kinda newbie - My '80 323i Baur w/ pics

[mtthmpsn]

I just wanted to introduce myself and my car, and say thanks for letting me browse the posts and I'll have many questions to come. I've been a member for a while, but just recently started gaining steam on my project car.

The car: It sat for 4 years before I bought it over a year ago. It had lots of rust and holes particular on the floor boards and rocker panels. The fuel lines leaked. Maybe worst of all, the car smelled horrific (mildew and gasoline). It looks like the PO's put many donor car parts on it (front fenders and spoiler, hood perhaps, speedometer says 46k MILES). After pulling the nasty carpet and interior, changing all the fluids, fuel filter, and making some adjustments, I got it to start. The fuel still leaked, the clutch didn't work, and interior was bare. Then I did basically nothing on it for about 8 months.

In the last couple months though, I've done the following:
- took a angle grinder with wire brush to all floor boards and underside
- patch welded several large holes in the floor boards (not pretty at all, but strong and sealed).
- applied POR-15 to rust and bare metal (basically entire underside and inside floor boards
- replaced all hard fuel lines and several others (again not pretty, but no more leaks).
- replaced clutch slave
- replaced left rear brake lines after a new leak was discovered
- set the timing and made further idle adjustments

Anyhow, today was the first day I was able to pull it out of my garage on it's on power! It was glorious! I took it around the block. It had some hesitation in 2nd, the brakes were soft, but otherwise I am pleased.

I've got tons more to do (carpet, brake rebuilds, seat covers, front turn signals, paint, rocker panel repair, top repair, full tune-up, etc.), but I am pretty excited about it now.

By the way, I have the front center section of the euro bumper, but no sides so I'm probably going to go with the "bumper delete". Any tips on the paint color with a tan interior? Thanks for letting me browse around the site and for any future help. Sorry for the long post.

- Matt

[bjay]

gettin there brother what did it cost you too buy in the first place.

[mtthmpsn]

I paid $1000 with a free tow to my house. At the time, I knew very little about e21's except this was a cool looking car with 6 cylinders. In retrospect I probably wouldn't have done it had I known the extent of the rust damage, fuel line problems, and how hard it'd be to find 2 sides to a euro bumper, but I'm knee deep in it now and have no regrets.

[Layne]

Did you pick that up off houston craigslist? I remember seeing it, or at least one like it. It was a baur 323i the same color in rusty condition, I don't remember it having black fenders though. It had power steering.

[mtthmpsn]

Yeah, about a year and a half ago off a nice guy named Max who I think is a member here and had several other e21s. It does have power steering and so far appears to work nicely (at least around my block).

[mtthmpsn]

My mistake, it got it last august. Where in Texas are you?

[dblsprt68]

Matt, I think Baur's are very cool! Being it's a 323 also, just adds to the overall coolness. Parts may be hard to find, problems maybe hard to figure out, but the group here will help a brother E21 out as much as possible. As far as color combo's: Black would be my first choice, then blue then white. Keep us posted with progress pics and updates. One day soon, I hope to start working on mine. David

[82eye]

Solid work so far and a nice rare car. Give that Baur a good home.

[Layne]

Oooh I met Max recently, I bought some parts off him. Did not realize he was the one that had the Baur. I'm in Bryan.

[mtthmpsn]

I appreciate the well wishes. I'm feeling alot better about the car now and I've definitely started to understand the fascination with these E21s. I'll keep everyone updated with pics as I progress (hopefully faster now). I was thinking black for the paint as well, but that could be a while. Any other resto tips are more than welcome.

Layne - I checked out your cars - very nice. If you talk to Max again, let him know how his old Baur is doing. Thanks.

[Greg323i]

Some cool colors that would go with tan: Kastienenrot, Resedagrün and Brazilbraun. If I ever do a full restore on my car I'll probably paint it Brazilbraun.

[AlaskaBimmer]

It's good to see another baur saved. It appears there are several baurs floating around in Texas, mine will most likely end up there someday as well when we move back from the end of the earth to Dallas.

[mtthmpsn]

I do like the Brazil Brown and that silver looks money on AlaskaBimmer's but probably won't go with tan interior. Then again, basically any painted e21 looks sweet compared to my three or four-toned car I got going on now. And everyone's got such nice wheels on this site. Notice the half steel, half alloy set I'm sporting.

[Baur]

Hello Matt,

Nice project do you have here Can you tell me which Baur-number your car has?

Greetings, Jeroen

[mtthmpsn]

Jeroen - I'll check when I get home and repost. I assume it's on one of the badges under the hood? Any info you can give on its origin will be appreciated. Coincidentally, my German grandmother's maiden name was Bauer. I guess it's in my blood.

[HarryPR]

I second AlaskaBimmer's comments. Great to see another Baur slowly but surely coming back to life!

Please keep us posted on your progress with it.

[nowloadingrage]

Matt
I have to say after looking at the pics. Your perfectly maintained yard and dirt-less driveway makes that car look good.
You think your hooked now, wait until you get to drive it daily. At that point you should be well on your way to tring to find a second one..ha

[mtthmpsn]

I took the Baur around the block again tonight; this time with the top down. It had some mid-rpm hesitation and slight backfiring (I don't have a muffler), but it hasn't had a full tune up so I'm not too worried, yet. I can't wait to get it opened up a little.

Thanks for the props on the lawn, but I just happened to capture it on a good day. I'll post a pic a week from now.

I found my Baur number: A000868-04. Thanks Jeroen for any info you can give me. - Matt

[Euro Trash MAX]

Sorry about the fonky carpet!!! Sittin around in houston things get pretty funky....

Gettin there!! Nice to hear it's movin on it's own!!!

[Baur]

I found my Baur number: A000868-04. Thanks Jeroen for any info you can give me. - Matt

It's a quite a rare colour your car has. Only 29 examples were made in Arktisblau (blue). And this is the first in my register

It should have a PVC black roof and had "Hellgrau" (lightgrey) interior. It has no tinted windows. And was delivered to BMW's hometown Munchen!

In total there were 3 cars with this configuration (323i, Arktisblau, PVC roof, lightgrey interior and no tinted windows).

Gr Jeroen

[mtthmpsn]

Thanks Jeroen, great info and great site, though I wish my Deutsch was better. The pictures alone are good for project motivation.

No problem on the carpets, Max. It was wicked fun tearing out the interior. I'll post pictures if I ever get it back together. - Matt

[Baur]

Thanks Jeroen, great info and great site, though I wish my Deutsch was better. The pictures alone are good for project motivation.

No problem on the carpets, Max. It was wicked fun tearing out the interior. I'll post pictures if I ever get it back together. - Matt

Well, it's no problem if your "Deutsch" isn't that good. But your Dutch has to be better

Gr Jeroen

[mtthmpsn]

Well that's obviously no good either!

[1986325es]

Can we get an update on the car? What have you done with it? Knowing how rare the color is are you keeping it original? I for one would love to know how it ended up in Texas from Munich, Germany. Bet that would be a neat story.