Project: BMW E21
Discussion
Got some work done recently:
Manky wiper arms painted black and fitted to the car, along with the scuttle panel and washer jets:
Also purchased some vehicle dollies. They're really good quality from the looks of it, and make moving the car a lot easier, although the movement is a little hard to master!
I've also sorted most of the poor fitment of the wing too. It was sticking out a long way at the base, I'm attributing this to the fact the wings are non OEM.
Anyway, I drilled a 6mm hole in the wing, and the side of the jacking point, then put a bolt through it and a nut on the back, and voila, it worked perfectly.
The bolt is tucked away under the sill too, so you can barely see it.
The passengar side was a little trickier, the wing was sitting lower down and wouldn't bolt straight into the jacking point.
This may look quite rig up, but it's done as neatly as possible.
I made a bracket, and drilled it so it could be bolted to the jacking point, I then drilled it again lower down to allow the wing to bolt up to it.
Worked a treat
That's all for now, and pretty much all the exterior done, bar the rear bumper and a few bits that need sorting in the wheelarch.
Speaker wiring should be going in very soon, then I can finish the dash and get cracking with the carpet
Manky wiper arms painted black and fitted to the car, along with the scuttle panel and washer jets:
Also purchased some vehicle dollies. They're really good quality from the looks of it, and make moving the car a lot easier, although the movement is a little hard to master!
I've also sorted most of the poor fitment of the wing too. It was sticking out a long way at the base, I'm attributing this to the fact the wings are non OEM.
Anyway, I drilled a 6mm hole in the wing, and the side of the jacking point, then put a bolt through it and a nut on the back, and voila, it worked perfectly.
The bolt is tucked away under the sill too, so you can barely see it.
The passengar side was a little trickier, the wing was sitting lower down and wouldn't bolt straight into the jacking point.
This may look quite rig up, but it's done as neatly as possible.
I made a bracket, and drilled it so it could be bolted to the jacking point, I then drilled it again lower down to allow the wing to bolt up to it.
Worked a treat
That's all for now, and pretty much all the exterior done, bar the rear bumper and a few bits that need sorting in the wheelarch.
Speaker wiring should be going in very soon, then I can finish the dash and get cracking with the carpet
I have made some good progress, no photos at the moment, but I did sort the leaking sunroof out, was a very simple fix in the end:
The sunroof seal is only really a weather seal and is designed to allow water in, once in the car, it should be caught by the drains and then it can run out onto the floor.
At the rear of the sunroof, there is a drip tray, which slides with the sunroof itself, number 12 on this drawing:
That piece looks like this:
When we were taking the sunroof out, all those months ago, the drip tray was removed and somehow got slid back into the roof void where the sunroof goes, like this:
My mates spotted it last night while we were trying to figure out where the tray was.
Some wire and a little fiddling later, we had it out and lined up, and the sunroof doesn't leak water in any more, happy days!
I'll get some more photos up soon
The sunroof seal is only really a weather seal and is designed to allow water in, once in the car, it should be caught by the drains and then it can run out onto the floor.
At the rear of the sunroof, there is a drip tray, which slides with the sunroof itself, number 12 on this drawing:
That piece looks like this:
When we were taking the sunroof out, all those months ago, the drip tray was removed and somehow got slid back into the roof void where the sunroof goes, like this:
My mates spotted it last night while we were trying to figure out where the tray was.
Some wire and a little fiddling later, we had it out and lined up, and the sunroof doesn't leak water in any more, happy days!
I'll get some more photos up soon
Updates from the weekend
First up, my new grub screws arrived, meaning I could fit my wing mirrors. I love them, and they're a lovely feature of the car:
After that, we took the brake calipers off, as the hoses need replacing (more on that in a few days).
They were cleaned up:
And given a couple of coats of paint:
Wheelarch section of brake line that will be replaced by something, a little more premium
One of the worst design flaws of the BMW E21 is the front sunroof drainpipes, which pass down the A pillar, and through the chassis, but instead of emptying onto the floor, they empty into the sill.
As you can expect, this is a haven for rust and rot, so I decided to reroute the drain into the wheelarch.
So I drilled a 20mm hole in the back of the arch, into the space behind the speaker, then ran the rubber drain through there and into the wheelarch, so the water can now drain freely onto the road.
The hole was sealed up after taking some shots.
Next job on the list was to sort out a couple of damaged threads.
The caliper mounting point on the coilover had been drilled prior to me owning them, presumably to remove a stiff bolt.
So, I ordered a Helicoil kit off eBay, I didn't fancy paying the high prices for a genuine kit, so a £12 eBay special was ordered and frankly, it was perfect. If anything, the crappy keyless chuck on my drill let me down more than anything else.
Caliper mount with it's new M12x1.5 thread:
Also, to use the coilovers, I needed to upgrade to the bigger 323i hubs, which I did a few months back. Unfortunately one of the threads for the wheel bolts was crossthreaded, so to save me having to use just 3 wheelbolts, I drilled it out, ran a tap through it, and inserted a new M12x1.5 Helicoil.
With all that done, it was time to do some "fun" work, in the form of carpets
Started out with a nicely underlayed cabin:
No progress shots, as there isn't much to see, and unfortunately these two photos are actually the best I have, shocking I know
Anyway, a good amount of carpet fitted:
Centre console is only mocked up for now, but it gives a good idea of how it will look.
First up, my new grub screws arrived, meaning I could fit my wing mirrors. I love them, and they're a lovely feature of the car:
After that, we took the brake calipers off, as the hoses need replacing (more on that in a few days).
They were cleaned up:
And given a couple of coats of paint:
Wheelarch section of brake line that will be replaced by something, a little more premium
One of the worst design flaws of the BMW E21 is the front sunroof drainpipes, which pass down the A pillar, and through the chassis, but instead of emptying onto the floor, they empty into the sill.
As you can expect, this is a haven for rust and rot, so I decided to reroute the drain into the wheelarch.
So I drilled a 20mm hole in the back of the arch, into the space behind the speaker, then ran the rubber drain through there and into the wheelarch, so the water can now drain freely onto the road.
The hole was sealed up after taking some shots.
Next job on the list was to sort out a couple of damaged threads.
The caliper mounting point on the coilover had been drilled prior to me owning them, presumably to remove a stiff bolt.
So, I ordered a Helicoil kit off eBay, I didn't fancy paying the high prices for a genuine kit, so a £12 eBay special was ordered and frankly, it was perfect. If anything, the crappy keyless chuck on my drill let me down more than anything else.
Caliper mount with it's new M12x1.5 thread:
Also, to use the coilovers, I needed to upgrade to the bigger 323i hubs, which I did a few months back. Unfortunately one of the threads for the wheel bolts was crossthreaded, so to save me having to use just 3 wheelbolts, I drilled it out, ran a tap through it, and inserted a new M12x1.5 Helicoil.
With all that done, it was time to do some "fun" work, in the form of carpets
Started out with a nicely underlayed cabin:
No progress shots, as there isn't much to see, and unfortunately these two photos are actually the best I have, shocking I know
Anyway, a good amount of carpet fitted:
Centre console is only mocked up for now, but it gives a good idea of how it will look.
The speakers are 6x4 but I forget the brand, they're not JBL's though.
Today was supposed to be another mega productive day, get loads done and get the car close to being finished.
I came home this morning and was nearly sick when I saw this:
It had collapsed during some storms last night. By what I can only describe as a miracle, the car is completely unscathed. The BMW gods were feeling kind it would seem.
So the car is now open to the elements, a good test for those seals.
We did still get a few bits done, I've not quite finished a few jobs though, so will update when they're done.
The braided lines are now on though, just need to bleed the system:
Will get some more done this week.
Today was supposed to be another mega productive day, get loads done and get the car close to being finished.
I came home this morning and was nearly sick when I saw this:
It had collapsed during some storms last night. By what I can only describe as a miracle, the car is completely unscathed. The BMW gods were feeling kind it would seem.
So the car is now open to the elements, a good test for those seals.
We did still get a few bits done, I've not quite finished a few jobs though, so will update when they're done.
The braided lines are now on though, just need to bleed the system:
Will get some more done this week.
So some updates.
Tonight was a mixed bag really, but in all it's left me feeling rather fed up with the car and the project as a whole, but more on that later.
The car itself is looking so good, it sits really nicely, and although the heights need a bit of tinkering with, I'm happy for now.
The rear camber is laughable!
Got a fair amount of the interior done over the weekend just gone:
New rev counter, thanks to Jamie who dropped it off one morning, out of the blue
It might be childish, but I love that just the rev counter has a red needle
So onto the less happy stuff.
The drivers carpet is drenched, literally full of water. I'm gutted to say the least as I put a lot of time and effort getting the carpet looking nice, and I fear it may be damaged by the water. Hopefully I will be able to dry it out once the leak is fixed, which appears to be coming from the back of the heater box. A new seal should hopefully see things right.
As we know, the brakes are not working, due to a suspected master cylinder failure.
I have managed to source a rebuild kit from a local company, fingers crossed it will sort the issues out.
That said, actually removing the master cylinder has proven tricky. The pushrod on the brake pedal is attached to the master cylinder and I can't figure out how it comes apart. Some research might give me the answer.
The master cylinder can be seen here:
Also, my dual booster setup can be seen over on the passenger side:
I'm hoping they won't need rebuilding.
So delays, problems and just generally a crappy night on the car. It's walking on thin ice, I'm not far off throwing it in the classifieds at the moment!
Tonight was a mixed bag really, but in all it's left me feeling rather fed up with the car and the project as a whole, but more on that later.
The car itself is looking so good, it sits really nicely, and although the heights need a bit of tinkering with, I'm happy for now.
The rear camber is laughable!
Got a fair amount of the interior done over the weekend just gone:
New rev counter, thanks to Jamie who dropped it off one morning, out of the blue
It might be childish, but I love that just the rev counter has a red needle
So onto the less happy stuff.
The drivers carpet is drenched, literally full of water. I'm gutted to say the least as I put a lot of time and effort getting the carpet looking nice, and I fear it may be damaged by the water. Hopefully I will be able to dry it out once the leak is fixed, which appears to be coming from the back of the heater box. A new seal should hopefully see things right.
As we know, the brakes are not working, due to a suspected master cylinder failure.
I have managed to source a rebuild kit from a local company, fingers crossed it will sort the issues out.
That said, actually removing the master cylinder has proven tricky. The pushrod on the brake pedal is attached to the master cylinder and I can't figure out how it comes apart. Some research might give me the answer.
The master cylinder can be seen here:
Also, my dual booster setup can be seen over on the passenger side:
I'm hoping they won't need rebuilding.
So delays, problems and just generally a crappy night on the car. It's walking on thin ice, I'm not far off throwing it in the classifieds at the moment!
You'll always hit a wall when you do a resto job like this. You have to suck it up and get on with it as everything is easily fixed.
Get the carpet out and dry it out properly. It will be worth treating it with some anit-bacterial solution to stop any smells/issues further down the line.
Alternatively, you could sell it to me for buttons...
Get the carpet out and dry it out properly. It will be worth treating it with some anit-bacterial solution to stop any smells/issues further down the line.
Alternatively, you could sell it to me for buttons...
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