Ever so slowly in the frozen tundra

Well, the snow just keeps on coming but I manage. My latest aquisition is an original BMW radio that has been reconditioned. Okay, CD players are great but nothing looks stranger than a new sound system in an older car.

Thanks to Jon for selling it to me! Sorry I missed the competition exhaust package! I'll have to break out all my tapes from college. Better yet, it may be safer to just make new tapes off of all the CD's. I'd hate to jamb this beauty up with a 20 year old tape.... do they still make tape recorders?? I have a Sirius setup. Let's see where I can install it and keep it hidden.

I also have to contact my insurance carrier and let them know that I have STILL not managed to register the old plates. DMV informs me that I need to send all the info to Albany (code for black hole of bureacracy) to get approval for the old plates. At this rate maybe I'll just get new plates and not make a spectacle of myself.... nah! Nothing like having police scratch their heads when seeing 30 year-old plates on a car!

EBay is the Devil

I thought that I was above being sucked into the EBay thing, but no.... It's just too simple to type in things like "E21" and get back results you just can't ignore. I managed to acquire an instrument cluster off a 320is that may work for me. It has the 120 mph speedo. I could never understand the idea of a speedo that has not only a red "55" on it, but a limit of 85. My wife goes over that passing people on the thruway. What, I not supposed to know how fast I am going if I'm over the posted speed limit??? "Gee, officer. I really don't know how fast I was going. Look, my speedo only goes up to 85." Will that work in court? Yeah, didn't think so.

Anyways, the testing and install should be interesting to say the least. I've got to find out if the tach and speedo work with my setup. I won't install if it means I have an inaccurate gauge, that will drive me nuts (no pun intended). All the talk about rear end ratios, what year model works for what.... blah, blah, blah. The info is cloudy at best. Just need the time to prove it to myself.

Donor Car or Sell it Whole

I took another look at the E21 resting in my garage and ran down a list of what I'd want to fix on it prior to selling it to anyone. Thermostat (overheats, the previous owner rewired the fan to run constantly) fix fan switch, new battery pan (a bungie cord and cardboard just doesn't seem right to me), accelerator pedal (that was missing???), fixing the "just new" break job, plugging the holes in the exhaust system, and putting back things I took off the beast to start the bodywork in the first place.

Sell or cannibalize? The M10 has got only 136K on it! A new set of gaskets, valve adjustment, and a clean up and it would run even better. At the time I bought it, I knew the a/c was stripped out and other items were changed. Now that I might put it back on the market to sell I can't put my mind around how I would really want to do this. My better half has already made clear that a garage full of E21's will not be acceptable. I can deal with that. I don't want it looking like a salvage yard. It just irks me that the parts I'd want off this first E21 would make selling it just about impossible. I even thought of just stripping it, palletizing the engine/transmission and cutting up the rest for scrap metal.

I figure that if I repair what I feel needs to be done to this one, I'll be into it for over $400.00 in parts. Good luck getting any return on that one and don't even count the labor. Yeah, I'll just sell this to someone for next to nothing and still get a hassle because of all that's not working on it.

Calling anyone who just wants a decent donor car! Considering all offers! You haul it away!

The "My cousin Vinnie" Method....

I revisited the 320 today and talked with my mechanic. I told him about my question as to whether the car had an LSD and my plans for finding out. "Hey, todays the perfect day for it. The whole lot is covered in ice. Just do some burnouts.."

Well, I determined the following:
1) that when the car is in gear, the two wheels spin. The right (passenger) wheel appears to kick in first and then the driver's side one follows quickly afterwards. And,
2) The car does not stay in place on any surface with one wheel spinning. A situation which was ripe for happening since I was parked on an "water-soaked ice rink".


This leaves me more confused as to whether this car is really a 320is or just a 320i with options/ mods installed. The toolkit is from 320i, I can't imagine someone taking the bigger one out and putting a small one in.

The photo on the left clearly shows the two tracks left after the car dug past the ice and into the gravel below. If this wasn't an LSD, we would see only one track (since the other tire would just roll and not kick up dirt). Wow! Really glad I didn't get crazy on EBay with that LSD for sale. $475.00 still in my pocket!

As a parting shot, I'd like to include a picture of the back window. There's nothing like having a sticker from the Bulgarian BMW Club on your car! This one's staying...

First a word about picture credits....

The following statement is just in case....

Okay, just so everyone is clear and I don't go getting myself into trouble some of the pictures you see here are from other sites/ materials. I will do my best in crediting anyone's photos on here. I make no money off this site and just want to provide information. That being said, I have some scans from the original BMW brochure for the 320i. Here they are....

The next shot is the same color as my project car. US calls it "chestnut red" on the DuPont listing. Don't you enjoy all those added safety features for the not-so-bright US driver?? They should have installed a reflective strip around the entire car (no, not a knock on the Alpina stripes!) They just had to add reflectors on the those rubber baby bumper covers, too? I still don't understand why someone at DOT needed the signal lights to stick out in front and add the little bastards on the rear quarter panels. What? You can't see the originals from just about any direction?

Euro vs. US details

Oh, those little annoyances you find about what's different with US 320's leave you debating what's the best option. Jerod's E21 site (see the link on the right) is invaluable for the technical information needed for making those choices as to what will work on the conversion. "I just want this part, see it?" I'm thinking of contacting a UK shop and just have them order this plate frame. I can't find a source for this thing anywhere. The photo on the left is of an Alpina version.

Now, if you can't find what you are looking for what do you do?? I am seriously debating just buying a new rear euro body panel and welding it on. Walloth und Netsch have the panel (just that it appears to be only for the 1980 or prior year and that won't work too well for the taillights!). In a perfect world I'd just buy right year's panel, cut/weld and then have the spot for the license plate under the bumper. It looks as if the comprimise will be to clean up the existing panel and fabricate some new license plate frame that would simulate what would have been there.

Another search is for the instrumentation (prefer the 323 tach and speedo, fuel gauge in litres...) that LSD (my limited slip tryout left me still wondering if I have one or not) The start-up on the snow appears to show two tracks, but with a 25% lockup it's not easy to see. I need a witness outside the car.... The dashboard needs help. I see that there are dash covers, but how do these really look??? I'd hate to get one and have it look only slightly better than grandma's plastic couch.