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. 

Vintage at Saratoga! Hot, Humid, and Highly Sucessfull!

The temps topped out at 90+ degrees with over 90% humidity for the show but no one really noticed as 100 old BMW's started rolling into the Bottling Plant site at the Spa at Saratoga, now the Museum of Automotive History.

Patroon Chapter of BMW CCA should be acknowledged for organizing such a great show and in a wonderful location!

Our journey started on Wednesday night, fixing and doing all the little things that will get the 323i ready for the show. A marathon day on Thursday saw the new Recaros installed, new rear seat, final paint work, pumper installs, interior work and more. We were on the road by 10am and on our way to Saratoga in the 90 degree  heat!

Here is a link to the show by RedLine:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1WF4tgtCudM

Shipfitters Brakes

The brake parts were collected and the old ones were scraping metal-on-metal so it was a good time to make the switch. Used the time to clean off the rear control arms, repaint, clean and strip the brake shield and calipers, and install the new cross drilled discs. 

Pics below. Good timing since my trip back from Watkins today involved a near collision with a fawn! Stopped so close to the little guy I bumped him a bit. He did walk away from it. I noticed the brake shimmy dissipated for the most part with the new setup.

Wheels off and jackstands on. Old disk still installed and clearing off all the crud and rust.










After sanding, rust treatments and priming with high temp semi-gloss black....

 Newly painted calipers, new cross drilled disks and e-brake components (always hate the spring install!).

 Wheels back on with new setup. Deer tested, driver approved....