E21 project

[Hermes]

This was supposed to be a dd, it did that for about a year and then I got carried away ;)

Starts out as a stock 1 owner 1982 320i 5MT, open diff, US spec bs...













Now:









Lots of mods... Bilstein's, Suspension Technique Springs, Suspension Technique Swaybars, Ground Control front brace, early all metal radiator recored with 2 row race core, early euro front valence, BBS euro front spoiler, euro bumpers front and rear, full Recaro herringbone interior including matching rear bench, slicktop, 5MT, 3:91 LSD, 15x6 BBS Mahle (refinished), euro tach... probably more stuff I forgot about

Edit: next step is M52 alloy frankenmotor swap ;)

[dirty30]

Awesome, I love E21's. Great color too.

[Hermes]

Thanks! It's Opal green, a fairly rare color

[86eseries]

Looking great! Keep up the good work bud!

[Big Willy]

Gorgeous color for that car, and I absolutely love the seats too.

[frankenbeemer]

Damn these noobs coming here, making me lust after e21's.....

1. E30 prices are rising.
2. I'm a driver, not an investor.

What to do, what to do? I really like that car.....

[Hermes]

E21 project

Looking great! Keep up the good work bud!

Thanks, I will! Lots of stuff on deck for this car. It needs some more work since it's 'just an E21' and they have a terrible rep in the US.

Gorgeous color for that car, and I absolutely love the seats too.

Thanks! The seats came out of an '81 320is my buddy parted out. I got the whole interior (front seats, matching rear bench, carpet, and door cards) for $500

Damn these noobs coming here, making me lust after e21's.....

1. E30 prices are rising.
2. I'm a driver, not an investor.

What to do, what to do? I really like that car.....

I'm not a bimmer noob, just noob on R3V. My ownership history starts in 1996:



I'm also a driver, not an investor. If I own anything at the moment that could be considered a 'rare optioned car' then my '04 ZHP coupe/6MT/3.38 LSD/slicktop is what will likely be worth the most in the far future:



Just wait until the E21 has the rest of the BBS kit, a M52 alloy frankenmotor, E36 front suspension, and E28 rear suspension, and some other planned mods... it's a cool car but not well enough engineered so 'updates' need to be made ;)

It will never be worth a ton of money since it's just an E21, but I'm likely never gonna sell it so I'll just mod it the way I want it to be.

[Hermes]

[2mAn]

97/98 M52 from the Z3? whats going to be so "frankenmotor" about it?

[george graves]

Suscribed.

[jeenyus]

Cool car. Great color as well. Look forward to the build.

[irish44j]

love that interior

[Hermes]

97/98 M52 from the Z3? whats going to be so "frankenmotor" about it?

3.0, hot cams, high compression, ITB's, undecided as to which engine management I will be using yet. I will also need a new trans, custom driveshaft, E28 rear end. Lots of stuff to source before I get to the swap.

Still undecided if I want to cut my car apart to do a full tube front end so I can use the E36 front subframe and suspension complete since I can also accomplish 5 lug front by merely swapping to E9 hubs on my big spindle struts. I likely will be doing that as it solves a lot of issues, but will require more work so I need to do more planning. Luckily my friend has a 78 that is already M50 swapped so that will be our test car.


For the meantime I will be throwing a L-Jet M10 from an 85 318 to solve some deficiencies until I get that 6 cyl put together

Suscribed.

Cool car. Great color as well. Look forward to the build.

love that interior

Thanks guys!

[Hermes]

Some more pics



Unable to get a BBS kit, but I did source a real Zender kit for Euro bumpers with high style side skirts



came from this car that was parted to give you an idea what it looks like



got a heckblende from German eBay





323 rear disc conversion, will likely convert these to E30 rear calipers later on so I have more pad choices





2nd gen (early 90s?) Suspension Techniques springs. Stock springs for comparison (w/my old 13" 320is BBS wheels)







full Koni suspension including the NLA rear shocks, 323 front vented brakes and big spindle early struts







Period correct Ground Control strut brace



Euro tach



E21 specific early BBS Mahle wheels (up to 83 still said Mahle on the face)



after refinishing

[ST1G]

Gorgeous color for that car, and I absolutely love the seats too.

I agree. The seats are fantastic!