1971 BMW 1600 Project

[JinormusJ]

Ryan,

I approve of your life choices

Joey

[phreshkid]

Ryan,

I approve of your life choices

Joey

How could you?
I don't even approve of my life choices. Seems like I make one bad decision after another.

I'm just glad I don't make bad decisions when it comes to cars. Or at least I don't think I do.

[JinormusJ]

You've made it this far with life and limb

And a huge collection of sick old Bimmers

How could I not?

[jareddavidj]

Pretty sure I just saw you cruising down harbor in anaheim today


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[phreshkid]

Pretty sure I just saw you cruising down harbor in anaheim today


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Nope.

[2mAn]

I still want one, but I make bad life choices

[phreshkid]

Got the euro turn signals installed today.



First photo is of the US bubble turn signals. They were in good condition, but I've had these euro pieces for years now. Why not?
Wait, I didn't actually take a before photo of the US turn signals. Just imagine what they look like, or scroll back a few posts to see them.

Had to do some creative wiring and add an extra ground wire to get it all working right. In the end, I won. and this 45 minute job only took me 6 hours, which was nice.

Oh yeah, the bulb with two wires sticking out is a dual filament "Tap-A-Lite" bulb from Uhaul. It's been done before, so I opted to used internet resources and write-ups to do it again.




And here it is, installed and looking pretty. Everything works like it's supposed to.






Stoked.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Every time I read this thread it makes me want a Roundie. I have three E30's, I have to get rid of one first. Maybe next year. Keep up the good job.

Don't do it; it's a trap.


But don't listen to me. I don't even take my own advice 60% of the time.

Why didn't I read this sooner.

-Signed,
Guy with 3 e30's AND now a roundie 1600

[LJ851]

Got the euro turn signals installed today.



Stoked.

Looks great. Such a big improvement.

[phreshkid]

Why didn't I read this sooner.

-Signed,
Guy with 3 e30's AND now a roundie 1600

See, but you still have few enough cars to maintain some level of sanity. I missed that train long ago.


If you need 1600-specific parts, I likely have everything you might need in my parts stash. 1600 specific brakes, engines, clutch, pressure plate, transmission (mechanical clutch), short-neck 4.10 open diff, and who knows what else. I'm here to help.

Looks great. Such a big improvement.

Thanks man.


I put about 1000 miles on the car and took it on a 270 mile drive last Saturday where it drove great. Still not happy with the carb (transitional flat spot when main jet take over idle jet), so it's at my buddy's place where he will tinker with it a bit.

And it handles verrryy well, but I still need to get the front end lower. I was gifted a brand new set of Korman Race Springs (linear) so I'll probably throw those on sometime next week and see what happens. If all else fails, I'll order a set of coilovers from our friends at Ground Control.

[Farbin Kaiber]

See, but you still have few enough cars to maintain some level of sanity. I missed that train long ago.


If you need 1600-specific parts, I likely have everything you might need in my parts stash. 1600 specific brakes, engines, clutch, pressure plate, transmission (mechanical clutch), short-neck 4.10 open diff, and who knows what else. I'm here to help.

Awesome. I will be in touch. Thanks! It's good to know because I plan to keep it stock and slow.

[phreshkid]

Awesome. I will be in touch. Thanks! It's good to know because I plan to keep it stock and slow.

I was like you once. But then I decided to build a fast-ish one with all the go-fast goodies right now, hence the 1600. I have a Polaris 1973 roundie that will undergo a stock restoration. She will be the slow one, and I'm ok with that.

Florida is such a cool color. When I was young and didn't know any better, i passed on a 68 Florida 1600. Never again.

[Farbin Kaiber]

I was like you once. But then I decided to build a fast-ish one with all the go-fast goodies right now, hence the 1600. I have a Polaris 1973 roundie that will undergo a stock restoration. She will be the slow one, and I'm ok with that.

Florida is such a cool color. When I was young and didn't know any better, i passed on a 68 Florida 1600. Never again.

Of note, until I realized it was pretty damn early, I was thinking of coilovers, and an f20c swap. Actually, even the day I picked it up I thought that still because of the price I picked it up for, and the fact it was already resprayed. It wasn't until I began looking into what I actually had, and it's overall condition, I decided otherwise. I realized my s52 e30 should have the fast I desire, this can be a cruiser. So, that about sums up my past week.

[phreshkid]

Small but noteworthy updates:


I dropped the car off about a week ago to another mechanic friend who specializes in 02s/e9s. He said he can tune the carb correctly so I said what the hell, go for it.

Before I took the carb to get tuned for a second time, the car idled fine, but wouldn't engage very smoothly, and the transition from idle jet to main jet was beyond ridiculously bad. Being that I had nothing to compare the car to, I thought it was a carb thing so I didn't complain too much.

I did a bit of research on my single DCOE 45 setup and started mapping out the current jets. With the help of other FAQ members, I was able to narrow down that at the very least, the fuel jet and emulsion tubes must be changed. So I snapped a few photos of what was in the car originally.







I can go into detail what the original set up was when I purchased the carb up until now, but I won't unless asked to. This isn't a very common carb set-up so tuning had a bit more trial and error than normal.

Here is what was changed:
Emulsion Tube: F7
Fuel Jet: 145
Air Jet: 200

Timing was also adjusted during the tuning.


Car runs 98% better at all RPMs. Jeff (Mechanic) said he could probably get some more top-end out of the carb but that where it is now is next to perfect. If for some reason I can't sleep at night and absolutely need that last 10% of tuning, I'll go back in. But for now, the car is more driveable and happily chirps 2nd gear. And it does burn outs. So I have that going for me, which is nice.

I also added a set of IE's DCOE 45 angled Air Horns. These cleared the brake booster and improved torque a bit (in theory, maybe more):




Drove the car around today and ended up at The Wedge in Newport Beach. I promptly body surfed for a few hours then went and grabbed the daily burrito.








Life is good.

[LJ851]

Paint your front hub grease caps flat black.