A Boy and His 6

[Ol'6erGuy]

Three years ago, I bought a '80 635, euro from a co-worker. I paid $2000 for it. The body is in very good shape. The problem, the engine is only running on 3 cylinders. I had planned on starting this project right then but two things happened. First, the busiest time of the year for me just started, no time. Second, we(myself, wife, son and a friend of his) went on a week's vacation to the mountains. In a freak accident, we rolled our Jeep almost 6 times down a hillside. This was on a trail we knew well. I ended up in the hospital for 3 days with a crushed right hand and a shattered left thumb. I lost 4 months work. My wife broke her right arm and had her head bashed a bit. She lost 6 months work. Thank God the boys were basically un hurt. I'm telling you this so you will know where my head is at. Between the physical and mental trauma, there is the monitary devastation. Doing mechanical work is very hard, frustrating and downright discouraging. Well, I decided to suck it up and tackle the job.
About a month ago, I found a wrecked '80 635, euro about 150 miles away. The head had just been redone and it had a 5 speed. Lots of good parts. I bought it for $1800.
The plan: First, transfer the engine and 5 speed. Second, the interior, mine is in good shape but it is tan I don't like tan and the other is black.
Where I am today: All I have managed to do is remove some of the wiring and accessories from the engine. I may have to cut part of the nose to get the engine out.
I hope you all will bear with me. This is somewhat of a spiritual journey. Words of wisdom and comments are welcome.

[dm635]

all i can tell you is to carry on if you can.i myself sustained a freak,near fatal accident in which i was traveling at least 60mph and a dead tree falling, decided to hit the roof of the car and leave some serious injury to the head and neck.i still do my own work,but it takes a lot longer than it used to and there's some things i cant do if it requires contorting the body.i have to stay moving and cant sit still.i've always a car to mess around with and people ask how i can still do it.it's therapy.

[Ryan in SD]

Wow crazy storys, have fun with your rebuild/renovation.

[TVRPaul]

Doing mechanical work is very hard, frustrating and downright discouraging. Well, I decided to suck it up and tackle the job.

Well, what can I say, who knows what is 'round the corner, what fate has in store for any of us???

It's really encouraging that you've not thrown in the towel

Look at it another way, you're already a 'special guy' - interest in practical well made tin (BMW) and you've got a pair!!!

Just imagine going through all of above and comming home to 1 and a 1/2 Pontiacs or Mustangs (over here I'd say Cortina or Fiat Punto!!).

[Al Canuck]

Wow, that's a great looking project, and congrats on having the will to carry on with it. Can't wait to see it done.

Al

[Ol'6erGuy]

Welcome to Bill's toy box. I got quite a bit done today. The doner is up in the air. The exhaust, drive line, rear axles, differential and transmission removed. Now all I have to do is pull the bell housing and try to get the engine out. I got all the engine wiring off a couple of weeks ago. It has been a good day.

[bumbavfan]

Ol 6er,

Keep going, man!! The ride will be that much sweeter when you get it going and running right.

By the way, I am looking for tan sport seats. Are you selling yours? Please PM me.


Thanks,
Alfonso.

[dm635]

just keep reminding yourself of the finished result.i have a newfound respect for the euro's after examining one.
dont forget i still need a few parts when you're done.i have a set of recaros i can throw in the deal.they came from a euro and dont have the floor mounts,but you'd already have them.if you dont need the seats,would you be interested in selling the mounts?i dont think i can retrofit them to the sport seat mounts.

[sirtiger]

very very cool project... keep us posted...

[Ol'6erGuy]

Well, I didn't get a lot done on the 6 this weekend. It's spring barrel tasting (I live in centeral Wa. wine country), need I say more? I needed to change the brake fluid on the 525, so I put in a ss brake line kit also. I did manage to get the instrument cluster out thanks to dm635's phone call telling me where the screws were. It's interesting the way these two cars were federalized. Please look at the pictures. Pic. 1 is the diagnostic panel from the grey car, note the 0-2 sensor light that doesn't exist on this unit, and the panel is in english. Pic. 2, note the seat belt light in upper right, they glued a little icon over an unused hole and hung a bulb behind it. Pic. 3 the diagnostic panel from the bronze car. Note how the upper right spot was hogged out and a piece of plastic glued in with a bulb stuck in behind.
The whole seat belt warning system was added by splicing into the existing wiring. This is getting to be really interesting. All for now, Bill

[dm635]

hey bill,i enjoyed the conversation also.the german face plate i have looks the same as the U.S. models.maybe someone could post a pic of what the U.S. spec face plate looks like,so you can compare.

[Makr]

Sorry to hear about your wreck. Im glad you have all recovered.


The nice thing about BMW and the six, is that it is so well thought out. I can pull the motor on my 633 in an evening. I have done it enough, I know exectally what I need.

Good luck. If you have any questions let me know.

[760list]

I almost bought one that was sitting at a used car lot, 1985 with 88k on it...thing was mint...I got nervous about finding parts...

[Shark Bait]

Bill,
I can appreciate a good weekend barrel tasting, might have to trade some rare finds. I miss the Northwest (grew up in Seatte). The only wineries then were Chateau San Michelle, and Columbia Crest. Neither of which do we see much of here.

Looks like your curiosity is pulling you deeper and deeper into these cars, I know the feeling. In the process of replacing the clutch on my '85 now, been working on it for the last few months, no manual, no schematics, just a bit of common sense and the willingness to dig in. It has worked out well, I am impressed with these cars. Can't wait to get mine back on the road, but only get about an hour of work time on it a day (if that). And let me know what you plan on doing with the tan interior, I don't have the choices you do, and need seats. Keep it up.

BTW, a glass of wine can make any job work better.

[Ol'6erGuy]

Well, Shark Bait, from wine country Wa. to wine country Ca., you know what they say, "curiousity killed the cat". I have always looked at it this way, logic will win out. You shouls come back some time, lots of good small wineries up here. They are giving you guys a run for your money.

[dm635]

if you indulge a little too much of the squashed grapes,dont start pulling anything electrical.you may go back with a clear head and wonder what the hell have i done and where does this go.

[Ol'6erGuy]

O.K., O.K. I only went to one place. It's was my neighbor and good friend. This is the first year his little winery has been open. He also has a '74 3.0s Bavaria that needs a motor. Got it at a abandoned car auction. Someone ran it out of oil and toasted the crank.

[Ol'6erGuy]

Well, I finally got the chance to do something in the shop today. It rained all day (greatly needed). This kept me from the yard work. All I managed to do was clean up part of the shop so I could organize the parts as I take them off the wreck.. I did manage to remove some of the wiring on the front end. It's going to be slow.

[dm635]

i've been on the front for days myself.attemping to attach the worn out bumper bellows and then finding that the air dam needed shifting over and adjusted.of course then taking out each bolt and anti seizing them.each little job always turns to another and another and.............

[Ol'6erGuy]

Jeeez, has it been over a month since I managed to do anything??? Anyway, I had a short day today and decided that I HAD to do something with the car. In an hour and a half, I removed the entire rear interior, plus the pass seat!!! Piece of cake!!! Pics. to follow. Bill
P.S. since no one had posted, I decided to edit. Not nuch to look at but a lot of cleaning for me!!!

[760list]

nice new dining room table

[dm635]

looks good.i need a black interior.mine is white on the outside and blue inside.someone told me that was a not so common color combination.

[Ol'6erGuy]

Actually, our '91 525 is white with dark blue interior. Not bad combo. The black is what I'm keeping for the finished product. Bill

[MaloventEvil]

i'm enjoying this thread! good luck with the conversion.

[dm635]

i guess my liking of a black int goes back to the '70's muscle car days.if it wasn't black,it just didn't look right.i had an '80 2 door volar'e with the white blue scheme.for being that type of car,it looked pretty good after i slapped some factory ralleys on it.