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The saga of my '82 320is
12 June 2003

This is an '82 320is that I bought in March 2003. I picked this car because the previous owner had done some upgrades that I would have done anyway so it saved me time and money.

Things like:

Eibach springs
'77 vented front brakes
Stainless brake lines
Battery moved to the trunk
Front strut tower brace
UUC short shift kit
278 deg. duration cam, old Elgin grind on OEM core
Ported intake and exhaust ports
Free flow intake

I have owned an '83 320i and an '88 M5 previously so I am not new to BMW's.

Why do I own a BMW? Because I have hundreds of miles of roads like this surrounding my home! Traffic can be a pain on weekends but is not bad during the week or on nice evenings.

What I have done to it so far:

Rebuilt the rear seat with new foam to replace the "horse hair" that was badly deteriorated. I was able to reuse the original upholstery. For the cost of some hog rings, foam and glue my rear seat is like new.
Rebuilt the center console to mount the stereo horizontally so I can see the face. I fabricated new sides from plywood and added some foam padding and black simulated leather. The "face" and "deck" of the new console are carbon fiber and epoxy. I used a leather e30 shift boot and a carbon fiber shift knob. I added an oil pressure gage, an air/fuel meter, and two power outlets-one for the radar detector and one for the power inverter used to keep my laptop computer charged to tune the programmable fuel injection.
I turned a parking brake grip and button from some aluminum stock I had in the garage and fitted it to a 5 series parking brake handle. The 5 series brake handle has a bearing for a pivot so they don't wear out and get sloppy like 3 series brake handles do. Not all 5 series handles will fit, some have a wide pivot bearing, so measure before you buy one. For tunes, I installed a Pioneer CD player with new 4x6 speakers in the stock front location and 6x9 speakers in boxes on the rear package tray. This pic shows original console and the new parking brake handle.

Trans change to get a functional 3rd gear. The trans was purchased on Ebay. After installation I filled it with Valvoline synthetic gear oil, 2nd gear was very "notchy" until the trans was fully warmed up. After about 500 miles I drained the gear oil and replaced it with Redline MTL synthetic gear oil, what a remarkable difference!! The transmission shifts so well, and the short shifter with carbon knob are pure entertainment. While it was out I repaired the gear selector pivot on the trans to eliminate most of the shifter slop.
Radiator upgrade to a Volvo cross flow
Rear strut brace/battery mount. The PO had moved the battery to the trunk and had done a good job of wiring it but the battery was in a plastic box like those used on boats and was held in place with a plastic web strap. I built a shock tower brace/battery mount similar to those sold by TopEnd Performance. Retail price is about $170 so I am way ahead on this one. I personally don't see a need for a rear shock tower brace on any e21 unless it is a very strong race car with sticky tires. The rear seat frame ties the shock towers together well enough for all but the most extreme cars. I had the tubing and it seemed like a cool way to mount the battery so I did it anyway. (Update May 2008) I've had to rethink this view, I just found two large cracks in my rear seat bulkhead. See the e21 parts page for pic.

A/C removal. I pulled the compressor, condenser and hoses from the front of the car. It didn't work anyway and the weight off the nose makes a noticeable difference in handling. When I re-did the console I removed the under dash parts to make room for the horizontal stereo.

14x6 "bottle cap" wheel upgrade:

Update 8 Feb. 2004: I just installed some prototype urethane sway bar to lower control arm bushings. They make a noticeable improvement in the effectiveness of the front sway bar and improve the feel of the car at speed. They do occasionally transmit some harshness from sharp edged bumps and potholes but it's not objectionable. They are now available through e21parts.net. (update: e21parts.net has discontinued these as of 2007)

Update 25 June 2004: I installed new seats this spring. They are from Summit Racing and cost $200 ea. They are much more comfortable than the factory Recaro's and when I made the mounts I removed the factory seat mount humps so I could lower the seating position and gained about 1.5" of headroom. As you can see, they fit nicely, like they were designed for this car-even in the factory "door jam bulge".

Update 14 Oct 2004: I am currently running a new 4-2-1 header on this car and have the high load areas of the EFI richened up some. This little engine makes more power than it has a right to!!! I can easily pass cars on 2 lane highways without sneaking up on them, just leave it in 4th gear and mat the pedal-before you know it, I'm hitting 5th at 80mph and gone.... Go to the header page to see it. I also rebuilt my entire exhaust system to maximize the power, my old system was slightly restrictive.

Update 20 April 2005: Not much has changed on this car in the past several months, I have just been driving the wheels off it! I got tired of the factory "is" front spoiler so I sold it and am currently running without a bumper or spoiler-it gives it a tough look. Here's a pic of the car with the spoiler but no bumper-pretty cool I think.

Update 21 July 2005: The head gasket developed a leak allowing compression gasses into the cooling system causing it to run hot at higher RPM, even with the big radiator. It's been coming on for several months and finally got to work on it. I have removed the head to have it milled and the valve job freshened.

Update 21 May 2006: The head gasket initially blew last year when I was on my way to the BMW show and swap meet put on by the SF bay area 2002 group. Well, yesterday I was headed there again and I crashed into a Toyota pick up scrunching the entire front end-His bumper went over my bumper and into the center of the grill, taking out the grill/lights/hood/fenders/radiator support/radiator and who knows what else in the engine compartment. I will have to use a sawsall to cut the hood off so I can inspect it. Next year I won't even consider going to that show!!!

To get it fixed will require at least a hood, passenger fender, grill, radiator support, headlight buckets, radiator, front valance and probably more... The car is actually worth more in pieces than it is whole but I have decided to repair it because it's just sooo fun to drive. Sometimes your Karma just SUCKS!!!