Luger Log - Enter, The Green.curse word...

ooo another e21 project, you cant have too many of them to watch!!!;-)

+1

Got this bad boy on the Bay of temptation:




Can't remember if the guy said it was Hartge or Schnitzer - pattern (anyone?), all I know I got it for £170 and it looks the nuts. Proper RHD fit too as the pipes bend around the steering column, and looks like it will bolt straight up to my Ansa exhaust system. Missed out on the fully-rebuilt B25 he was selling for £350, rackum frackum
Fitting it was a little fiddly as the bolts are obscured by the curve of the pipes, so had to hold them in place while it was offered up, but well worth it.
Eagle-eyed M20 fans amongst you will notice that the oil filter housing is now facing the opposite way, as otherwise the oil filter would be underneath the tubular manifold great for third-degree burns with your oil services.



I just simply unbolted it, switched it round and repositioned the oil cooler pipes.

Was the 6 branch an e30 one? Unfortunately, if it was, I don't think it will fit in the e21 bay without some serious modification as they hit the flitch panel. Hopefully, I'm wrong though but am pretty sure this is the case and why e21 6 branches cost so much.

This car was on Pistonheads and eBay and was the subject of debate as to it's condition:
www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10519
Well, I had a hunch it was a decent car despite all of the bullshittery given off by the seller, so I drove down to Worthing. Story goes the guy is an Alfasud nut (he has a tii with a 1.7 lump I'd love to own), he bought the E21 on a whim, unfortunately didn't like it and needed funds fast to buy another 'Sud, hence the rapid slashing of the price. After two-and-a-bit hours of poking, prodding and looking for the usual E21 issues, I bought it. In fairness to the guy, he made all of the classic mistakes when listing it which contrived to make the car more moody looking than a Moody Blues reunion tour.




Problems? theres - well not much actually. It's done just over 128,000 miles so a few things are a little 'baggy', but it has a sheaf of BMW dealer receipts and nearly all of the MOTs, including head gasket work and new discs about ten years ago. The cars only done about 2000 miles in the last 7 years, so a bit of fettling is required, y'know, servcing, timing belt etc. This car will be kept completely standard as the Luger will be the 'mad' car when it's finished and I did primarily buy this to get my E21 'fix' in the meantime.

Leather interior (with Recaros) and genuine Alpina steering wheel & gear knob (bought in the late 90's according to the dealer receipt). Niiiice.




Now it all goes a bit shonky...
An Alpina fusebox - for those high-performance B8, B10 and B16 amp fuses!



An Alpina ashtray - no doubt to stub out your Alpina cigarettes, of course lit by an Alpina lighter. Mind you, when I cleaned out the ashtrays I found half a zoot :shock: wondered why the car smelt a bit funky. The joys of Morroccan Old Holborn, eh?



Now we're just getting silly.




Then there's the audio install, I reckon it dates back to the early 90's. Old-school or what? (and not all in a good way either) Note the subtle use of household flex for the power cable, and the small colony of scotchlocks round the back of the centre console. And the non-working rev counter. And a decent Kenlowe fan that stays on when you put the fuse in. Needless to say it's all getting re-done. Along with a couple of the MOTs being done in Streatham (and the other 'stuff'...), I've got this image of Denzil from Only Fools & Horses cruising round in it back in the day. ;D




And yes your eyes don't deceive you, that is a carpeted boot. Proper job too, with the backing and vinyl edging. This car must have been garaged most of it's life as the boot and boot lip are rust-free behind the panels.




OI! RESPECT YER ELDERS, YA YOUNG WHIPPERSNAPPER!!! ;D

Racked up close to 300 miles from Friday in the new E21, was helping my mate with his engine swap (no pics at his request) in his E36 'M3' Compact, so had to drive up to Wickham. I've not done that much mileage in it and as I've just serviced it, so thought I'd rack up the miles for a while in it.
It repays me by conking out. In the middle lane of Euston Road, opposite Euston station. Grrreat, picked your spot well... I push it into a nearby street and go through the usual drill under bonnet to try & locate the problem; conclude that I can't get it started with the tools I have and go into the reception of the University College London building I've parked outside to get pen & paper to make up a sign to keep the warden at bay. The bloke at the desk goes:
- "That's an E21 isn't it?" (he can see it from his desk on CCTV)
- "Er yeah."
- "I used to have one of those."
Turns out he's a BMW nut and has owned several, including an E30 M3 and an E24 635csi. After chatting for about half an hour, I go back outside and have one more look under the bonnet before the breakdown lorry comes. For all of the cranking over, there's no smell of fuel. Notice the fuse for the fuel pump isn't sitting in it's holder properly.
SORTED!
Saturday: We went to Enfield Pageant to get various bits & bobs for his car; somehow subconsciously I've manage to find the only other E21 at he whole show, an X-reg Kasmir Gold 323i. Bloody wish my camera phone battery hadn't conked out.
Sunday: Crystal Palace Hillclimb.



Check out my other post on this and the excellent RSM Flickr album:
www.flickr.com/photos/retroscenemag/sets/72157624166866810/?page=8

retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=81724&page=1
It was bloody fantastic. I need to take in a few more. Hopefully the green car will be finished by then, because I really want to take part in that car.

Was on the Drive It day, retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=83456&page=1#1093420 which was awesome:




It was great seeing this particular car in the 'flesh' yesterday, it was like seeing a ghost (I had a Henna car with 15" RAs on)! I'm thinking of pulling mine off the shelf to put on the BOL and to help me decide, a mate of mine let me try one of his 5-stud ones (off a 911):



I'm undecided at the mo whether to put mine on, as I want to get them refurbished with gold centres but wanna use the dough to get my Hatrtge Classics done for the Luger. Hmmm.....

Time for an update:
Lots of little jobs to do on The Bride, a few of them getting ticked off. The exhaust downpipes had started to rattling like a curse word, so thought it would be a simple job to tighten the bracket that comes off the gearbox. Only I'd completely forgotten it didn't have one. Well, doh. Luckily I found one on The Bay Of E for a cheap price, some etch primer, Hammerite and new nuts & bolts later:



And fitted. Well not the gearbox bracket, I couldn't get it past the crossmember bush. Job done. Now I've got to fix the blow I can now hear now the rattle's gone.



Right now the car's my daily driver until I finish my Rover. Including hauling wood around to make a flower bed. Good for traction, would have been a curse word for anyone rear-ending me. Hopefully it will be in hibernation before the Winter sets in.



Recognise these wheels? They're MIBS's old Fondmetal cross-spokes (hey, my wheels have been featured in Retro Cars and PPC! ) with a good set of Toyo Proxes, I'll put them on when the spring comes, still deliberating over whether to paint the centres gold.



It isn't all roses, alas: the chemical weld repair I did to the sump I while back decided to fall out right outside my garage after driving back from my workshop on Sunday, delightfully depositing the contents of the sump on the floor. If I can't get a steel one from someone, I'll have to faff taking it off my spare M20B23 lump and even then it's gonna be a ballache changing it over.

More progress on the Luger too: Bought a pair of Willwood brake calipers for a knoc-down price from a friend on the E21 forum and been cleaning/painting polishing various brackets as well as getting stuck into the wiring loom for the new engine. Little steps, but getting there.