is up on the driver's rear shock tower, but it's not too bad and mostly just the paint peeling up. I plan to reinforce the towers anyhow, so that's not a big deal.



ALSO decided to pull out the other M42 (my $150 spare/backup one for the rallykar) and the tranny and start to get them cleaned up, maintained, and see how they are. I know they came out of a running/driving car so I have high hopes that I won't have to replace much, just do a lot of cleaning, new belts, timing inspection, and might just do a head gasket since I have lots of time. Considered doing some internal work, but we'll see what stuff I can find cheap/free and how much patience I have.





The whole black fleet got a good wash today, except dIrTy (the e30)....made me think about the fact that I am going to keep this e21 probably white, and not do yet another black car, lol.



more when I have more.....

[Nick_S]

Seems like a great starting point! Be fun to watch this progress!

[irish44j]

So I guess I'll post up some other pics I took detailing some parts of the car, just for posterity:

toolkit is complete, but rusty. I may media-blast them and try to sell it as a set


floorpans surprisingly good




muffler still has stickers on it, as if it was never driven. Exhaust overall is in pretty good shape it looks like, not that I'm going to use it anyhow if I swap...



engine bay


backseat, in great condition


nifty aftermarket speaker enclosure on the back deck. This is apparently a 70s-80s era part that is very nicely built and a perfect fit on the rear deck. This will be a sale item once I find out how much it may be worth.




tires are shot, but wheels are in pretty decent shape. Will sell these since finding decent 13" tires is next to impossible these days


factory jack and lug wrench in great shape still in stock location


trunk in very nice shape other than a bit of moldiness from the leak. Almost no rust anywhere (that's just rusty staining at the forward end)

[kts]

I like the little project shed back there.

I was just thinking the same thing. Very jealous of the shed!

[irish44j]

I like the little project shed back there.

the "dumping grounds for stuff that won't fit and/or I don't want in the main garage." No insulation, lighting, or power right now, so it's just a big shed for a car, home-improvement stuff, and lawn/garden stuff. For now all the car work happens in the main garage (one bay, since wife gets the other one).

Someday, I hope to make it a "real" shop back there though :nice:

But yeah, thank goodness the guy I bought the house from built that the year before the county reduced max "shed" size allowances. He used to stash a restored Chevelle back there so he could work on his vintage Camaro in the main garage.

[MattAvino]

I like the little project shed back there.