BMW e21 315 to 2.7 Alpina

[Lukastuka]

Hello everybody,

I'd like to start off with introducing myself.

My name is Luuk, i'm 21 years old and live in the netherlands.
I'm building a e21 with my best friend, it's actually his car but because my dad has his own shop it's easier to building it here.

We thought it would be fun to post our project on a forum, to share it with some other BMW fans.
The is a whole story attached to this build so let's start off with that.

It all began when my friend found a super nice e21 on the internet. It was a 320/6cil car with a bbs front spoiler, alpina replica rims and a really nice recaro leather interior. He liked it so much that we contacted the seller and bought the car. This was in september 2008.

Our plan was to turn this e21 into a Alpina replica.
Unfortunately he crashed this car into a field in january 2009. Here is the video after the crash:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIwSuj4KNzQ[/ame]

So we had to find another e21 to start our project with. My friend knew a guy that has alot of e21 parts. He contacted him for a new e21 and he told us that he had a B6 Alpina chassis with no suspension, no engine and no interior. We made an appointment to take a look at the chassis. It looked really good and had little to no rust on the outside. So we bought the chassis and had to look for another e21 as a donor car.

A couple days later my friend got a call from the same guy, telling him that he had a 323i donor car which was completely rusted but had a very rare sport transmission. So he bought the car and a week later it arrived at our place.

Here are some pictures of the 3 cars together:






In Februari we started to take the carpet out of the Alpina chassis, and we found out that the floors were completely rusted, there were some big holes in it.
So while we were having a dicussion about what to do with it, a friend of my dad came over and told us that he had a great looking 315 with a new paintjob. We drove to his place to check it out, and the car looked beautifull. It was nice alpine-white and looked like new, it even had a sunroof! The downside of this car was that it wasn't a 6cil car and it had the standard interior. But that wasn't a big problem because we still had the leather reacaro's. So we discussed about the price and took it home.

We immediately took the old interior out and put the recaro's in, together with a nice alpina steering wheel and a shift knob which we already had.

This is what is looked like after a few hours:












So after a couple busy weekends and no time to work on the e21, we thought: why don't we take the engine out? (it was already smoking alot, and using oil..)
Here are some pics of the engine removal:








We started to clean the engine bay, because it could use a new paintjob here are some pictures of that:








After all the cleaning we took it to a paintshop. While we needed to wait a couple weeks before we got the car back, we decided to take the suspension from the 323i to get the front subframe and back suspension powdercoated.
Here's a picture of that.


Meanwhile we also ordered new bilstein B6 sport shocks and custom made springs to get a lowering of 60mm in front and 40mm back. And we found a B3 2.7 Alpina engine from a e30. We also found hartge headers, a orgininal new leistritz sport exhaust dating from 1981, it was still in the box! and a BBS rear spoiler in new condition. And even a Alpina Diff cover..

Here are some pictures of all that stuff:

[Lukastuka]

We already started to prep the engine, it already had a new coating on the bottom block, here are the pictures:









Then we got the car back from the paintshop, here are the pictures of that:











So that's basically were we are right now, progress is slow but steady. We are still waiting to get our suspension parts back from the powdercoat. Meanwhile we still have a lot to do on the engine. And there are more suspension parts headed this way..

I hope you all enjoyed the first post of this project.. Updates will follow!

If you have any questions, dont hesitate to ask me!
Also, if you are having trouble finding e21 parts even the rare ones like Alpina, you can contact me. I've got good contacts in that world so maybe i can find it for you and ship it.

[jayhawk49er]

Amazing! What are the immigration policies in the Netherlands? Can I bring my dog and my E21? How's your health care? Probably pretty good... Hey, I'm serious!

[jjgbmw323]

Looks great. Love the rear BBS spoiler and Alpina diff cover.
I have both front and rear BBS spoilers on my car and I dig them

Half the battle with these cars is the rust. If you have a rust free chassis you are already ahead of the game.

How in the hell did that car get wrecked in the field...ouch that look pretty aweful.

Good luck with the project, cant wait to see the finished results....
You have the m20 subframe from the 323i to help with the swap....

I would be interested in a price on a DIBLAS manfiold for the m20 and center caps for BBS RMs.

[IRideFixed]

wow, very nice project! definitely keep us updated on the progress.

[BaronOfIpanema]

Very nice!

[onephase]

Can only dream of that kind of access for undertaking such a build. Looking forward to the finished product!

[blitzed310]

Wow, this is going to be a good one. Any leads on Alpina Mudflaps?

Off Topic: Are you American? Your English is perfect.

[fullswing]

WOW!!! now that's what i call an intro.

[Lukastuka]

Thanks everybody for the comments!

@jayhawk49er
Haha i don't know what the immigration policies are here, they aren't that strict. Ofcourse you can bring your dog and your e21, unless it's a pitbull we have restricted rules for those
The health care is good ofcourse, it's one of the best in the world they say.. Would you like to trade? I've always wanted to move to America..

@jjgbmw323
The car ended up in the field after it took a lazy left turn with a flat rear tyre, so the rear end started to break out. My friend tried to keep it steady but lost control and crashed into a ditch. The car then flipped 3 times and landed on it's wheels. Parts were everywhere we even found the battery in another field. Fortunately my friend was ok and only suffered from a major headache..
This is a good example of how tough e21's are haha.

I'm going to search for your center caps, and DBILAS manifold, what kind of engine is it? a 323 or a 325i? Because those manifolds are differend from each other.

@blitzed310
We do have the original Alpina mudflaps, but no photo of them, i will make a photo of them in the next update.
I'm not American, i'm 100% dutch haha, but i am going on a vacation to America this winter.. But thanks for the compliment!

[blitzed310]

Cool, I've been looking for mudflaps, let me know if you have a set to sell and pricing.

I think I drove through Overloon on my way from the Nürburgring to Amsterdam. I think it was on the A10 or A73 motorway or something like that.

[vtgti]

This looks like it will definitely be a fun thread to follow.

[1980 320iS]

The car is shaping up to be... just right. Glad to see it being done the way it s'posed to be...

And for jayhawker, my $0.02 about emigrating to the Netherlands is this: An American will think it totally SUCKS and they will HATE it there unless....
a) they like gorgeous, blue-eyed, blonde women;
b) they like good beer; and
c) they like to finish their lunch by eating a piece of bread with lil' chocolate sprinkles on it.

If you can put up with these three things, then you probably won't miss SoCal's weather.

(Oh man! I hope my wife doesn't read this thread!!)

[jjgbmw323]

Nice project. Looks great.

I am glad to hear he survived the car crash intact.....

My car is 79 323i and i have built a 2.9 m20 from a 1990 325i e30 engine......
I am curious about how much the diblas intake manfiold is for it.
This is the newer style 885 head.

I also have a set of BBS RMs that need the center caps and the rings that go around the center caps.

Thanks, and welcome to the board my friend....

[blitzed310]

You already know, isn't it like $2000-$2500

[Lukastuka]

@blitzed310
There is a set of mudflaps for sale here, from a guy that i know. Don't know the exact condition that they are in but here is a photo of them:



He askes €275,- for them that is aprox. $410,- and then some shipping costs..
Let me know if you are interested, then i'll give him a call..
What a coincidence that you drove by our little town, it's next to the A73 motorway.. Next time you must come by and get some coffee..

@jjgbmw323
Do you mean the complete intake with throttle bodies like this:

This one is priced @ €2075,- that is aprox. $3088,- excluded shipping costs, i looked at the website from DBILAS, because they are impossible to find in used condition.
For your center caps and rings, i'm going to call BBS tomorrow because they are also impossible to find in used condition..
I'll keep you posted!

[Wreckanic]

SCHWIIIIING!

This one is priced @ €2075

!?!... Un-schwing.

Nice looking project. I will be following this thread with interest.
Also, that orange and black paint-scheme on the Alpina shell is rocking my world. Dangerously so.

[bensmall]

Wow...awesome thread. Welcome to the boards. I am excited to see the outcome of this one.

[fullswing]

@blitzed310
There is a set of mudflaps for sale here, from a guy that i know. Don't know the exact condition that they are in but here is a photo of them:



He askes €275,- for them that is aprox. $410,- and then some shipping costs..
Let me know if you are interested, then i'll give him a call..
What a coincidence that you drove by our little town, it's next to the A73 motorway.. Next time you must come by and get some coffee..

@jjgbmw323
Do you mean the complete intake with throttle bodies like this:

This one is priced @ €2075,- that is aprox. $3088,- excluded shipping costs, i looked at the website from DBILAS, because they are impossible to find in used condition.
For your center caps and rings, i'm going to call BBS tomorrow because they are also impossible to find in used condition..
I'll keep you posted!

and reality bites.

[///M3Vader4dr]

soo freaking awesome I'm just starting to get into e21s.

[jjgbmw323]

and reality bites.

So true. Thanks for checking, and dont worry about the BBS center caps, I am going to get a set from ebay.

That manifold is way too expensive for me, so it looks like I am just going to extrude hone my 325i one, and powdercoat it..

Looking forward to the awesome buildup of your car and this thread which made my day!

[dblsprt68]

Welcome here! I saw that video on YOUTUBE before...... I wandered what happened to it. I can see it'll get re-born and ride again!!! It's going to be a really nice looking car when ya'll are done with it. Keep up the good work. David

[charbel]

wow.. awsome job.

[FranzE21]

Welcome to the boards. Wow, fantastic introduction man and extremely promising project. If the Netherlands allows it, I'd love to see webers on this M20. Period correct and really adds that touch to a six cylinder which just makes you want to floor it all the time.

Doe voorzichtig bro.

[jayhawk49er]

The car is shaping up to be... just right. Glad to see it being done the way it s'posed to be...

And for jayhawker, my $0.02 about emigrating to the Netherlands is this: An American will think it totally SUCKS and they will HATE it there unless....
a) they like gorgeous, blue-eyed, blonde women;
b) they like good beer; and
c) they like to finish their lunch by eating a piece of bread with lil' chocolate sprinkles on it.

If you can put up with these three things, then you probably won't miss SoCal's weather.

(Oh man! I hope my wife doesn't read this thread!!)

My wife is blond and blue-eyed.
I love beer. Prefer vodka.
"bread and chocolate"... that sounds familiar..

And we moved here from Chicago, I'm used to real weather...

[QUOTE=Lukastuka;17641942]Thanks everybody for the comments!

@jayhawk49er
Haha i don't know what the immigration policies are here, they aren't that strict. Ofcourse you can bring your dog and your e21, unless it's a pitbull we have restricted rules for those
The health care is good ofcourse, it's one of the best in the world they say.. Would you like to trade? I've always wanted to move to America..

Dog is a sweet Labradoodle. I'm up for a trade anytime you're tired of rain and cool weather. ON the other hand, prepare yourself for heat and raging brushfires, unbelievable traffic on the freeways, crazy people everywhere... I could go on, but you get the idea.... I should never respond to posts before coffee.