1983 BMW E24 635csi Track Car Turbo Build

[e28525e]

Another project of mine, a 1983 BMW E24 635csi.

I bought this with the intention of giving it a respray and general tidy up. When it was in the bodyshop we found it was made entirely of filler and mastic. Such a shame. I bit the bullet and had it all welded up (floors/footwells/under rear lights/boot floor/inner wings/sills/roof- you name it) and painted but unfortunately lots of the external trim was in a very poor state having been stuck on with more Tigerseal or having broken when it was removed. The sound insulation was rotten and soaking, headlining was dust etc.

I decided to make a retro track car out of it seeing as the chassis is an e28 so there are still a few uprated parts about for it (not so much with my E12!).

I've replaced most of the items on the ignition and cooling front so as to make it reasonably dependable and am now setting about the task of uprating bits for track use. All of the following are in boxes at home at the moment, just got to get round to fitting them all!

These include a Racing Diffs 60% lock 4 pack clutch LSD unit, BC Racing Coilovers (12k/8k), Ireland Engineering Adjustable ARB's, E34 540i brakes with E32 750i master cylinder, HEL brake lines, 3.64 gearset (original is a super lazy 3.07), strut braces from Wallothnesche and a bucket seat donated by my mate. Which was good of him. I'm halfway through fitting the brakes ATM but hope to have everything else fitted in time for the summer.

I'm going to run it NA for a while and then look into FI as these old M30's like a snail.

Few piccies (I had lots of it being welded and painted but can't seem to find them!) EDIT - found some - I've posted them on page 2






Naff video here:

https://youtu.be/-gkyh809TZ4

Edited by e28525e on Tuesday 9th January 20:32

Edited by e28525e on Friday 12th January 13:34

Edited by e28525e on Friday 12th January 17:39

Edited by e28525e on Saturday 13th January 06:38

[e28525e]

sutts said:

As cool as a penguin’s sack.

Genuinely laughed out loud at this.

[e28525e]

0a said:

That's really cool! Any more interesting retro BMWs to come?!

Mmmmebbe

[e28525e]

0a said:

e28525e said:

0a said:

That's really cool! Any more interesting retro BMWs to come?!

Mmmmebbe

E21 323i?!

Got a good eye there, mate!

[e28525e]

Thanks, guys.

Great video that! If you haven't already watched it, skip to 15:50 on this

https://youtu.be/-RQ8m6DWiMM

Incredible.

[e28525e]

Cheers, I'll keep you updated

[e28525e]

shalmaneser said:

Some interesting documents from the FIA if you search 635 in the historic homologation archive:

http://historicdb.fia.com/cars/list?search=635

Group A 635 Csi: http://historicdb.fia.com/car/bmw-635-csi

Group 2 635 Csi: http://historicdb.fia.com/car/bmw-635-csi-0

Interesting to see what the factory race teams were doing to get some more speed out of them!

That's incredibly interesting! Thankyou very much. I particularly like the arb, adjustable from inside the cockpit!

Edited by e28525e on Wednesday 10th January 20:20

[e28525e]

exgtt said:

Hi, lovely car. What's the name of the colour? My Dad had a E21 323i in the same paint! Thanks.

I think it's Opal Green, mate

[e28525e]

Just remembered, I made a couple of videos about it. Ever realise how much you hate your own voice?

https://youtu.be/-gkyh809TZ4

[e28525e]

One of the seat install:
https://youtu.be/qxSVM662W1k

[e28525e]

Thanks for the replies, loving the track e28!

Re the Aussie touring car thing, I have spent many hours watching Jim Richards videos!

The recent one from Spa is particularly cool.

[e28525e]

Notanotherturbo said:

Love the E24s, the racing ones look so cool. They are terrible rot boxes though. You will need the turbo though they are heavy old boats. I've got the 260bhp Alpina lump in mine and its still no ball of fire. Have a look for them racing in the Aussie Touring cars in the 80s there is some great footage out there.

Love your e24.Has it got a manifold on it? My E34 B10 3.5 had stock manifolds. Not sure how they could quote it as having the full stable when they didn't put them on! (RHD steering column clearance..)

[e28525e]

0a said:

That's really cool! Any more interesting retro BMWs to come?! And is that your SEC in the photos?

Just saw this, sorry. Sort of, it's my father's.

[e28525e]

Itsallicanafford said:

Bookmarked! although I won't be stripping our one

Ooh, E12 chassis. Very cool

[e28525e]

Right, I managed to find some pictures of some of the rot/welding!

Edited by e28525e on Saturday 13th January 06:34

[e28525e]

Had a couple of mates round and we fitted the brakes today. Below are the old sizes Vs new

Front 282x25mm
302x28mm
Rear 284x10mm
300x20mm

So a fair step up in size, especially with the rears now being vented.

Couple of pics (rear)

[e28525e]

UltimaCH said:

You must have a good welder mate to take care of all that rot. Good job and idea doing this

I paid a bodyshop to do it. I did lose count of what it cost but I think it was around 3k for all welding and paint.

[e28525e]

Quick spin up the road

https://youtu.be/Kxuy1QPrC64

[e28525e]

Grill surrounds are dented badly and I've been running it without grills in so thought I'd better make something up to stop anything holing the radiator! One of the manifold gaskets has just developed a blow now..another thing to add to the list..

[e28525e]

Thanks, I think if it had been an auto and I'd found out how bad it was it may have been a very different ending! At least it can live on in this form and if someone wants to return it to standard in the future it's still doable.