new to the comunity

[nate325ic]

Just purchased a 73 bavaria last week for $300, motor is garbage and interior needs work but the body is in pretty good shape with no rust to speak of. New to bavarias but not BMWs in general. Ive owned several E30s in the past and have worked on alot of others

 

[nate325ic]

 

[nate325ic]

little update to the bav. Ive been working off and on on various parts of the bav, sorting out all its issues and getting into the shape I want. Installed IE's coilover kit and refreshed the suspension.

been working on the interior, stripped the floor pans to bare metal, put down a couple coats of por-15, then raammat and ensolite foam, and currently laying carpet down

Also started rewiring the car, using the painless 18 circuit universal harness. Bought a m30b35 a little over a year ago but wasnt the motor I really wanted so at the beginning of this year I bought a lm7 and am currently rebuilding it and looking for a transmission

 

[afeustel]

Car is looking sharp Nate. Cant wait to see the finished product.

Keep us posted!

 

[nate325ic]

finished stripping the engine down today and will be dropping the heads and block off at the machine shop on wednesday. Bolted up the mounts and test fit the block aswell. good news is it fits, bad news is I had to remove the steering box to do so

 

[Luis A.]

mmmhh...:confused: That's no Bavaria engine block in there, is it...?

 

[nate325ic]

nope, its a 5.3 lm7 block, pretty much a lower displacement iron block LS1

 

[windnsea]

Out on the west coast, we installed a bunch of small block engines into E3's and also a few E9's in the late 70's and early 80's. Dan Shannon did most of the conversions when he had a shop in Monrovia CA. Called them Bavettes!

One thing we found out early was that you have to scrap the 2-piece driveshaft and go to a more robust single-piece unit due to the increased torque of a V8. We saw 2-piece driveshafts disintegrate when going off the line as well as when applying full power on the road.

 

[E911]

I've always thought a de-stroked 327 would be a nice fit in a Bavaria- with mechanical fuel injection of course...

 

[nate325ic]

One thing we found out early was that you have to scrap the 2-piece driveshaft and go to a more robust single-piece unit due to the increased torque of a V8. We saw 2-piece driveshafts disintegrate when going off the line as well as when applying full power on the road.

I plan on a single piece drive shaft, dont think the tiny drive shaft that came stock in the bav would hold up at all. later down the road I plan on ditching the stock dif as well and going with something a little more robust

 

[windnsea]

On the right track!

I also noticed that it appears from a recent pix that you have gone to E34 M5 forged wheels with the early turbine wheel covers.

As I also have a heavily modified E34 M5, I am curious as to what had to be done to put those wheels on an E3, assuming that that is the direction that you took.

Fit? Hubs and discs? brakes?

 

[nate325ic]

Windnsea, Currently I have stock brakes, with no spacers and the wheels fit fine. I have the 17X8 wheels and will eventually get some spacers all the way around but thats fairly low on the list of priorities

 

[nate325ic]

more work on the interior complete and some wiring you cant see. purchased a painless phantom keyless system for the car and got it wired up. Also bought a new used dash that wasnt great but way better then what the car came with. I followed the dash repair guide on r3vlimited and while not perfect, it looks great

 

[NoR32]

Sounds like something awesome will be born!

 

[rubing]

nice dash job!

 

[windnsea]

E34 M5 Wheels/Tires on an E3 ??

Nate,

Thanx for the earlier reply of 4/3/13 of a pix of the aforementioned wheel/tire(?) combination on an E3....

A few questions,

...What tires are you running on the E34/M5 wheels?

...Any clearance problems??

... What tires are you running??

Asking because I may have a similar fitment for my E3 for very serious track use!

Appreciate your response.

windnsea in Pasadena and San Clemente, CA!

 

[nate325ic]

Nate,

Thanx for the earlier reply of 4/3/13 of a pix of the aforementioned wheel/tire(?) combination on an E3....

A few questions,

...What tires are you running on the E34/M5 wheels?

...Any clearance problems??

... What tires are you running??

Asking because I may have a similar fitment for my E3 for very serious track use!

Appreciate your response.

windnsea in Pasadena and San Clemente, CA!

Eagle F1 GS-D3 235/40 r17. Haven't had a chance to drive on them yet (obviously) but what I have seen doesn't seem to be any fitment issues with this wheel/tire combo. Later down the road once the project is running I want to get the 17x9 version at least for the rear

 

[nate325ic]

Haven't been doing too much with the Bav the last few weeks. Mostly saving my pennies for the engine rebuild (its currently at the machine shop). But did start cleaning up the engine bay this weekend. I removed all unnecessary brackets and welded up a ton of holes. I hope to be able to por15 the engine bay next weekend

 

[careysd]

Just out of curiosity, have you bothered to test fit the T56 yet?

 

[nate325ic]

Just out of curiosity, have you bothered to test fit the T56 yet?

Not yet, and thats the part im most worried about fitting. Im still trying to find a T56