E23 Restoration Project

[mincePy 17]

I picked up an E23 shell, prepped for paint, a couple of years ago along with everything but seats and a front windscreen. It promptly sat in the garage for about a year while I sorted out life! Moved a couple of times, bought our first home and now my attention is really on the project.

First on the list was to ship it off to get the interior, underneath and engine bay painted ahead of putting it back together.

I've gone for a Calypsorot Metallic colour throughout. It looks quite different in the dark of the shop / garage versus in the direct sunlight: 

My restoration plan is ground-up - so while it was in the shop I started refurbishing what I could of the suspension and sub-frames (I had a spare rear laying around). My primary goal is to get the car back on the road so while I'm likely to change a bit in future to reduce the ride height, I've stuck with the stock suspension for now, with the exception of new Bilstein B6 shock absorbers - which should handle any future ride drop.

I have both a 4-speed and Getrag 5-speed manual gearbox for an M30 to run with. Sadly I just stripped the motor to reveal chronic rust in the block water jackets and around the cylinders. The head is quite 'out of shape' around water holes too. It doesn't look salvageable so I'm now going through the roller coaster question of - what engine do I eventually put in?

I don't like the tan interior it came with, and nor do I have seats - so I've found an anthracite interior sitting at a wrecker in Melbourne. The hard part is swallowing the shipping cost ?. I've also ordered some samples from www.stockinteriors.com who do a new carpet set for the car.

So - that's where I'm at now.

[eliongater 718]

Nice project!

Considered putting newer seats in? E.g. e34 sports seat. I know they're fairly straight forward to install into an e28, I would assume an e23 wouldn't be too dissimilar. If you're planning on scrapping the m30 I'd be interested in it to continue my Frankenstein m30s.

Would you want to stay BMW with the engines or look further afield?

[mincePy 17]

Yeah I went in circles with the seats too! Call me boring but I like the style of the non-racing leather seats. For me this car is to be a nice cruiser - maybe a little pep - but fundamentally a cruiser.

Nice one - I'll let you know about the M30, highly likely to scrap it just not sure to what extent yet. What are your Frankenstein M30s?

I'm pretty keen to keep the motor in the BMW family. I've considered all sorts - 1JZ, an LS - but for this car it'd just bother me. I think my dream is an S38, or S50. But, not really practical cost wise nor cruising engines me thinks ?.

Edited October 18, 2018 by yoshie

[eliongater 718]

Currently an m30b34 with a b35 head and a suspected m90 (needs more tear down before I can be certain) that I’ll be having a play with if it’s not too far gone.

 

Why not an M52 or M54? That way an S5x will be a mostly bolt in affair as all the hard work will be done fitting the M5x in. Though an M52 is down on power (factory anyway) compared to an m30b34.

[BM WORLD 1283]

16 hours ago, eliongater said:

Currently an m30b34 with a b35 head and a suspected m90 (needs more tear down before I can be certain) that I’ll be having a play with if it’s not too far gone.

 

Why not an M52 or M54? That way an S5x will be a mostly bolt in affair as all the hard work will be done fitting the M5x in. Though an M52 is down on power (factory anyway) compared to an m30b34.

easy to tell if its a M90 block buy the large collant passage on the side of the block 

[eliongater 718]

4 minutes ago, BM WORLD said:

easy to tell if its a M90 block buy the large collant passage on the side of the block 

No large coolant passage, but it's the block number is 35 rather than 34, which suggests a capacity of 3.5L rather than the standard 3.4 of an m30.

[BM WORLD 1283]

4 minutes ago, eliongater said:

No large coolant passage, but it's the block number is 35 rather than 34, which suggests a capacity of 3.5L rather than the standard 3.4 of an m30.

e34 535i engine ?

 

you got a pic of the numbers 

Edited October 18, 2018 by BM WORLD

[mincePy 17]

22 hours ago, eliongater said:

Currently an m30b34 with a b35 head and a suspected m90 (needs more tear down before I can be certain) that I’ll be having a play with if it’s not too far gone.

Why not an M52 or M54? That way an S5x will be a mostly bolt in affair as all the hard work will be done fitting the M5x in. Though an M52 is down on power (factory anyway) compared to an m30b34.

True. I suppose I'm thinking simplicity - I already have everything ready for an M30 - plus I really don't know what S50's go for these days or how easy they are to obtain. Any ideas?

[eliongater 718]

@BM WORLD or @HELLBM tend to have a couple of S engines floating around between them, so are probably able to give you a price on what they’d sell you one for.

[Eagle 1662]

M30B35 would be the way id go imo given you have all the engine and transmission parts, B35 is way more reliabile than M52\M54 and much easier to work.

Put the savings towards fuel as that's main negative

[kiwi535 538]

i reckon M54.M30 too thirsty for what you get out of them

[mincePy 17]

Seems an M30B35 is a bit tricky to come by these days - that, plus the availability of parts in future, is pushing me toward the M54 option.

[BM WORLD 1283]

26 minutes ago, yoshie said:

Seems an M30B35 is a bit tricky to come by these days - that, plus the availability of parts in future, is pushing me toward the M54 option.

just a good e34 535i  e32 735i engine will do the trick 

bolt in and hook up etc

[mincePy 17]

3 hours ago, BM WORLD said:

just a good e34 535i  e32 735i engine will do the trick 

bolt in and hook up etc

That was the original thinking (the engine I have now is from an E32 735i) though I'm not getting much luck finding a second hand one..

[Palazzo 477]

http://www.pickapart.co.nz/webpage/WebPage.asp?Ref=10381&VehicleID=27535&SeriesID=2581

[mincePy 17]

Well, been a while...

Moved to London in 2019, pandemic hit, came home, etc.

Project now back on track. Ended up with an M90 and going with B35 head, trying to lock down custom 10:1 pistons (a challenge to sort out...). Motor and head in machine shop.

Rest of the paint being done in June. Some of the original interior work has developed surface rust, not particularly happy about it but hey.

Now deciding what to do re: engine management. Motronic 1.3 conversion seems a good idea, though plenty of folks have gone to Megasquirt. Not sure there's much benefit going MS on a naturally aspirated motor.

Edited April 6, 2022 by yoshie

[Olaf 3317]

welcome back!  looking forward to seeing your progress, @yoshie

[BMTHUG 1057]

On 4/6/2022 at 2:55 PM, yoshie said:

Well, been a while...

Moved to London in 2019, pandemic hit, came home, etc.

Project now back on track. Ended up with an M90 and going with B35 head, trying to lock down custom 10:1 pistons (a challenge to sort out...). Motor and head in machine shop.

Rest of the paint being done in June. Some of the original interior work has developed surface rust, not particularly happy about it but hey.

Now deciding what to do re: engine management. Motronic 1.3 conversion seems a good idea, though plenty of folks have gone to Megasquirt. Not sure there's much benefit going MS on a naturally aspirated motor.

Just sold my e23 735i but I look forward to seeing your progress so I can live vicariously through you haha

[mincePy 17]

Well, sh*t.

Car has been at the painters. Just got the call the shop was completely flooded on Friday. Owner has lost it all. Car was almost completely submerged. Could salvage by sandblasting it all and starting again, with a big budget increase but no warranty.

Sigh.

[Cement 871]

Damn !!! That sucks ... was it bare metal and rusting as we speak ?

[mincePy 17]

46 minutes ago, Cement said:

Damn !!! That sucks ... was it bare metal and rusting as we speak ?

Mhmmmm 🙃