1980 BMW E26 M1
Discussion
The first time I saw an M1 was at L&C in Tunbridge Wells, circa 1990/91. It was white, with a thick vertical tri colour stripe up the nose and ending just after. The price was £43 995. I was only in my early 20's and barely had £44 let alone £44 000! I was smitten with the look of the M1 though and the dual roundel on that rear was the icing on the cake for me. It was special without being OTT. 20+ years later and I still feel the same about them. I'm further away than ever from ownership, although my dodgy left leg means I can't get in one anyway! (I tried at Munich Legends where I'd taken the M3 in the hope I might blag a test drive 
) It's their look, the history and pedigree and the rarity that does it for me.
) It's their look, the history and pedigree and the rarity that does it for me. 
e21Mark said:
The first time I saw an M1 was at L&C in Tunbridge Wells, circa 1990/91. It was white, with a thick vertical tri colour stripe up the nose and ending just after. The price was £43 995. I was only in my early 20's and barely had £44 let alone £44 000! I was smitten with the look of the M1 though and the dual roundel on that rear was the icing on the cake for me. It was special without being OTT. 20+ years later and I still feel the same about them. I'm further away than ever from ownership, although my dodgy left leg means I can't get in one anyway! (I tried at Munich Legends where I'd taken the M3 in the hope I might blag a test drive ) It's their look, the history and pedigree and the rarity that does it for me.
Probably this car, which was owned by BMW in the mid 80's. ) It's their look, the history and pedigree and the rarity that does it for me. 
And we should always be grateful to BMW for giving us the M1 because of the ProCars & the glorious Group 5 M1's that were spawned from the original.
Rather like the McLaren F1 GTR that morphed from the original F1.
Who can ever forget the BASF liveried car & the M1 Art Cars?
Such a beautiful & elegant design.
Rather like the McLaren F1 GTR that morphed from the original F1.
Who can ever forget the BASF liveried car & the M1 Art Cars?
Such a beautiful & elegant design.
EddyBee said:
Lovely car. Saw it in person at Gaydon back in August. First one I've ever seen in the flesh.
Any more info on the m10 engine below?
It's a formula 2 version of the engine, but what struck us is that although it's a 4 cylinder engine there are 4 inlets and 4 exhaust ports on each side and they are staggered. The only possible head configuration is that each cam drives both a single inlet and single exhaust per cylinder and that the the two inlets and two exhaust ports are diagonally opposite one another. Not a configuration we'd ever seen before.Any more info on the m10 engine below?
RichardM5 said:
Lots of engines, including this intriguing version of the M10 4 cylinder engine
RichardM5 said:
EddyBee said:
Lovely car. Saw it in person at Gaydon back in August. First one I've ever seen in the flesh.
Any more info on the m10 engine below?
It's a formula 2 version of the engine, but what struck us is that although it's a 4 cylinder engine there are 4 inlets and 4 exhaust ports on each side and they are staggered. The only possible head configuration is that each cam drives both a single inlet and single exhaust per cylinder and that the the two inlets and two exhaust ports are diagonally opposite one another. Not a configuration we'd ever seen before.Any more info on the m10 engine below?
RichardM5 said:
Lots of engines, including this intriguing version of the M10 4 cylinder engine
Complicated but a worthwhile risk of it's time; a satellite view of the inlets and outlets (I might have have one) shows the necessary complications of a four cylinder, four valve per cylinder, two inlet and two exhaust per cylinder layout. A lovely piece of curious, inventive and innovative engineering that accountants would never permit these days..... rather like the 767iL E32 that lies within BMW classic.
Going back a few posts, you might remember the issue I had with the rear view mirror. The ball joint was cracked and the best way I’d found to hold it together was with cable ties.
Although this did hold the mirror in place it was still rather loose and I was worries that the fix might fail and the mirror fall off and break.
As with most things, the mirror is NLA and unique to the M1. Well, that’s what I thought! After a lot of searching, I found that a very similar mirror was used by an early 1980s Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The actual mounting for the mirror is totaly different, but the part number on the back of the mirror is the same, 32664 made by Vitaloni.
These mirrors are not very common, but do come up occasionally, so for the princely sum of £15.86 ($20.00) plus £6.40 ($8.00) shipping, I thought it worth a punt. Said mirror arrived yesterday from sunny Italy.
Removing the mirror glass and bezel revealed a slightly different ball joint part, although it looked similar in size to the M1 version.
Further disassembly showed that the all plastic M1 design had been changed to a plastic cup with a metal plate joined by copper rivets.
The rivets were drilled out to show the three pieces
The ball joint was a push fit into the plastic cup, the metal plate then held the ball joint in place.
Using screws to re-assemble the ball joint cup, I checked that it all still fitted inside the mirror housing, looked good to go.
Now the big decision, removing the ball joint cup from the car would be a one way process, it would be quite unlikely that it would ever go back together again. If the ball joints on the M1 mount was not exactly the same size as the Alfa Romeo part then I’d be without a mirror.
The M1 housing was removed with trepidation!
Success, the ball is indeed exactly the same size!
Housing re-attached
Glass and bezel re-installed.
I now have a firmly attached mirror at last, the mounting is now better than the original.
Examining the remains of the original showed how badly damaged it was, and what a poor design!
The new cup is much stronger as the metal plate allows the plastic cup to be much deeper with thicker walls.
Although this did hold the mirror in place it was still rather loose and I was worries that the fix might fail and the mirror fall off and break.
As with most things, the mirror is NLA and unique to the M1. Well, that’s what I thought! After a lot of searching, I found that a very similar mirror was used by an early 1980s Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The actual mounting for the mirror is totaly different, but the part number on the back of the mirror is the same, 32664 made by Vitaloni.
These mirrors are not very common, but do come up occasionally, so for the princely sum of £15.86 ($20.00) plus £6.40 ($8.00) shipping, I thought it worth a punt. Said mirror arrived yesterday from sunny Italy.
Removing the mirror glass and bezel revealed a slightly different ball joint part, although it looked similar in size to the M1 version.
Further disassembly showed that the all plastic M1 design had been changed to a plastic cup with a metal plate joined by copper rivets.
The rivets were drilled out to show the three pieces
The ball joint was a push fit into the plastic cup, the metal plate then held the ball joint in place.
Using screws to re-assemble the ball joint cup, I checked that it all still fitted inside the mirror housing, looked good to go.
Now the big decision, removing the ball joint cup from the car would be a one way process, it would be quite unlikely that it would ever go back together again. If the ball joints on the M1 mount was not exactly the same size as the Alfa Romeo part then I’d be without a mirror.
The M1 housing was removed with trepidation!
Success, the ball is indeed exactly the same size!
Housing re-attached
Glass and bezel re-installed.
I now have a firmly attached mirror at last, the mounting is now better than the original.
Examining the remains of the original showed how badly damaged it was, and what a poor design!
The new cup is much stronger as the metal plate allows the plastic cup to be much deeper with thicker walls.
I've been watching this for a while, dream car. Loving the thread
Saw this the other day on Drive Tribe and thought of you:
https://drivetribe.com/p/dZ8M2jBoQTCrqEL6JhTNeg/YK...
Saw this the other day on Drive Tribe and thought of you:
https://drivetribe.com/p/dZ8M2jBoQTCrqEL6JhTNeg/YK...
bucks said:
I've been watching this for a while, dream car. Loving the thread
Saw this the other day on Drive Tribe and thought of you:
https://drivetribe.com/p/dZ8M2jBoQTCrqEL6JhTNeg/YK...
Interesting they say that's car number 51. If so it was not originally a ProCar and that number does not appear on 'Racing Sports Cars'. The body style is similar to that of a Group 5 car with the turbo version of the M88 engine.Saw this the other day on Drive Tribe and thought of you:
https://drivetribe.com/p/dZ8M2jBoQTCrqEL6JhTNeg/YK...
After an event free first drive of the year, on Mothers day the other half and I went for a slightly longer drive. When stretching her legs a bit (the car's, not the Mrs!) I discovered that there was a significant misfire under load (foot to the floor in 4th/5th) from about 3500 rpm. You get that sinking feeling that this might be expensive or even next to impossible to solve if the problem was in the electronic ignition box.
I decided to take the car to a BMW independent specialist in Leeds, BM Workshop (not to be confused with BM Works just round the corner) which is owned by a South African ex BM Senior Tech, Anthony Rouse, of whom I've only heard good things. Before visiting I got together all the spare parts that I had that I thought might be relevant, Spark Plugs, Plug sockets, Distributor Cap, Rotor Arm, Pulse Generators, Injectors, Second hand Ignition Coil and Fuel Pump. Pretty much the only bits I don't have are the HT leads which are all combined into a metal tube, and the Mirelli Ignition control box.
On arriving, the first job we agreed was to look at the plugs. This proved more difficult than you might imagine. The plugs are in deep wells with the sockets being about 6 inches long, they are also a rather odd size, 11/16ths. In the toolkit is a special spark plug spanner which I got out, unfortunately it was not a lot of use! Due to the heat in the boot and age of the toolkit, the rubber insert that grips the plug had become hard and shrunk so it no longer held the plug tight enough. Luckily Anthony had a genuine BMW plug socket from his apprenticeship days that he kept, after a little digging he found it and we could get the plugs out.
Cylinder 1 came out, a little sooty but as the engine runs cool and rich that's not surprising. Cylinder 2 came out, quite rusty and obviously wet from the top. The water was obviously not coolant, it was just water. Recalling how, after rain, opening the rear cover pours water directly on the engine I did a quick visual and sure enough, cylinder 2 is directly under the rear edge of the engine cover when it's lifted. The plug sockets have a large rubber cover that goes over a flange on the rocker cover, so they should be water proof. My theory is that if water was poured on the cover while the engine was hot, as the air in the socket well cools down it would actively suck the water up. The remaining plugs were removed, they looked similar to Cylinder 1.
I have two sets of plugs, the original part number which were NOS and their replacements, new from BMW Classic. Both were Bosch, the older ones were marked 'Made in Germany' the new ones 'Made in India'. We went for the older plugs!
New plugs fitted and the misfire has gone, even the idle and low speed pull seems smoother too.
Thankfully a relatively easy fix, just that spark plug spanner rubber to sort out now.
On another note, the BMW M1 has just been voted 'Motor Klassik of the Year'. http://www.motors-tv.de/nachrichten/bmw-m1-siegt-beim-motor-klassik-award-2017/
I decided to take the car to a BMW independent specialist in Leeds, BM Workshop (not to be confused with BM Works just round the corner) which is owned by a South African ex BM Senior Tech, Anthony Rouse, of whom I've only heard good things. Before visiting I got together all the spare parts that I had that I thought might be relevant, Spark Plugs, Plug sockets, Distributor Cap, Rotor Arm, Pulse Generators, Injectors, Second hand Ignition Coil and Fuel Pump. Pretty much the only bits I don't have are the HT leads which are all combined into a metal tube, and the Mirelli Ignition control box.
On arriving, the first job we agreed was to look at the plugs. This proved more difficult than you might imagine. The plugs are in deep wells with the sockets being about 6 inches long, they are also a rather odd size, 11/16ths. In the toolkit is a special spark plug spanner which I got out, unfortunately it was not a lot of use! Due to the heat in the boot and age of the toolkit, the rubber insert that grips the plug had become hard and shrunk so it no longer held the plug tight enough. Luckily Anthony had a genuine BMW plug socket from his apprenticeship days that he kept, after a little digging he found it and we could get the plugs out.
Cylinder 1 came out, a little sooty but as the engine runs cool and rich that's not surprising. Cylinder 2 came out, quite rusty and obviously wet from the top. The water was obviously not coolant, it was just water. Recalling how, after rain, opening the rear cover pours water directly on the engine I did a quick visual and sure enough, cylinder 2 is directly under the rear edge of the engine cover when it's lifted. The plug sockets have a large rubber cover that goes over a flange on the rocker cover, so they should be water proof. My theory is that if water was poured on the cover while the engine was hot, as the air in the socket well cools down it would actively suck the water up. The remaining plugs were removed, they looked similar to Cylinder 1.
I have two sets of plugs, the original part number which were NOS and their replacements, new from BMW Classic. Both were Bosch, the older ones were marked 'Made in Germany' the new ones 'Made in India'. We went for the older plugs!
New plugs fitted and the misfire has gone, even the idle and low speed pull seems smoother too.
Thankfully a relatively easy fix, just that spark plug spanner rubber to sort out now.
On another note, the BMW M1 has just been voted 'Motor Klassik of the Year'. http://www.motors-tv.de/nachrichten/bmw-m1-siegt-beim-motor-klassik-award-2017/
Those bloody plug tools (assuming that yours is pretty much the same as the E30 M3's?) never seem to fit very well. They were NLA for quite a few years but became available again last year. The quality (of the new ones anyway) is pretty poor though and only seem good for filling that space in the tool kit.
Are there ignition parts that are simply NLA? It's such a wonderful car and one would hope that BMW would continue to try and make it as usable as possible, by keeping up with parts supply.
Are there ignition parts that are simply NLA? It's such a wonderful car and one would hope that BMW would continue to try and make it as usable as possible, by keeping up with parts supply.
You can get the plugs (new part number made in India), plug sockets, pulse generators, the distributor cap and rotor arm. That's about it!
NLA are the HT lead set, suppressing caps. ignition coil and ignition control box. Almost all of the fuel system is NLA, injectors, pump, pipes etc.
Even the air filter has gone NLA, I got a new one about 18 months ago, maybe it was the last one.
It does make you wonder, at the Centenary festival in September they seemed to be very keen to support the older cars, but in practice that does not seem to be borne out.
The rear light gaskets are a good example. They are shared with the E24, so there should be a reasonable demand (they said at the festival there were over 50 sets on back order). They were shown as on Back Order for several years, then they cancelled all the back orders and went NLA. After some e-mail moaning they have said that they will make them again but there are no timescales and they are still shown as NLA. Unfortunately they are quite a complex shape, not just a flat neoprene piece, so difficult to replicate. I have a NOS right, but not the left.
NLA are the HT lead set, suppressing caps. ignition coil and ignition control box. Almost all of the fuel system is NLA, injectors, pump, pipes etc.
Even the air filter has gone NLA, I got a new one about 18 months ago, maybe it was the last one.
It does make you wonder, at the Centenary festival in September they seemed to be very keen to support the older cars, but in practice that does not seem to be borne out.
The rear light gaskets are a good example. They are shared with the E24, so there should be a reasonable demand (they said at the festival there were over 50 sets on back order). They were shown as on Back Order for several years, then they cancelled all the back orders and went NLA. After some e-mail moaning they have said that they will make them again but there are no timescales and they are still shown as NLA. Unfortunately they are quite a complex shape, not just a flat neoprene piece, so difficult to replicate. I have a NOS right, but not the left.
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