rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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Feb 21, 2011 11:13:40 GMT
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Is this the car where I bought the wheels it was on Rob? (memory of a goldfish) Are you gonna swap to singles like your old one? How long till MOT time then? I believe it is, you definitely put me onto this car about two years ago! It won't be getting singles for a few reasons, one being that it didn't come with them from factory, which coming from someone who's completely anti-purist might seem strange... The another being that singles are getting very hard to find and very expensive, and I have about a million sets of 323i lights and some E30 lights also. This car is going to have a very hard life and I've managed to smash quite a few headlights from track days as it is, so I'm sticking to the small lights for their commoness. The last reason is the only set of singles I have belong to my black 316 WHICH WILL RISE AGAIN!! MOT - soon
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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Feb 21, 2011 11:20:16 GMT
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Looks hard as nails matey! IMHO, just a ducktail spoiler on the back and it is there!? Thanks! Rear spoilers aren't my cup of tea I much prefer the cleaner lines. I had a ducktail - I sold it to MIB. I have several zender rear spoilers too and even some side skirts, but I prefer the simpler look. If it gets to the point where I think a rear spoiler will be a benefit then I'll fit a functional thin one like Bstardchild is fitting to his Monza. I like the dual headlights that you have on there but am wondering if your trademark airfilter will make a return? Believe me, I'm tempted! P.S. Turbo. Any space under the bonnet? I think there's room for the turbo, but where I'd stick an intercooler is currently up for discussion. I really want to try out megasquirt on a car, and a turbo would give me just the excuse!
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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Well it's MOT'd, taxed and insured ;D Some of the huge amount of work I did beforehand... Rear adjustable coilovers were designed to spec by TomC, one of the E21 boys. I de-rubbered some original top mounts and modified them to take a clevis. Bolts straight on Along with previous welding work by Edd, Misky and Dez, I did some welding myself repairing the rusty rear arches, I cut the rust out and "borrowed" some rear arch from one of my field racer/scrappers I had to fix the mystery broken engine mount/subframe, still clueless how it's broken this badly... Fabbed up the battery bar for the Dez made tray in the boot using M8 studding and some scrap metal I fitted these random recaros for now until I get it caged and bucketed, I've now refitted the carpet - this will be a comfortable track car Capri rear numberplate light supplied by Bruisercapri, thanks mate! Fitted lovely using the existing wiring hole and then self tapping screws to secure. Looks ideal I think. Also pictured are my new pressed metal plates, I blame Brennon for the idea! I had to get a front plate since the last one was smashed and for £26 delivered for front and back plates I was pretty pleased I fitted this mystery E21 washer bottle since the old one no longer fitted with the 24v engine wideness. It's lovely and small! This was really tip of the iceberg! I've really put in the hours in the last two weeks...
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Last Edit: Mar 6, 2011 17:52:12 GMT by rob0r
E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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I drove the car on Friday night and the rear axle has seized up tight... worst case scenario is that the diff has already gone (it's on it's very limits with the M50!), best case scenario is the mastercylinder has broken!
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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pressed plates are a MUST, picked up some for the white one on friday take another diff from your little spares collection? do E30 items fit? upgrade?
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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pressed plates are a MUST, picked up some for the white one on friday take another diff from your little spares collection? do E30 items fit? upgrade? I have plenty of E21 diffs but I was already sizing up E30 rear beams last year, they very nearly fit straight onto the E21 mounting points. E30 diffs don't bolt onto E21 beams and I think the beam swap is the way forward. If I do have broken diff then I'll be straight onto the E30 axle...
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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I drove the car on Friday night and the rear axle has seized up tight... worst case scenario is that the diff has already gone (it's on it's very limits with the M50!), best case scenario is the mastercylinder has broken! It turns out the mystery lock up was caused by either a seized brake linkage or faulty master cylinder. I greased the linkage and replaced the master cylinder and now it's all good The car has been driving pretty well since passing it's MOT, I still don't know if I trust it enough for a track day yet since it's been off the road so long and a LOT has been changed on the car. The car is as good as I hoped it would be, the M50 is a perfect engine for this car - very revvy There's a PPC group photo shoot for E21s next week which is luckily only a few miles away from me, should be fun!
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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Mark
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,818
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Mar 31, 2011 12:12:24 GMT
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Good work Rob. I think singles would look better though - reminds me of your old car in the sig. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of a 24V in MIB too.
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BMW 320d (fridge on wheels)
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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Mar 31, 2011 13:55:57 GMT
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My old car in the sig will live again so I'm not donating it's lights! Plus my experience with track days has shown that lights are often smashed... Doubles are far more common than singles. Although I feel putting single lights on a 323i is liking putting on a 316 badge, but that's just me!
Why exactly are you going 24v when you have such a sorted M20 2.7??
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,893
Club RR Member Number: 71
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vbstardchild
@bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member 71
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Mar 31, 2011 14:16:49 GMT
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There's a PPC group photo shoot for E21s next week which is luckily only a few miles away from me, should be fun! Pics from that when you have em please Can't believe you are considering a BGW - what have I done ;D
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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Mar 31, 2011 14:31:45 GMT
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Pics from that when you have em please Can't believe you are considering a BGW - what have I done ;D BGWs are growing on me, that is true . But not for this car, I want LESS rear grip I'll take my pretend SLR with me and snap some shots while I'm there, we all know how long the lead times are with magazines
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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murran
Part of things
Posts: 610
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Mar 31, 2011 22:12:32 GMT
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good luck at the ppc shoot. id come but ive gotta save the cashola for the drifting weekend @brawdy next month. you should come!!!! you'd look at all the space to skid around however you want, your jaw would hang open and you'd salivate! hooligans heaven is want it is. big skids make me happy!
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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good luck at the ppc shoot. id come but ive gotta save the cashola for the drifting weekend @brawdy next month. you should come!!!! you'd look at all the space to skid around however you want, your jaw would hang open and you'd salivate! hooligans heaven is want it is. big skids make me happy! I'd love to come to Brawdy and I've actually did all the sums last month and worked out how much it would cost me... too much unfortunately . I don't quite trust the E21 just yet and it would be the equivalent of driving to Scotland and back distance wise, and also giving it a very hard time drifting! Maybe next time. It's a real shame the PPC shoot didn't work out for you
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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Oct 20, 2011 15:09:09 GMT
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How time flies! ;D I last left this just as I was about to go to the PPC E21 photoshoot. The photoshoot was a cracking day with plenty of E21s turning out, luckily for me it was only 10 miles away at Raydon Airfield. Mine and Nas's M50'd E21s, his in far nicer condition! My full set is here: smg.photobucket.com/albums/v55/robjobuk/E21%20Photoshoot/The photoshoot day didn't go without a hitch for me, I felt a very concerning steering issue during the journey over to Raydon. Nas pointed out that my steering rack was pulling through the rack bushes and was travelling left to right before pushing the rods . It made for very vague steering... Then whilst at the shoot, I made the most of the fact it's a disused airfield, launched my car with a half drift and blew my driveshaft CV joint apart... Luckily since my diff is a bit "special" I was able to one wheel home Not impressed with the strength of the axle I pulled the car off the road not knowing what to do next. I want to use the car in anger on track and drift days, there's no point in that if I'm concerned it will lunch the driveshafts without trying. The bottom line is that the E21 rear driveshafts are a known weak point, I just didn't know how weak. I looked into fitting E30 and E28 axles but that's as far as I've got so far. A few months later I replaced the driveshaft and rebuilt the rear axle, within in view of making RRG'11. For a few weeks I busted my a$$ right up until the Thursday before RRG to get it ready. We had a bit of a family emergency which ultimately robbed me of the last day I had to finish the car . So my E30 touring went instead (credit to the photographers, I can't remember who took them!) Whoops... The car was finally ready a few days after RRG and made the NASC Nationals in Ipswich the next weekend. I foolishly entered the burnout competition and FAILED miserably! A combination of a weak clutch and a lack of skill saw me burn the clutch, not the tyres . Too make things work, I worked the crowd up beforehand... Proof I did get some smoke... I'll do better next year Since then my E30 touring overheated it's 2.5 M20 and has been given a 3.5 M30 engine, so in the meantime I've been using the E21 as a daily. The M30 in the E30 sprang a leak from a rad hose so the E21 is still in daily use until I get it fixed. I'll probably sorn it at the end of the month and figure out what to do next, which is either A) sell it B) find some strong driveshafts or do an axle swap Here are some photos from the last few sunny weeks
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Last Edit: Oct 20, 2011 15:11:04 GMT by rob0r
E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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tigran
Club Retro Rides Member
In rust we trust. Amen.
Posts: 6,444
Club RR Member Number: 142
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vtigran
@tigran
Club Retro Rides Member 142
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Good to catch up with this man. Nice to see it you got it all going in the end. Can't believe you're pondering selling it after all this blood sweat and tears, get it useable over the winter and abuse it in the spring at least surely?
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1964 Rover P5 i6 1987 BMW 525e - The Rusty Streak 1992 Micra K10 2001 BMW E46 316i 2002 BMW E46 330Ci 2013 BMW F31 320d 2018 BMW G31 530d
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Mark
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,818
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Oct 22, 2011 14:24:38 GMT
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You remember how you regretted selling TNY? Well you don't wanna feel like that again surely?
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BMW 320d (fridge on wheels)
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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Oct 22, 2011 23:00:43 GMT
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TNY wasn't sold, but I do regret what happened to it... It will hit the road in again one day.
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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Mark
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,818
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Excellent. I just took on that early non-sunroof shell as a long term project (I think that's the plan? Well today anyway) but not sure what route to take. I'm thinking, because it is such an early car, I should stick to doing something period like an M30. For now, I just plan to strip everything off and have it dipped so I know exactly what I'm starting with. What does TiNY need then? Looks pretty sound in that photo but we all know photos can be deceptive.
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BMW 320d (fridge on wheels)
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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Oct 24, 2011 12:30:25 GMT
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I think you nearly have as many projects as me on the go . The TWR is going to provide you with a brutal M30 powered E21, do you really a similar car with the same engine but less powerful? Thinking outside the box... V12 M70! TNY... I did all the welding to it about 4-5 years ago, I naively thought the car was really rusty at the time and needed a lot of work. If I had an E21 come to me now in a similar condition I would describe it as mint! Anyway, after I tried the M42 and M50 swap in TNY the car was fairly dismantled and I then even more naively thought that buying another E21 and sticking the M50 in it would be quicker option. I bought NTF in this thread (at a bargain price pointed out by a certain someone ) and decided to M50 it instead. NTF was rotten and needed far far far more work than TNY but I decided to just go with the plan and get it done. I'm glad I did NTF the way I have and kept TNY to one side. I learnt a lot with NTF and since the car was in poor condition when I got it I'm less precious about it and it's designed to be a track/drift slag. The GF is very keen on TNY and I will be more focused on making a "nicer" E21, which is more road orientated. NTF stole a lot from TNY including the front coilovers, engine, steering rack, rear axle etc etc. I will need to replace those and then fit some sort of engine. I have a very solid M42 to go in, but who knows, I might try something crazy...
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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1981 BMW E21 323i M50 2.5 24vrob0r
@rob0r
Club Retro Rides Member 104
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Jun 15, 2012 10:48:55 GMT
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The car has sat over winter and needs some work on it doing so I let the MOT expire in March. I decided to save time whilst I waited on some bits to MOT it first and then do the necessary work. It passed after I spaced the engine up away from the steering linkage and swapped a steering rack gaiter. And then work began... It looks drastic but it's the easiest way for me to do the required work. I've had my sump finally done as it hung too low, it's been cut and winged (pick up still to be modified). I also have a paddle clutch to replace the slipping standard 323i item. The engine bay/trans tunnel also has some rust to treat. The plan is to have it all back in by at least the end of July, that sounds long but my current schedule is ridiculous. I'm out of the country for work for the two weeks leading up to RRG and I arrive back on the Friday night, hence why it needs to be done by the end of July! This is why you need the sump modified on a 24v, the fins have been smashed off and the oil sensor thing is missing one of the nuts that holds it on and the other two have been ground down by the road...
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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