e21 BMW 316

[e21mark]

The e12 arrived today. I've got some 7x14 dished rims ro refurb' and some -60mm springs and Bilsteins. First a good detailing is in order.

[e21mark]

Decided to have the centre section of the wheels done in anthracite. I also need to find some new centre caps, as the ones I have are a little too shallow to clear. I've been looking around for some show rims but want something a little different to the usual basket weave design like BBS. They're lovely wheels but just a little too popular. I used to have some 15'' Panasport split rims but I made the mistake of selling them. I may try and track another set down and build them up with wider lips. I don't think I can go much wider than 9J on the rear though?





I've had to buy a set of fake Engelmann mirrors, so that I could raid them for their mounting kit. Fortunately they're the same as the originals, although the mirrors themselves are pretty poor. The plastic they use isn't great quality but worse than that, the mirror glass itself isn't angled, so you can't actually use them for the reason they exist! Also, if the glass breaks you have to junk the whole mirror, whereas the originals break down into parts and new glass is available.



The Recaro's I'm fitting were originally in a VW I believe, so are a little wider than regular e21 items. The runners aren't even close though, so I'm going to remove the stock seat mounts from the e21 and fit them as low as possible. I've tried a few different seats in e21 over the years and they always seem to sit too high. Being just over 6' 2'' I want as much headroom as I can get. The seats themselves are in awesome condition and were an absolute steal at £200!





I'm still unsure about fitting the Ronal front spoiler, as the car will be running quite low and being static and living in a street with loads of speed bumps, it's not exactly fun. I've managed to get a 320is front lip from a guy in Seattle though, so once it lands I hope it'll be an ideal compromise. I do like the Ronal though. In fact, I have a few for sale.

6 weeks today, I hope to be flying out to collect the M3.

[e21mark]

Hi Neek! I figured it was about time I put a thread up here.

Today we modified the wiper linkage, to increase the amount of sweep and allow us to run a single wiper. I know single wipers aren't for everyone but I really like the way they look. I also like the fact they're not too common. We've also been welding up any holes left from deleting trim, like the black plastic panel between the rear lights. Fortunately the only repairs that were needed, was a hole in the front screen scuttle and the offside rear window.



Still, not bad for 32 years I suppose.

[TheNeek]

Hey Mark!

[e21mark]

Thanks for all the positive remarks guys.

If all goes to plan I'll have this coming in a few days time.





All I plan doing is dropping the ride height by a few inches and fitting these, once they've been refurb'd & diamond cut.

[FunfGang]

Everything here is absolutely amazing, not many threads I get excited for but this is one of them.

[e21mark]

Well spotted Jack. They're not mine, but www.pristinebodyworks.co.uk is owned by my friend and he's restoring them.

The brakes on a RHD e21 are terrible, because they use a convoluted series of linkages and a remote mounted servo. Because this car has twice the power of a stock 323i, we figured we should develop a much better system.

My old car ran 323i rears and Sierra Cosworth fronts, with 298mm discs (rotors) and 4 piston callipers. They worked pretty well, but WMS made the same size set-up using billet 4 pots etc. We also found a company that make a remote servo kit specifically for dual system brakes.

So, we chopped out the iron mount for the remote servo mount and bolted the master cylinder directly to the bulkhead / pedal.











e21 don't have many places to fit auxiliary gauges but I found this neat solution in Germany. It replaces a couple of the cool air vents and move the hazzard light switch across. I've bought some Stack gauges for the oil temp, pressure and water temp'.





I also had the kidney grill black chromed and found some period Engelmann door mirrors. It's subtle changes like these that I like.









The worst job has been the wiring! We replaced the old bullet type fuse panel, with a more modern blade type. The glove box will be a false panel that covers the ECU and fuse panel.



We salvaged the alloy rad from the fire damaged car and it has gone for aqua blasting, to clean it up.



Managed to find a Ronal front lip but may go with a 320is version from the USA instead?



Also have a Motorsport ''ducktail'' and thinking of painting in body colour?



Wheels might go anthracite as per the e46 M3?

[oprahhwinfreyy]

jesus yes

[quique6]

Pure awesomeness this , i'm like you i love old bavarian .. i have a 320 e21 from 1981 and i love it, btw i love the double exhaust . keep going!

[Jackembe]

Looks so good so far! Is that an e9 in there too? And possibly a sierra cosworth? That workshop is dreamy

[BettyWhitE30]

i like what i see. e21s will always be my favorite!!great work

[one10_e36]

So much awesomeness, i only dream of owning an e30 M3 someday..

[Wyatt Lay]

This thread is great.

[e21mark]

Yes. I'm fitting 205/45's up front, to replace those 195's though and 5 or 8mm spacers on the rear. Obviously the ride height will be coming down, with some rake added for good measure. There's also a triple threat Nitrous kit with 75bhp jet going on, but we want to put a few miles on the engine first. It's going to be my daily driver and replaces my old 323i that caught fire.





It used to look like this.







This is my daily driver.



This is arriving next month.



I like my old Bavarian metal.

[eethirty]

i love this man! you going to run those wheels?