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Honestly I just hope it fires up, getting increasingly more nervous the closer it gets to the time to turn the key Got the front end back together, great to have it back looking like an actual car again. Reattached the sway bar with new bushings and slipped in the strut tower reinforcement plates, will leave the rest of the suspension untouched for now. Got onto swapping out the diff. Decided to put in the auto 330 diff (3.38) from the donor car for now rather than messing about swapping over the input flanges on the 325 auto diff (3.46). Want to give the manual 2.93 diff a fresh lick of paint and new fluids before putting it in for good with the rest of the refurbished subframe later down the track so left it out for now. Good chance to try out the different ratios as well. Was a bit of a mission wrestling it in and out but got there in the end. The exhaust gaskets arrived yesterday so got onto attaching the manifolds. Absolute PITA of a job, started early afternoon and finished around 1am. Fitted new pre-car O2 sensors and blocked out the post's with nuts from Redline delivered overnight. Then got onto the fun part... Honestly, not sure if it's even possible to fit them in without removing the exhaust side engine mount arm. Gave it a quick half-arsed effort but quickly resorted to slightly jacking the front of the engine up (having removed the engine mount nuts on both sides prior) and took the arm out. That opened up enough room to wrestle both the cats past the subframe but was still a balancing act holding them both in there and trying to thread on a few bolts, at the same time trying not to knock the gaskets off the studs. Got there in the end but then made a bit of a misstep. Got the Bank 2 manifold bolted and properly torqued up and jumped onto Bank 1. The right thing to do would have been to at least roughly throw the engine mount arm back in place and reattach the small bracket to the block that holds onto the Bank 1 manifold right after the cat. I only realised my mistake after fully torquing up both manifolds. Of course the engine mount would not fit back through with the manifolds in the way. No way I was going to remove them again so instead I unbolted the power steering hoses (luckily I hadn't filled the system up with fluids yet) and LCA bushing that allowed me to swing the control arm out of the way enough to manoeuver the arm into place. Then I discovered there's not enough room between the block and the manifold to fit in the top bolt for the little bracket (seen in the photo below). Not sure if it serves much of a purpose but wanted to attach it regardless so I ended up cutting the top bolt about 8mm short that gave just enough room to thread it on. So far I think that's the first (and hopefully only) shortcut that I've had to resort to so won't be losing any sleep over it. Reattached the steering linkage and that should be that in the engine bay, short of fitting the beauty covers and cabin filter housing. Had to rotate the plastic guiding tab thingy on the steering rack input shaft so that the steering wheel and the wheels themselves are pointing (seemingly) straight. Prior to that also replaced the top section of the steering linkage with one I stumbled upon at Pick-A-Part. Wouldn't have bothered with the effort but someone had done all the work of removing the thing so it was just laying there looking pretty in the engine bay of one of the cars so I couldn't walk past. I knew the old one had been subjected to some serious abuse in its past life so just another small thing to tidy up. Things to do still: Sort out the driveshaft Fit exhaust Fluids - bleed brakes & clutch, cooling system, power steering Coding - have never done it before but with some awesome guides out there, hoping it won't be too messy an affair. Not sure if the order matters but will first update the DME to the latest EU2 330i software following this guide. That should code out the post-cat O2's so two birds with one stone. Then, code out the EGS module following this one and that should be that. Hopefully. Famous last words. If I was a bite-my-nails type of person, I probably wouldn't have any left at this point. Exciting times.

165,360 kms. Transformed the front end with two new Michelin PS5 tyres. The level of grip on these things is immense! Will upgrade the rears post suspension refresh. Replaced the faulty passenger door lock actuator. A frustrating but deeply satisfying upgrade! IMG_5944.MOV

E21 for sale. ~93k miles No WOF. Failed last year with the garage coming up with some crap about illegal seats and seatbelts but fairly sure the recaro seats are stock, untampered. Didn’t have time to sort as I’ve been away oversees all year. Heading back to the UK soon, hence the sale. She just sits quietly in the garage, my old man drives it round the block routinely. She has a few little rust spots (sunroof, boot) and would want to be looked at and re-sprayed within 5 years I’d say but nothing too bad. The back right panels paint is a little faded. Cosmetically the exterior looks pretty good. Internally cosmetically pretty good also. Would re-do the roof lining at some stage. Looking for offers around the $20k mark. Will be sad to see her go, but I’ll bring a new one out from the UK in a couple years 😊 Based in Cooks Beach but could potentially get it based in Auckland for viewings. Also have an 87 525e for sale if anyone is interested

Could be a good excuse to change back to the original 325i exhaust system twin pipes, but would be $$$s. Easy fix with a bit of a grind out and a blob of weld.

Here’s a picture from one of the pages from the e21 sales brochure. Sports pack option had Recaros , Leather steering wheel and optional LSD. I owned E21 323i in the 1980s and it had the sports pack Goid luck with the sale.

Catted manifolds are pricks. Least its all easy stuff now to fire it up.

Loving the rapid progress!

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/listing/3928169282 This one?

Correct again! Can also detect a tiny rasp / buzz at 3k that was not there previously. One step forward, two steps back haha

Least you know where you at now Damage from jacking without wood etc block?. Yeah it appears to be. You could probably hear, feel or smell it but could also spray bottle some water to confirm.

Thanks man - summoned up the energy to try again today and you were correct on two counts: I had slightly misaligned the cross member (took off one side to squeeze in the new mount) and noticed a quirk (defect?) with the new mounts: On the side where it mounts to the cross member the metal base was clearly convex (pictures show it below but quite obvious IRL) meaning it wouldn’t sit flush on the cross member and would also try to spin on its base when I tried torquing the lower nuts. Put the old mounts back in and while I can still detect a slight vibration at 1250 and 2000, this is only in neutral with the clutch out and car stationary - it goes away as soon as the clutch is depressed and is not detectable at all while driving. I suspect it may be an existing minor clutch component vibration which was made more obvious with the new mounts and my poor install effort. I did find / create another side issue though - replaced my rear exhaust hanger bushing (rubber figure 8 thing) and think I’ve created a little exhaust leak wrestling with the exhaust to get the rubber on 😑 I assume an exhaust leak looks like this:

I also replaced the broken driver’s side rear quarter window with one of @M3AN’s spares. Now all of the window seals are looking fresh and watertight 👍. But it’s never plain sailing with these cars - when I was driving home to Whanganui for Christmas, the air duct / belly pan under the engine decided it didn’t like the E36 any more and fell off. Given these aren’t visible and are ~$200 new, does anyone have advice for where to find a nice used belly pan?

The old girl is getting around!

Did you have any vibrations before hand? What are brand are the mounts? Ive had new OEM engine mounts cause vibrations that weren't there previously, so its possible. Is transmission crossmember parallel and not at a poor angle? Should sit so the driveshaft looks straight from the transmission to the rear looking at it from the bottom. I dont remember what the E30 crossmember looks like but there is usually some adjustment. I guess its possible you upset the flex disc depending on how you jacked it, if its old it may of stretched\cracked. I usually jack up the transmission from the rear just in front of the cross member with some wood, just so its just touching, undo the bolts then it lower it down to get access. Transmission nuts are 43-48nm according to E30 Bentley, wouldn't be easy the do that with a standard ring spanner under the car. Maybe a bit of a pita if you re-install the old mounts, maybe one set at a time and re-test, at least it will eliminate the new stuff (once all the other checks are done)

Spotted this 1987 e24 635csi in gazelle beige with brown leather and period car phone parked in Akaroa on New Year’s Day. Also saw this 1990 zinnober red e24 635csi and 1988 alpine white e30 325i sedan at the Vintage Car Club New Year’s Day picnic.

not at all. Aramex completed the same totally useless service on my most recent parts order; a week in-country, UPS declare it's delayed, then it shows up without any update to tracking. Useless. You're just lucky it would seem.

Lovely looking Cirrusblau(?) E28 525 in Wairau just now - beautiful car - such a great colour with the chrome trim and polished lips.

Hundred percent Olaf, I can vouch for this approach this is exactly what I did for my E39 drives like new, handles like new and it’s all OEM spec.

oh and re your suspension refresh, can't go wrong with Lemforder. Shocks and Springs, there's a whole 'nother wormhole. Why not just go with Sachs OE Msport, and the existing Msport springs if they're still good? With everything else sorted (you're being thorough on bushes, rods, arms etc) it'll ride and handle like new, and certainly nothing at all like most of the flogged-out e36s around (particularly those that have had just shocks, or just shocks and springs, and maybe a peppering of poly bushing because still baggy...) I'll get me coat then!

@BozzaFC you've been busy, mate. This car just gets better and better! SH2 Akatarawas, BMWCCNZ Wairarapa & Castlepoint trip, June 2022.

My wife had one with the car too. 120km/h coming over the crest of a hill right into the sight on an oncoming cop. Doh!