If You Build It, They will Come... or you can get some work done.

With all the projects going on this Summer and the multiplication of engine rebuilds happening and loss of storage space -- it's time to expand and make some real room to get work done!

 Along comes a dumpster and of course you have to fill it. So went in the initial bits of the garage wing in preparation of the new garage bay and shop area in back.

 This is the shot with the old wing left over before demo. I've been cutting the lean-too's rafters from the attic this week to pull it off the original garage.

 Yuck. the cracked slab of the sunroom area with a totally failed slab letting in tree roots and all sorts of moisture. Not this time around!

Rachel scores a $40.00 concrete mixer that works great! Will use it to mix up concrete for the piers and other items in preparation of the main shop/garage project! Too small to do a slab unless you do it in October...

Almost forgot this Blog was here!! A new Project: 2.7 M20 Swap!

Glad to see some subscribers on here. The 323i was sold a couple of years ago to some dunderhead that couldn't appreciate it and he wound up selling her for DOUBLE what he paid for it to someone in Miami. Well, I hope "Pixie" has a good life down in FL.

In any case, I now have Sierra. A 1979 320/6 euro with an M20 2.0 liter engine and Solex 4 barrel carb setup. The engine is leaking like a sieve around the head and front / rear seals so it's time to pull that tired engine and while I'm doing that might as well install something a bit larger!

Enjoy the pics and log onto bimmerforums.com for my thread regarding this rebuild/swap project.

This is the one table for the block (2.7 out of an '85 325e), pistons, oil pump and other associated bits from that engine.

This is the 95K mile M20B20 engine in the 320/6 right now. Great engine but you need to keep a cardboard sheet in the boot in order to slide under the engine when you park anywhere! Notice the Sanders compressor and A/C setup straight from the factory. UM, good old R14....

This is the photo of table 2 with the new crank (the original 2.7 crank was ROASTED!), bearings, more bearings, gaskets, water pump, and more bits to be able to put this engine back together. Nearly there!

Possible E21: Part 3.....

We will have to see how the potential purchases of BCalis and DblSport's E21's will work out and then I'll have an auto and manual version of the E21 back in the shop.

If this does work out you will be seeing an update to the blog. Trixie and Pixie are gone but there may be a new set of twins in garage soon....

Trixie is at KlubVintage and now Pixie is sold.... Sad Days.

As many of you may already know, I have sold off Trixie and many of the great bits to KlubVintage to get an E24 with an automatic so the wife has driving options. I also wound up in a big financial bind at the end of this past year and sold off Pixie. Not happy about that at all.

I'm still trying to come to grips with it. It really was not a sale I wanted to make and I believe that the purchase is one that the buyer is not liking too much, either. For both of us it's a "why the heck did I do that?" situation that I would love to fix with buying her back.  We'll see how the next couple of months treats my family financially and hoping the the new owner hasn't sold her for parts.

Lost Trixie and Gained a Shark....

After several months dragging into years the reality that I would never get around to Trixie's (my '80 E21 323i) restoration hit this fall. This realization along with my wife telling me it would be nice to have a BMW that wasn't a manual pushed me to keep my eyes open for an opportunity

Well, that presented itself in the form of a 1986 E24 635csi from KlubVintage in NJ. This also provided me with the chance to unload what had become a VERY LARGE collection of E21 parts and Trixie herself, sitting in the back of my office (remember that?) then at Bill Dewicks (RIP) garage for a year and then finally home for a few months.

So, I now have a car I can drive and allow Pixie a long-earned rest and chance to work on her over the winter to get her back in shape for the summer.

Thanks Adam for working the deal with me! Hope you enjoy all those pieces of E21 euro goodness that have been dropped off at your place.

I'll post some pics of the trip and write about the "incident" on the way home.

Hey, trade Trixie for a shark....

Looks as if I'll be trading Trixie along with a bunch of hard won parts to travel down to see KlubVintage in NJ to acquire a nice 635csi. Hey, I have to bow to three things: 1) getting rid of a bunch of parts stored in the shop, 2) getting one 3 series out of the property and , 3) getting a BMW that my wife not only said was "better looking than mine!" but an automatic as well.

If you are going to get an autotragic, what better car than a Shark that's top of the line!

Looking forward to seeing KV for the drop off and pick up this month!

Wahoo!

Taking the parts apart....

It's been a slow project this summer. Starting out with retrieval of "Trixie" early this Summer due to my mechanic client just getting sick of storing all my ill-gotten-booty in his yard -- to soaking all the parts in PB Blaster and Liquid Mechanic so I have at least a chance of not snapping any bolts. Up to now I have reinstalled the sandblasting system and cleaned up the rear calipers and front subframe. The last week or so has involved taking the rear subframe apart for cleaning and fixing. All the rubber parts are shot and need replacement but that should be done on a 30+ year old system. Calling Jester!

Last night I began pulling off the rear control arms and succeeded in pulling out the flanges from the rear differential! I guess I found a new way to pull those out! The bolts holding the rear diff will just need to be cut off since the heads are so corroded. The rear differential has been confirmed as a 3.45 lsd so that is great news for the upgrade!

I'll be selling some of my stock of parts to finance the upgrades. Guess I'll have to go through the garage again and start posting things in FleaBay.

UPdate: I spent some time last evening using the grinder to cut the bolts off the differential. Wow! What a job! As you can see from the last photo, the front long bolts have decided to stay on. It will take some persuasion to remove them but the main sub frame is free to be cleaned off.