I bought a really nice 81 320i. My question is that the sterring wheel is not alligned. There is too much play in the wheel. I need to know what to look at to fix this. The car runs great and I have driven it almost 2000 miles since i bought it.

Welcome,
The play in the steering could be any of these or all of these:
Steering rack
tie rod ends
ball joints
wheel bearings
suspension bushings
steering rack bushings

The steering wheel not being aligned will be corrected when you fix the slop and have the front end aligned.

ken

As Ken said, any one of those things. From my experiance the rack bushings were the weakest link in my E21. They sit dead center on the rack where all the oil collects and they rot rapidly. A nice set off Urethane bushings will do your car justice. Tie rod ends are also a sure thing to cause slop, I'd replace those too as well since they are about $15/ea and go on rather quickly.