E21 research and legwork

Well the winter weather has gone and dumped about 13 inches of the white stuff and so I cancelled plans to take some more shots of the car. I have been looking into what the car has and suspect that this car is a sport model (Recaro seats, 5 speed, have to check for LSD). The mechanic mounted some snows on her and told be that "it's a fun little car". That's from a Mopar fan! I'll have to check for donuts in his back lot.....

I suspect that this car doesn't have the LSD, which I would prefer (oh, save the pennies) since I am used to them in this type of weather. Yes, they can get away from you if you're not careful in ice and snow, but it beats having the one tire spin out constantly. I wish I had checked the tracks the last time I drove it in the snow. There's time for that.

Insurance is in process as we speak. I have the same insurance agent for the past 13 years+ and am glad she's sticking with me. I'm going with vintage listing for registration, which restricts the amount I can drive the car, but allows me a GREAT insurance rate as well as being able to slap on those beautiful orange NYS tags! The one above was posted on EBay, so it's just an example of what's out there. I've bought two sets of the right tags, just waiting to get the insurance papers to register with DMV.

I have to compliment the previous owner for how he kept the car. You can tell a lot about someone by how the keep their engine bay.

There's nothing like being able to work on a car without having to deal with all the mess of "handyman specials". Hey! Where's the M20 engine??? Just kiddding, but I am on the lookout to upgrade the instrumentation on this car (euro gauges) but know I'm going to run into the compatability issue with gear ratios and the like. Maybe that new LSD from a 323 will solve the problem....

Starting Out..... again

Well, the restart of my mid-life hobby hit a bit of a snag when I picked up a local 320i and after really evaluating the condition of the car, decided that there had to be another in better shape out there. I had owned an E30 a few years ago and despite the cost of rebuilding that one I did like working on it.

This time I promised that I would do things without rushing, keep the costs down and be realistic in balancing what I wanted vs. what really worked for the car. The E21 is easy to work on and most of the parts are inexpensive. New and used parts are pretty easy to come by. It's the challenge of what you're image of the "real E21" that gets you into trouble.

Would I want a 323? Sure. Do I like the looks of the euro version over the US version? Absolutely. I lucked out getting this one (my second) from an owner in Michigan that did some conversion work (bumpers, signals, lamps, etc.) on a US sport version of the 320i.

Right now, I am in the process of collecting background info on the model. Things like the REAL shop manuals (not the Haines kind) from BMW, photos of euro models, old brochures, etc. in an effort to get a clear picture of what the car would have (could have??) looked like.

This site is being posted for any E21 owners that need the same information I am looking for. It won't be a forum site for technical information or DIY tips, just what I find and what I am doing to this car to make it a bit more of what I think the E21 should be.

Thanks for checking the site.