Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Dlux BMW E23 build

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    the pictures is not showing

    great build

    Comment


    • #17
      Originally posted by The Norwegian View Post
      the pictures is not showing

      great build
      Yeah, sorry, I had some issues with the pictures but they should be good now? If not, please let me know.

      Comment


      • #18
        Great work, the car looks good aired out! Yeah, it is rarely recognized how much work was actually involved for what seems a quickly thrown together forum post. Seems like your had work paid off well!
        "You could roll an E30 in a BMW showroom today and people would think:
        Well, they finally got the 1 series right!"

        3.0 L e30 ground up build

        Comment


        • #19
          Thanks bud!

          Comment


          • #20
            I mounted the compressor and tank in the trunk and got all my air lines run. I also set up the trunk with the stock carpet kit and got my subwoofers/amps all setup. I will eventually custom build a box for these subs as I did my E21. Just need more time...

            The e23 impresses me with all the "luxury" items. I love the fully carpeted trunk.

            Compressor and tank was pretty easy after I figured out where to put it. I just welded some simple bolts to the floor for the compressor mount and two bolts to the side of the trunk for the air tank. Trunk still has enough room to go get the groceries. Much nicer than the size of the E21, totally different uses/cars.

            4 bolts welded to the floor for the compressor. 2 bolts to hold the air tank. 1 of the bolts for the air tank was an existing hole so if anybody is duplicating what I did, its easy to locate the tank with that first bolt and then place the tank almost on top of the compressor and weld that bolt in. Pretty easy now that its all figured out.







            Compressor in.



            Everything in.



            Full air up to full air out.



            Last edited by Erik D_lux; 08-20-2020, 12:49 PM.

            Comment


            • #21
              That's actually a very smart compressor and tank location. Car airing out is sick too.
              "You could roll an E30 in a BMW showroom today and people would think:
              Well, they finally got the 1 series right!"

              3.0 L e30 ground up build

              Comment


              • #22
                Moving on in to the interior...

                If you have not been watching my build, I mentioned that I got my car pretty cheap as the interior was really torn up. I found the spare parts car that had a great black interior so I am swapping it all over.

                Another thing that is great about the spare interior is that it looks to be the upgraded 7 series version or maybe just nicer because the years went by? My car I am building is a 1982 733 and the car I am pulling the interior from is a 1985 735. I am sure a E23 guy can chime in.

                The interior I am putting in adds:
                Rear window shade
                Rear reading lights
                Wood trim around the dash
                Wood trim around the ash tray
                Electric seats

                The wood trims on the dash and around the ash tray add so much IMO. I makes me feel like there was actually a huge difference in trim levels. How sad it must have been to be only so rich to own a 7 series but not to be able to afford the top of the line. Pitty the middle class folk...

                I got to work on the wood, I sanded it down and put some oil on it to protect it. I didnt think the wood would be that big of a deal, it does not feel like it is before I sanded it down but now that I have it all done, I couldnt be happier with the way it turned out. It looks so good and adds such a huge touch of elegance IMO.


                Here is the before of what the wood looked like. Not so good. Its had a tough life.



                Before on top and after on the bottom. Same wood.





                Sanded down and oiled. I also like the pre facelift (pre 1983 7 series) door trim as it adds the chrome strip along the bottom.



                I did have to use the plastic door uppers as my original were not good. Since the wood is different pre face lift to post face lift, I had to make slots in the plastic/metal to bring the wood upwards so there is no gap between the top plastic and the wood.



                Here is the door upper and why I had to replace it.



                Here is the gap that the new plastic upper creates



                Here are the new slots I made to bring it upwards.



                Here is the final result.



                The dash made the most difference. I love it!

                Before



                Marking my cut outs..

                Awesome thing about the BMW is that the dash is actually slotted to fit the wood trim, its just covered in foam and dash material. If you can find the hole, you can cut it out in seconds.




                After




                The shifter boot was cashed out. You can get new boots on Ebay really cheap, like $6 shipped.



                The wood trim on the ash tray is almost as good as the dash. One awesome feature I didnt notice until I refinished the wood is that the ash tray is cut from the same wood as the side pieces so the grain follows each other side to side. Those details really set off this car.

                Comment


                • #23
                  More interior work..

                  As mentioned in previous posts, I switched out the interior not only because my interior was trashed but also to go to black and on top of that to get all the benefits that the spare parts car has. I installed the rear reading lights, rear head rests and the rear sun shade, none of which were included in my base model car.

                  I found a difference in the rear reading light panels from late to new models. The new models have the panel that is a bit longer as the section that goes behind the seats changed. I found out later that this really didnt matter anyway as I cant see them when the rear seats are assembled. Either way, just putting the info out there than you can do some simple trimming to fit early side panels to late reading light panels.










                  The rear parcel shelf was in great shape but faded by the sun. I didnt really want to go put new carpet in it if needed so I tried to dye it, no luck at all and then did some searching and found a spray paint for carpet. Figured I would try it out. It worked awesome! Full black and does not make the carpet feel weird. Even if it did make the carpet feel weird, I think I would be fine with it since you dont really feel the carpet back there. Couldnt be happier with the outcome.

                  ColorBond Carpet Refinisher

                  Faded and not a good color:





                  Close up pic after painting:




                  Finished piece




                  I had a really good idea to de case the bass knob for the amp to my stereo so I didnt have to have an extra thing mounted to my interior. I dont know why it was not an instant thought but I took the stock fader, took it apart and made it into the bass knob. Total factory and purposeful.







                  I put down undercoat on the floors to try and prevent any future rust if there is moisture in the interior in the future. I also installed the rear seats and head rests.

                  I sat in the rear seats to see how they felt. I have never in my life wanted to be a back seat passenger in any of my cars but these seats are so comfy! Add the arm rest, head rests, reading lights, simple heater controls and sun screen along with ample leg room and I know why this car was so bad ass! It still is today! Put some DVD players in the front headrests and I am ready for a road trip as a passenger in this car!



                  Comment


                  • #24
                    I came to this strange world
                    Hoping I could learn a bit about how to give and take fireboy and watergirl

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Finishing up the interior...

                      Before I put the door cards back on, I wanted to get to the outer door wiper seals. Mine were shot and letting tons of water inside the door. E23's dont have this part available anymore but luckily someone before me did the work and found out that you can put E30 wipers as a replacement.

                      They gave two different part numbers...
                      51211913055
                      51211913056

                      After using them both, I couldnt see a difference in the part numbers and I think you could have just ordered 4 of just one part number.

                      You have to cut around the separate wing window and the front and rear trim a bit. Nothing too bad. I did it all with a sharp razor blade and a cut off wheel.

                      Here is the old wiper. They were all in bad shape just like this.





                      Here are some shots of the new installed



                      Here is a pic of the part numbers.



                      I am finding lots of sweet things about the E23 compared to the E21. The E23 was mostly built correctly unlike the E21 IMO but they also made things easier to work on. I dont know if that was on purpose but I sure appreciate it.

                      One thing that is stupid easy to work on is the door cards. The backing pulls away from the plastic outer on the door by simply bending a few tabs and taking the backing off. This makes making new door cards stupid easy.

                      The donor car had little tiny holes in the door card by design. Not only was I not down with the holes in the black door cards from the donor but since I am using pre facelift door handles with the post face lift door cards, the cut outs were not the same and it would not have worked. I replaced it all with a black texture that I like much more.

                      I had a few spare door cards sitting around so I simply took the pleather type stuff off and glued some new black textured pleather on. I used a thicker type foam which may have been a mistake. It makes it a bit more puffy than normal which is nice but that became an issue when I had to push the door handle cup back in as it made some wrinkles around the cup. I hope it relaxes as time goes on and stretches. If not, easy enough to pull back off and fix. I dont know how much I will care though...


                      Donor door cards




                      Holes in the donor door cards



                      Showing the door handle cups dont fit.



                      Stripped off the old door card material.



                      New material put on




                      New installed...



                      I will have more installed soon.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Still on the interior...

                        Everything major is installed. Here are some pictures of the finished door cards as promised.







                        I had a horrible time finding the little chrome caps for the arm rests. If you can find them in good shape (which I couldnt), they are pretty expensive IMO, about $30-$40 ea and they are just a plastic piece with a chrome sticker type covering. So, I decided to try covering them myself with some chrome wrap. I think they turned out pretty good. You can buy the chrome wrap on Amazon. Here is the link.




                        Before, crinkled and worn out





                        Sanded it down with 220g



                        Applied the wrap (before cutting off excess)



                        Finished product

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Awesome thread, I love a low big body. I have a static E32, but I've always wanted to build an E23 on air just like this.

                          My 750 needs a lot of interior love, this is some good motivation!

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Let there be lights!

                            Living in a rural area where there is little light and many opportunities to hit wild life, I wanted to upgrade the lights from the sealed beams. Man, it sure is nice to have a bolt on option rather than the E21 where I had to do a bunch of modifying...

                            I got some replacement housings that take a H4 bulb. They drop right in but I thought I would take a trick that Steven Henricksen used and place a flim over the head lights. I love my Hella black lights on my E21 so I was going to copy that theme.

                            I placed some smoke tint over the lights and I just couldnt get into it. I think its the lighter paint color that throws it off? I ended up taking it off and just going clear. I really liked the blue from the bulbs reflecting on the housing at the right angle too. Unless youre not at that angle, they are just clear which I also like.

                            Shot of the tinted on the left, natural on the right.


                            Both natural... as I left them...



                            Since I had the tint, I decided to give the rear taillights a shot also. I am REALLY liking the way they turned out! I will be keeping these tinted.

                            Before tint


                            After tint


                            I really dont like amber turn signals so I set out to get some clear ones. I think a lot know this but the early turn signals need to be either US or Euro spec to match your housing and then I guess if you have late turn signal housings, you can use either.

                            I bought some Euro spec lenses and found out they dont work on my US spec housings. I got some Euro spec housings but soon after I was searching FB market place and found some US spec lenses for cheap. I stuck with the US spec because I think they are completely awkward (just like the 80s!). In the future I may rework the Euro housings and try out the Euro lenses also.

                            You can see a pic of them installed above with the headlights.

                            Left to right
                            US amber early
                            Euro clear early
                            US clear early

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Originally posted by stanhayward View Post
                              Awesome thread, I love a low big body. I have a static E32, but I've always wanted to build an E23 on air just like this.

                              My 750 needs a lot of interior love, this is some good motivation!
                              Thanks!

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Still finishing up the interior...

                                I really like my aluminum shifter knob in my E21. I got it from someone in Europe who used to consistently post in the BMW groups. I am a sucker for hand made and hopefully slightly flawed goods. This go round, I decided to just make it myself.







                                I also really like my 7075 aluminum parking brake handle. I just really enjoy the feel of metal over plastic whenever available.

                                My parking brake knobs like to rattle around in their handle. I **** rattles so I figured out you can put an o ring around the knob and it wont rattle anymore...



                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X