BMW 635CSi Restomod

[Stick Legs]

Loved my 2.

Excellent cars and an absolute hoot on the limit.

I wish I’d kept mine now.

Bilstein B6 & Eibach M635CSi springs.
M635CSi 4 pot calipers.
Thicker anti roll bars.
Front & rear strut braces.
6 branch exhaust manifold & full stainless system.
Alpina B9 3.5 cam & ECU with later ‘big valve’ head of an E34 535i.
850i 16” wheels.
Manual & LSD.

[shalmaneser]

gazzol said:

Court_S said:

I that’s going to be very cool when it’s done. I assume manuals are fairly rare?

What’s the availability of parts like? I assume a fair amount of fabrication will be needed to sort the rust rather than new panels.

I've managed to buy 4 footwells and a pair of outer sills the patch panels I will make myself. The car is going to be as light as possible with the exception of a little trim with that in mind I'm going to get new from wings, bonnet, front and rear bumpers in GRP. I'd also like a GRP boot lid and door skins but these aren't available to buy so if I go that far I'll have to make those myself.

Sounds cool - any plans to fiddle with the steering? As these have a steering box would a change to a rack be an improvement at all? I've wondered whether a later subframe could be fitted?

Will you be going with a full interior but no rear seats? clubsport spec I suppose?

[gazzol]

shalmaneser said:

Sounds cool - any plans to fiddle with the steering? As these have a steering box would a change to a rack be an improvement at all? I've wondered whether a later subframe could be fitted?

Will you be going with a full interior but no rear seats? clubsport spec I suppose?

With regards to the steering I'd love to convert to a steering rack because it would be much easier to get a decent equal length exhaust manifold but I've decided to leave it standard for now and see what it's like as it's only 3 turns lock to lock unlike my old E9 which was 4 turns. Everyone bangs on about e46 purple tag racks which are 2.7 lock to lock so there isn't that much in it. Another thing to consider is what rack to use because the e24 steering is behind the axle whereas the e46 etc is infront of the axle so I couldn't use an e46 one as the steering would be the wrong way round unless you used a LHD rack but then the mounts wouldn't be right. On top of all that the rack would have to be mounted quite a long way back from the subframe in order for the track rods to be inline with the rack which is doable but a lot of work for a very small benefit.

[gazzol]

Stick Legs said:

Loved my 2.

Excellent cars and an absolute hoot on the limit.

I wish I’d kept mine now.

Bilstein B6 & Eibach M635CSi springs.
M635CSi 4 pot calipers.
Thicker anti roll bars.
Front & rear strut braces.
6 branch exhaust manifold & full stainless system.
Alpina B9 3.5 cam & ECU with later ‘big valve’ head of an E34 535i.
850i 16” wheels.
Manual & LSD.

Nice car and nice spec. Mine is going to be a bit more hardcore.....stay tuned

Edited by gazzol on Tuesday 21st November 23:07

[gazzol]

A little bit more progress, I decided to remove all the seat mounts because I suspected that there would be rust between the mounts and the floors........I was right. There aren't going to be any rear seats so the rear mounts were redundant anyway and for the front seats I'll make some FIA style mounts once all the welding repairs are done.















Once that was all done I welded in some box section to keep the shell rigid as there is going to be quite a lot of metal cut out once the repairs start.

[shalmaneser]

gazzol said:

shalmaneser said:

Sounds cool - any plans to fiddle with the steering? As these have a steering box would a change to a rack be an improvement at all? I've wondered whether a later subframe could be fitted?

Will you be going with a full interior but no rear seats? clubsport spec I suppose?

With regards to the steering I'd love to convert to a steering rack because it would be much easier to get a decent equal length exhaust manifold but I've decided to leave it standard for now and see what it's like as it's only 3 turns lock to lock unlike my old E9 which was 4 turns. Everyone bangs on about e46 purple tag racks which are 2.7 lock to lock so there isn't that much in it. Another thing to consider is what rack to use because the e24 steering is behind the axle whereas the e46 etc is infront of the axle so I couldn't use an e46 one as the steering would be the wrong way round unless you used a LHD rack but then the mounts wouldn't be right. On top of all that the rack would have to be mounted quite a long way back from the subframe in order for the track rods to be inline with the rack which is doable but a lot of work for a very small benefit.

Sounds like you've given it some proper thought! Could you use the hubs and/or uprights from an e36/e39/e46 alongside the subframe? I think all later bmws have the rack infront of the axle so I can see that this is a bit of a blocker.

Having said that I'm sure new parts throughout will go a long way to maximising steering feel.

[E90_M3Ross]

Impressive work, following with interest!

[deadslow]

hats off to you, sir! Great car. Good Luck!!

[skwdenyer]

Stick Legs said:

Loved my 2.

Excellent cars and an absolute hoot on the limit.

I wish I’d kept mine now.

Bilstein B6 & Eibach M635CSi springs.
M635CSi 4 pot calipers.
Thicker anti roll bars.
Front & rear strut braces.
6 branch exhaust manifold & full stainless system.
Alpina B9 3.5 cam & ECU with later ‘big valve’ head of an E34 535i.
850i 16” wheels.
Manual & LSD.

Great thread. I was offered a car in a ostensibly-similar spec to the above (although with IIRC a half cage installed, too, along with some rather lovely leather-trimmed aftermarket 'racing' seats, and holes cut in the rear parcel shelf to access the adjustable suspension) back in about 1999 for (IIRC) £1000 from an eccentric guy in south London who'd taken it as payment of a gambling debt. A serious weapon, but when I went to view the car it just wouldn't start.

Needing transport, I bought a 16V Golf GTI instead, only to get a call a few weeks later with a cheery "I got it to start, do you still want it."

The GTI went on to destroy its bottom end at 130mph. Often kicked myself for not persevering with the 635.

Good luck to the OP; should be great when finished. One question: is that shell so compromised that it needs putting on a jig before repair? Or is it still (just about) dimensionally stable?

[rm36house]

gazzol said:

Hi mate , the engine I'm using is a BMW M30 unit which was what was fitted originally. I have the engine out of my last car which I am going to fit for now but I have a much higher spec head to go on it. I'm going to stay NA as I love the induction noise and ultimate power isn't my goal, close to 300 brake is more than enough for the North Pennines where I go to relieve the stress.
Have a listen/look at this, the noise alone has got to be worth more than the extra power that a turbo would give.

https://youtu.be/WA9kg-Uut4U?si=t4-5eDzO2oJxXWQk

It's sounds mega! Love it, Sir! Is it your car in that youtube channel too? It goes like on the rails and together with N/A soundtrack and power, heaven! )

[R6tty]

Might have missed a bit: love the car and what you're doing but where is the 'mod' part?

[gazzol]

R6tty said:

Might have missed a bit: love the car and what you're doing but where is the 'mod' part?

Before I can mod it I think I'd better make it solid. No?

[gazzol]

rm36house said:

It's sounds mega! Love it, Sir! Is it your car in that youtube channel too? It goes like on the rails and together with N/A soundtrack and power, heaven! )

Thanks for your comments, that was my old E9. The E24 will be a better developed version of that car

[J4CKO]

gazzol said:

R6tty said:

Might have missed a bit: love the car and what you're doing but where is the 'mod' part?

Before I can mod it I think I'd better make it solid. No?

Indeed, I remember working at a car pitch in the late eighties early nineties and we had two of these through and both were rusting back then.

Think he was asking what the plans are once you have done the weld a thon ?

[CKY]

J4CKO said:

Indeed, I remember working at a car pitch in the late eighties early nineties and we had two of these through and both were rusting back then.

Think he was asking what the plans are once you have done the weld a thon ?

Although the E24 was relatively old, being originally based upon the E12 chassis and later blended with the E28 updates when that model launched, the later 6 series we sold were somewhat better-finished/prepared to deal with winter conditions than the early cars. E3/9/21s rusted out of their arses, we had a silver 3.0CSL in the late-70s that already needed a restoration along the bottom half, and that was at 5 years old...

Favourite 635csi I had was an earlier 1979 car with dogleg 5 speed, LSD, rubber boot spoiler, 7 inch wide Mahles, loved that car. Only thing I thought inadequate were the brakes, after a couple of stops from big numbers the pedal would have noticeably longer travel.. aside from that it was great fun in the wet, on the tyres at the time with the front-heavy weight distribution you could powerslide most roundabouts at 20mph in 2nd. Added to that little traffic and everyone driving 1.6 Cortinas or other slow boxes, you could easily make rapid progress - better times.

[J4CKO]

I only drove one the once, we had a 633 on sale or return, it got returned, by an 18 year old me, the owner was a car trader from Manchester. It didnt sell so he came to pick it up, I got tossed the keys and told I was taking it back, he said follow me. He was smoking a big spliff and had two young-ish girls with him.

We went from Styal near Manchester Airport to a house just off Princess parkway, he was in a later 635i and the 633 wasnt quite as fast, I was just trying to keep up and was ended up doing over 100 mph down Princess parkway, we turned off and pulled up to a house, got out and he gave me some cash to get a cab back and that was that.

Was a bit like an early GTA mission.

Cant remember ever seeing a 633 since.

[gazzol]

J4CKO said:

Indeed, I remember working at a car pitch in the late eighties early nineties and we had two of these through and both were rusting back then.

Think he was asking what the plans are once you have done the weld a thon ?

I am going to make the car as light as possible with the exception of a small amount of trim so all superfluous brackets removed, perspex windows, fixed windows in the back no winders in the front just straps to hold them up, no underseal whatsoever (summer car) fiberglass front and rear bumpers front wings,bonnet, door skins and boot skin and possibly even the roof skin. The boot floor is all coming out and will be replaced with a more aero efficient one made in aluminium, alloy fuel tank yada yada yada.........you get the idea, as light as possible but with door cards and lightweight carpet. I'm hoping for 280-300 bhp with the new engine mods (currently 240) so it should be brisk enough.

[Zephyr Speedshop]

shalmaneser said:

gazzol said:

shalmaneser said:

Sounds cool - any plans to fiddle with the steering? As these have a steering box would a change to a rack be an improvement at all? I've wondered whether a later subframe could be fitted?

Will you be going with a full interior but no rear seats? clubsport spec I suppose?

With regards to the steering I'd love to convert to a steering rack because it would be much easier to get a decent equal length exhaust manifold but I've decided to leave it standard for now and see what it's like as it's only 3 turns lock to lock unlike my old E9 which was 4 turns. Everyone bangs on about e46 purple tag racks which are 2.7 lock to lock so there isn't that much in it. Another thing to consider is what rack to use because the e24 steering is behind the axle whereas the e46 etc is infront of the axle so I couldn't use an e46 one as the steering would be the wrong way round unless you used a LHD rack but then the mounts wouldn't be right. On top of all that the rack would have to be mounted quite a long way back from the subframe in order for the track rods to be inline with the rack which is doable but a lot of work for a very small benefit.

Sounds like you've given it some proper thought! Could you use the hubs and/or uprights from an e36/e39/e46 alongside the subframe? I think all later bmws have the rack infront of the axle so I can see that this is a bit of a blocker.

Having said that I'm sure new parts throughout will go a long way to maximising steering feel.

Wow, pistonheads delivers again. Another bucket list car being built! Who said forums are dead!

I'm guessing is not that simple but couldn't you not fit a e46 subframe and use all of the the e46 setup? Or perhaps there's a better choice . I know my old 840 shared a lot with the later e39?

Anyway old skool forum build threads are where is at with a smokey whiskey in hand !

Bookmarked !

[Stick Legs]

Found a better pic of mine.

Shouldn’t have sold it really.

[gazzol]

Zephyr Speedshop said:

Wow, pistonheads delivers again. Another bucket list car being built! Who said forums are dead!

I'm guessing is not that simple but couldn't you not fit a e46 subframe and use all of the the e46 setup? Or perhaps there's a better choice . I know my old 840 shared a lot with the later e39?

Anyway old skool forum build threads are where is at with a smokey whiskey in hand !

Bookmarked !

Ultimately anything is possible if you throw enough time and money at it but I if I were to go down the route of modifying an e46 subframe then I would have to use an M or S 50 or higher engine because of where the sump fits in relation to the subframe. Whilst that would have the advantage of saving even more weight cos the M30 is a BIG old lump I have a lot of money invested in the engine that's going in so I really want to use it, also I simply don't want to put the extra time in because it will add many months to an already long build.