BMW's galore!

[Mark]

Been smoothing the engine bay and removing brackets, battery tray etc. Hopefully will get to shoot some colour any day now. Apart from that we've been trying to modify the brakes to lose the convoluted linkage BMW fitted, in order to swap from LHD to RHD. It's not as easy as first hoped though.

Obviously want minimal clutter in engine bay, whilst keeping it usable. I doubt it'll go as far as some of the VW guys though.

[Mark]

Well the 2002tii is off to Ireland so this is going to replace it.







Managed to find some 7 x 15 deep dished rims for it, although the ride height needs some serious attention first.


The e21 brakes are still being altered but we've come up with a solution - hopefully!



Thanks to Big Bavarian Beauties near Colchester, we managed to get a lightened flywheel that is only 4.5 kgs! The clutch is an uprated AP one, although we decided against a paddle clutch this time.



We noticed the block of the new donor engine was rusting which means that when it was replaced under warranty (due to nikasil issues) they must have used an m50 block instead of the alloy m52 one. Luckily this ex demo 328i came along at just the right time.

[Mark]

Lucked out with some dished rims for the e12. They need a refurb' but well worth £65!

[raymondmarble]

Loving the E12 MIB. The link to your wheels isn't working, but I'm sure we'll see in good time. Keep up the great work!!

[Davey]

Om nom nom. I want your cars and your skills haha.

[GT4ME]

I like those alloys on the E12, they look like 3.0CS items.

[grifterkid]

That e12 is a gem, I know of it very well...! I am so pleased it's gone to a good home as it really deserves to be looked after...

I shall most certainly be keeping a close eye on it...

[stevietuck]

Lovin the new car bud but what alloys did you get ? the pics not working

[Mark]

Sorry about the link. I'm not sure what the problem is but they're dished multi-spoke rims. I guess they're a bit Alpina looking. They're on the way over from Germany so shouldn't take too long to get here. Once they're wrapped in 205/50's, I'll just need to sort the ride height.

I went and checked progress on the e21 and finally ordered the paint. (CODE U94/2)

Also ordered camshafts from Cat rather than carry on searching for US M3 ones instead. Combined with the lightened flywheel, six branch and remap we should be looking at 240+ bhp without the nitrous.

Anyway, a few pics from today....













New harnesses for the e21 as the rear cage meant there wasn't room for the OE inertia belts.

[tonybmw]

The E12 looks very tidy

[Mark]

It's quite a nice thing to smoke around in Tony. My intention was to use it while the e21 is being built and then move it on, but that may change.

Paint for the e21 arrived. The same - but different.

[eurogranada]

Love both of the cars. Your latest addition looks superb! Lovely car!

[stevietuck]

New car looks mint is it as good as it looks? new paint is nice too keep up the good work bud. steve.

[iane]

e12 looks very clean and am very jealous of your rear head rests!!!

[Mark]

Well there was some progress yesterday.











Unfortunately, as the paint went off, it soon became clear there was a problem with the mix and the primer was still bleeding through in some spots. As a result, the supplier is having to mix and send another batch. It's sods law that we've got a bank holiday weekend to delay things though. :roll:

Mick's @ Pristine's track e28 is coming along nicely.










Spotted some others





I also had a nose around the base for my sprint car while I was at it. Just the corner of the footwell to do and then it's time for the cage to go in.

[tonybmw]

Shame about the bleed through, the finish looks superb

[stevietuck]

When i saw that first pic i thought woo hoo! mib is back!!!! such a shame about the bleed through but you'll get there bud keep the faith. steve.

[grifterkid]

Blimey...! There is orange and then there is ORANGE

It's a shame the paintwork didn't go as planned as it looked amazing! Will it need stripping back again before the next attempt...?!

All in all I can see a stunner of a car hitting the road in the end and that's the main thing no matter what hurdles have to be leapt over

[Mark]

Thanks guys.

Yes, sadly the bay will need to be stripped right back and started from scratch.

To my untrained eye, it looked fine till Mick took the time to actually point out the areas of primer coming through. He felt the paint supplier had bulked the mix out and it was simply too thin. There were 3 coats just to get to this stage and obviously the more paint, the greater chance of getting runs. I have to say I was well impressed with Mick's skills as a painter. He had really gone to town with smoothing and prepping the engine bay. He works to a really high standard which makes it easier for me to remain confident that it will all work out in the end.

WMS Brakes have come through with an alloy replacement for the Cosworth brake callipers I've been using. The look absolutely stunning (I will get some pics later) and it's almost a shame they'll be covered by the rims.

Talking of brakes, we've binned all the convoluted linkages that BMW used to convert them for RHD cars. Instead we used a 535 master cylinder bolted direct to the bulkhead and a remote servo from SVC that we can hide away. It's going to be so much less cluttered in the engine bay now.

I am properly excited about the car finally coming together. I used to think the old MIB was quick, with 222bhp, but this one should have 100 more.

There's a big surprise to come too. I'll save that till it's finished though.

[stevietuck]

I cant wait to see mib back on her wheels, with more power better brakes and all that orange its no wonder your excited i am too ;D