BMW's galore!

I've decided that I need a bit of e21 motorsport in my life so this should be arriving on the back of a lorry next week sometime.







It's had a few bits done.

LSD,
Racing dog leg gearbox,
Leda coil overs,
2.7 with triple 45's (webbers),
shrick cam,
Lightened fly wheel,
210 brake horse power plus,
New cobra seats and harnesses,
New exhaust (ashley competition),
OMP Roll cage,
Newly refurbed BBS 15" alloys,
Toyo R888's,
New facet pump,
Strut Braces

I just need to get an MOT on it too.

I'm on the hunt for longer trumpets for those Webers!

Nice rear end Mark ;D ;D

Missmatched tyres though

Doesn't stop me lusting after your car. ;D

Well after Wales the engine in MIB started to sound a little tappety so I figured now was a good time to get the new Schrick cam fitted. My usual guy was busy so he booked it in with Eta Motorsport down near Brands Hatch. I first went to these guys about 17 years ago! Anyway, I dropped the car off last week and today I got the call to go pick it up. The head had to have a full rebuild as the exhaust valves & seats were all shot. New valves, stem seals etc, slot the new cam in and Roberts ya Dads brother. As soon as I started the car the difference was obvious. It was so much quieter and really smooth, as a BMW 6 pot should be. I gave it a few miles to warm through properly before giving it the berries and seeing what difference the cam swap had made? Well there's definately a wad more torque and it comes on cam a bit sooner than it did too. It's got a much more of a snarl going on through the 6 branch too! I figured it would sound the same but I guess where she's breathing better, the old girl has more to get rid of? Anyway, she sounds freakin awesome! I'm guessing that I must have around 200bhp with torque closer to 220 / 230ft/lbs! I guess a dyno stop is in order?

The bad news is that a slight knock and a bit of play in the steering is a shot TCA! You've gotta love old cars. So, onto the next job I guess? Hopefully a pair of TCA's will be the last expense for a while?

The race car is tucked up in the workshop too so hopefully this weekend will give me a chance to get some fettling done? I was going to start an e21 racer thread but as I'm already blogging the restoration of my ex TWR car, maybe I should combine all 3 into a single E21 BMW's thread instead?

Cheers bud. Thanks for the comments. I do love an e21!

Well I took the orange car out today and found some nice quiet roads ( private ones obviously ) and gave it a good spanking! The new cam has made such a difference to the way the power is delivered. It's almost a bit like a 2 stroke when they hit the power band! ( I'm remembering people asking where they could get ''power bands'' for their fizzy? - Man I'm old!) The power comes in a lot harder and about 500 rpm lower in the range. It's got a proper hard ''touring car'' engine sound & exhaust note too. The whole package just feels much quicker. Hopefully I can strap it on the dyno next week and get some numbers?

I'm moving the track car up to my workshop tomorrow so that I can start work on the list of jobs I need to complete. I know the starter motor needs looking at as the solenoid is sticking so that'll be first. I also need to whip the seats out and clean / re-paint part of the floor. I might not be very talented at driving but I can make it look pretty! I also have some go faster carbon fibre door cards to fit and I can replace the old ''washer bottle catch tank'' with the shiny alloy one. I also need to get a wider drivers seat as I've got way too fat since my accident.

I've been thinking about copying a period livery and I really would like to make it a replica of a County Championship Race car. I have the front spoiler but the rear is a modified one from a 3 litre CSL and even a copy is over £800! I'm thinking I might try and make my own but that will have to wait for now. I think the best thing is just to do whatever costs the absolute minimum of cash and just get out there and enjoy myself in it. This has always been about fun as opposed to competition and I don't want to lose sight of that. The only thing the track car actually NEEDS is the starter motor to be sorted. The rest can wait or be done at my leisure. I've posted off my entrance fee & form for Crystal Palace so now I just have to sit and wait to see if I get selected?? Fingers crossed!!

Carbon fibre door cards that I bought way before I even got the car - just in case!



Good-bye old washer bottle catch tank and hello trick looking alloy instead!



I also got a call from Dave @ M-tech in sunny Bilericay, Essex today and the head for the TWR is back from the engineering shop. As well as all new valves, rockers, Schrick cam etc they added a whole heap of flow work into the mix. The inlet valves are massive! I'll upload a few piccies later on. We have pretty much everything now to complete the build so next job is to strip the shell right back and rust proof & underseal it. Once the shell is fully protected we can put it all back together, cleaning & polishing as we go. There's a fair bit to do but so long as we are methodical and take our time, it should all be pretty straightforward. I say should..... The interior I am going to leave to a trimming company as I want it to be right and the fitting of a brand new headlining isn't a job I fancy tackling myself. I also want to fit all the period ICE before the trim and carpet goes in so that all the wiring is hidden properly. I want to get the head unit fitted with an i-pod jack too so if anyone knows where to go??

Tomorrow its all about fitting new TCA's on the orange car.

Picked out a few action shots of the race car 3 wheeling around.

that track car is pretty awesome