I didn't mean to. I didn't exactly wake up this morning and say to myself, "I'm going to buy a 320i today!" The last thing I need is another car. Somehow my coworker conned me into buying it from him (for very little money).

The car has around 90,000 miles on it and is in great condition. It started running rough about two weeks ago, and he claims it has a blown head gasket, but I have yet to confirm anything. Apparently it also needs a cat. It's auto, brown, and shiny with a nearly perfect interior. I plan to get it running again, then maybe sell it?

I'm not sure what year it is, and I don't know anything about E21s. Think there's a market for a clean, brown, automatic 320? Can I at least get back what I put into it? The car is just too nice to go for parts, and that's what was going to happen to it if I didn't buy it. I'll try to post pics, but I don't have a digital camera, so you'll have to be patient.

LMAO - fix it up and race it with Ben in A class!

I'll see you in October!

Hahaha, it's not much of a race car. Wanna buy it?

It'll grow on you.

That's what I'm afraid of. Every time I buy a car to fix and sell, I get attached and end up keeping it. That's why I've got the iX. I can't afford another long term project though, so I think I'm going to clean this one up really well, get it up and running and sell it. I'm more concerned with keeping a nice classic BMW on the road than I am with adding to my car collection.

Sell the iX and keep the E21!!!

E21 For Ever!
and
VIVA LA E21!

You'll probably lose money on the deal if you only intend on fixing it and selling it.

You'll probably lose money on the deal if you only intend on fixing it and selling it.

agreed... espeically an auto.

You think so? How little is it worth? I got it for next to nothing.

I called my friend to tell him, and he said he's got a spare S14 sitting around. He said his brother owes it to him, so if he can get it from his brother, I can have it. I'm not sure if I really want to dump money into this car, but I have to admit an S14 in an E21 would be pretty cool. I have issues. :(

I'll buy that S14 off you.

Haha, you wasted no time on that one. Unfortunately it isn't mine yet, and it's still a big if. Just depends on how generous my friend's brother is feeling.

Maybe I'll just leave the E21 in the garage for a year or so until I'm in a position to spend money on it. It really is a clean car. No rust, the interior is PERFECT, and it has super low miles.

A lot of my coworkers were big E21 guys back in the day. My shop foreman offered me some rear sheet metal? He said it's for Euro bumpers, or something. It's been sitting on a shelf in the shop for years, apparently. I asked him to dig up any extra E21 parts he might have laying around. I'm going to do some scavenging to see what I can get for free. :)

Pics courtesy of my camera phone. The car has been sitting in a dirt parking lot for a week, so it's pretty dirty. I'll post better pictures when it's clean.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/kelliewrx/E212.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/kelliewrx/E211.jpg

hey that car looks clean, the only problem is the 3 speed auto. sucks for high speed travel. It should be worth a thousand bucks, maybe a tad more.
I'd say since you are tech, swap in a 5 speed....but then you'll never get rid of it I bet.

Sounds like all it needs is a manual swap, which from what I have seen is pretty easy.

Pre 80 2.0L :buttrock

I haven't even driven the car yet and the wheels are already turning. Crap.

A head gasket is an easy swap for you. There is a fresh 2.0L head on Ebay for $100 or so, a steal. Do the tranny and driveline swap. While keeping the smog stuff on for visual, you can defeat it and add some HP my modding the exhaust manifold and advancing the timing. Car should be good for 130hp or there abouts if the engine is in otherwise good cond. And you will still pass the sniff test!

Ooooh, good info, thanks. The car actually needs a cat, but I'm not too concerned. I just wish it were a couple years older, I wouldn't need to smog it at all.

I'll look into that eBay head, and ask around at work. Someone might have an extra.

What exactly is the exhaust manifold mod? And how far can I advance the timing?

Edit: Anyone know what he meant by Euro sheet metal for the rear?

I believe on all the BMW's from that vintage to do a American bumper to euro swap you need more than just the bumpers themselves. The mounting brackets and a few other tid bits are different. I'm currently doing this on a 78 633 and I assume that it would be the same case for your e21.

I've been looking for a clean e21 and hearing this story makes me a little jealous. Hope you enjoy it! :)

the american sheet metal below the tail lights and bumper is different than the euro. The american sheet metal is recessed 4" or so to allow the shock mounted 5 mph bumper to compress in an accident.

The euro sheet metal is more flush with the rear of the car and allows the liscense plate to be mounted below the bumper. compare this pic to your car:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c58/jrcook320/Fall%2006%20photos/Fall06081.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c58/jrcook320/Fall%2006%20photos/Fall06082.jpg

I've been looking for a clean e21 and hearing this story makes me a little jealous. Hope you enjoy it! :)
I've been seeing lots of nice, low mileage E21s for sale lately too. Browse the SoCal Craigslists, it would be worth paying to ship some of the cars I've been seeing lately.

jrcook, thanks for the pictures. The license plate does look a lot better mounted below the bumper. I'm not sure I want to shell out the $$ for Euro bumpers, but I'll hang onto that sheet metal/valance/whatever-you-call it in case I change my mind once I finish my iX project. Plus it's free, so why not?

I'm going to scavenge for more free parts tomorrow. 1/3 of the shop had the day off today, and many of them are old-school enough to have owned and worked on E21s since they were brand new. They might have spares. If you guys knew the things these guys had sitting around in their garages, you'd be shocked. So many brand new, and/or desirable parts, it's ridiculous.

*cough* You shouldn't have said that.......... say.. do you have.....

an S14 in an E21 would be pretty cool.

And the award for masterful understatement goes to... kellie!

And the award for masterful understatement goes to... kellie!

:cool

[quote=jrcook320;10727017]the american sheet metal below the tail lights and bumper is different than the euro. The american sheet metal is recessed 4" or so to allow the shock mounted 5 mph bumper to compress in an accident.

The euro sheet metal is more flush with the rear of the car and allows the liscense plate to be mounted below the bumper. compare this pic to your car:


Completely forgot about that aspect of it as well, good catch! :)

I remember thinking of how I was going to cut license plate up to fit perfectly around the trunk key and reading threads about how to mount american license plates on euro cars.

here's my old below bumper plate...

I have a euro model though. I had to drill holes in my plates where the euro plat holes are to fit a us plate on my car.

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q267/jshickman/baurrearsmall.jpg

How much do you want for it?

How much do you want for it?

Are you seriously interested? If so, send me a PM and we can talk. I'm about to pull the car into the shop and give it a thorough inspection to see what it needs.

lol. E304life!!!!

Oh man, that car has serious character. It came with the name "Cocoa," so that's what I've been calling it. All of my cars have names. I like the little multicolored buttons. They're fun.

I found some interesting problems under the hood. There was a loose vacuum line hanging out on top of the intake manifold. I plugged it and it ran just as crappy as it did before.

There were some wires that had just been cut and left to hang out in the engine compartment.

I pulled off the plug wires because I was going to do a compression check, and when I got to number 4, it came right off in my hand. It was missing the little rubber grommet at the end, and the plastic was cracked. Apparently the previous owner (parts guy) and another parts guy had pulled the plugs to check them out, and when they put them back on, it was dark and they were in a hurry. I have a feeling that plug wire is a big contributor to the rough-running problem, but they both swear that it's not going to fix it. I guess we'll see.

The air pump isn't hooked up. Can I pretty much bet on it being frozen up? I haven't checked it, but I'm just trying to plan ahead here. I'm not sure how I'm going to smog this thing.

Here are a couple more pictures. They're a little bit more clear and the car is clean.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/kelliewrx/Cocoa1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/kelliewrx/Cocoa2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/kelliewrx/Cocoa3.jpg

Man I love that color! It must be pretty rare, whats it called? An air pump should be easy to find if everyone outside CA didn't throw away the ones they pulled off.