Waiting for the UPS guy.

Oh, I have a few new items to add to the "list" of parts for the 320. Among them are a euro fuel gauge, the replacement Recaro seat straps, an UberCable, and a dash cap. The euro fuel gauge will most likely be a donor of the face to my current gauge as it is for an E30, but the tank sizes are the same. The Recaro seat straps will let me get rid of the rags under my driver seat and an UberCable is a REALLY big copper ground cable that helps reduce operating electrical resistance, and the dash cap will be installed prior to the new windshield to finally cover up all those cracks in the dash!

I feel like Radar O'Reilly, shipping a jeep a part at a time back home....

Where's the glass???

Managed to remove the rear window glass and preserve the BMW of Bulgaria sticker. I had it with trying to get it out with the gasket, so I just took a razor and cut the gasket. Come to think of it, that's a pretty easy way to break into one of these cars! The metal around the gasket has all the regular symptoms of rot. You can really see it at the bottom corners. The garage is filling up with garage sale items. Time is short and I'll need to move this car before it gets covered in sale items.

Catching a few minutes this weekend

Well, I managed to do a few things this weekend. Among them were some bodywork with my two oldest kids, doing the rolling test for the speedo cable, and making some aquisitions on EBay.

First, the rear wing and taillights came off and I've been sanding and grinding the areas around the chronically rusty E21 areas. The cracked windscreen came right out and I went right to it with sanding, grinding, rust treating, etc.

While doing all of this, I came to the decision that this is going to be a modified E21. There are just some things I like better than stock and it will also provide the opportunity to try some customization work. With the euro bumpers, it's already half way there. One thing I'd love to try is to install a custom headliner and get this interior updated. More gauges and a slightly altered paint job. I found a clear coat "toreador red" mettalic that is like a deep mettalic cherry red. BMW just sucked with paint selections in the 80's. Herrarot should be banned, my "chestnut red" isn't much better with age. I've posted some shots on the site.

Speedo Refit: Part 2

As I mentioned before, I installed the new speedo. The suspicion is that the ratio for this unit and the LSD are just not compatible. Going 40mph within 200 feet was a bit much, consider that my Solara only gets up to about 20mph to the same locale. A short trip taken in the Solara that takes 1/10 mile seems to take 2/10's with the 320.... hmmm.....

Diving into the latest copy of Roundel (see http://www.bmwcca.org/ ) I found North Hollywood Speedo (http://www.nhspeedo.com/ ) that can fix the problem. It's either a recalibration of the speedo or a corrective ratio cable box. I'll know by this weekend. I'd rather not rack up double miles. Now I'm thinking that the previous owner had the same issues since swapping the LSD.

http://www.bobmodifiedbmw.com/ has a great pic of the speedo I really wanted....

Commencing with Refit....

I managed to install the new instruments this evening and test them out. I swapped out the speedo with one of similar mileage, but with the 120mph limit on it vs. the 85 mph joke of a speedo.



The steering wheel did not have to come off, as in the directions. You do have to be a bit dexterous to reach under and undo most of the electrical connectors and retaining knobs and be VERY careful lifting and turning the cluster up and sideways (right) past the wheel. Once I had the "original" cluster out, I realized that some patchwork has been done to it. It was missing one of red light windows and the top was all taped up. Instead of switching the entire cluster, I uninstalled my tach and put it into the replacement cluster and installed the new one. The important item is making sure that the speedos are close in mileage and the code on the back matches, so you have one with the same ratio. Uninstall and install happened in about 20 minutes. Now I just have to figure out why the lighting doesn't come on... always something.

I test drove the car up and down our driveway and managed to get it to just under 40mph before hitting the street. Yes, it's a pretty long driveway (220+ feet). Hey, can that be right? Great, now I'll have to test this speedo to make sure the LSD isn't throwing it off. Wait to hear about this one. Get on the highway and put it at 60mph and see if it takes 6 seconds to go 1/10 mile I guess. Or travel on the street at 30mph for 12 seconds and see if that's 528 feet... oh, the possibilities....

Headlights, fuses and oops! That just broke!

Nothing like spending a late night in the garage in 26F degree weather, but it was nice to at least have some time without interruption. I managed to pull the H1 bulb out of the lowbeam, pull and replace all the fuses and also get the cassette CD adapter out of the radio. Score one working radio (antenna needs replacement). I noticed a rubbing sound coming from the blower and it went on me! At least the donor car has a working blower assembly, so I'll yank the one from there.

With the car being started on a regular basis, it's running pretty smooth. I still notice the old M10 valve noise, so I have to see if my local guy will be able to make the adjustments.

The recaros (BMW sport seats??) are nice, but need to get some actual adjusting rails and seatbelts for them. Maybe I'll pop for a 5-point, but I don't think the seats will accept them.

Next stop: Windshield replacement!! I'll try posting some video on some of these things when I can figure that part out.

Ghost in the Machine: electrical issues

Well everyone, I managed to get the 320 home this past Friday. It drove great for a car that's 28 years young. I did notice a few quirks on my way home. The first was seeing the tach and clock both go out at once. One second they're there and the next, nothing. Don't know what that means. The next time a started it, the clock and tach was back on (sending unit???). There is also a little issue with a bulb in the signal light that refuses to go out. That's managing to drain the battery.

I can remember my E30 doing all sorts of strange things with indicators, computer checks, etc. At least this model doesn't have all the additional electronic gizmos my E30 had. I'd like to just have a simple, good performing car.

Here are some things I do miss on this car: fuel flow gauge. That was great entertainment on any drive. Almost better than the radio....