1974 3.0 CS Electric

mane

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Hi and greetings from Finland!

I'm a long time BMW fan. I've owned multiple M-cars and the usual ones, total 18 of different ones plus one bmw motorcycle. My streak of BMWs stopped after test driving Tesla back in 2013. Few years after, I got Model S and my interest towards gas cars suddenly dropped. They started to feel expensive to drive, lazy, laggy and complex. Usually seeing a review of some new gasoline car usually got my interest, but not anymore. All the sudden my generic interest to cars started to fade, as there was just a few interesting cars to follow.

Few years later, I found out that I could actually legally swap electric drivetrain to almost any car. So I was back into looking some interesting gas cars, to convert. I started googling with something like "coolest classic bmws", and I think it was like second or third picture that had this StanceWorks E9 and I was totally sold.

In Finland, there was exactly 0 E9 cars on sale. Sweden had couple and in Germany several. Ranging from 25.000e -> 65.000e for non-CSL car. I had a guy in Germany, near Frankfurt, who had bought me one E46 M3 couple years back. So I preferred near that area in my search.. After couple weeks of browsing the ads, there was this quite cheap and good looking Sienna brown 1974 E9, which was like 40 minutes drive from his house. The ad came on online in the evening, my guy called the seller on the morning. There was many callers already in the evening, and somebody had reserved the car already :(. I said that let's offer him what he asks. If the guy who reserved it would start to bargain etc. Seller called back afternoon, and said that the reserver did not show up, so the car is yours if you're fast enough to get here before the reserver guy appears. Car was reserved only until 12:00. So we made the deal. I Bought a 1974 BMW 3.0 CS on November 2018, with sunroof as an extra-option without actually seeing the car, or actually ever even seeing E9 live probably. Not too many of those in Finland :)

I don't have any background on building cars nor mechanical expertise. So I'm going to rely my friends shop quite heavily. I'm going to be more like the project manager and designer. Purchasing all the parts and probably do some technical stuff when the time comes to install that electric stuff and do some instrument cluster etc magic in the cockpit.

It took 3 weeks to get the car to Finland. When it arrived, I was happily surprised. It was in good condition. Or well, the engine was not running properly .. but that was not an obstacle here.

Took the car to my friends shop. They stripped it down and soda blasted it. It's now waiting for rust repairs. Roof is the biggest issue. Some quite minor stuff addition to roof, like floor panels.

While car has been stored and waiting. I bought a battery pack from salvaged 2017/12 Model S 75D, and P85 large drive unit (electric motor with inverter and differential in same housing). That motor outputs 400kw of power with instant torque.

I think the suspension and brakes needs proper upgrading. Maybe the whole body could need some strengthening. Strut bars I guess is one. Not sure what else could be done. Also thinking that can the roof be strenghtened somehow without adding roll cage.

Also would like to change the seats. Maybe some classic Recaro ones.

Plan is to have this thing running before summer! Wish me luck :)

ps. I have Instagram account for the build http://instagram.com/electric_e9/
etuoikea.jpeg
takaoikea.jpeg
sisä1.jpeg

sisä1.jpeg


takaoikea.jpeg
 
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teahead

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So those are pictures of it when you received it and BEFORE you stripped it down?

Man, looks are sure deceiving. Looks real good to me.

Or is that what it looks after you redone the body?

Got any engine pic shots?
 

mane

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Oh right. This is when I got the car, before stripping it down. There was some serious rust bubbles on the roof and smaller next to windshield. Doors had some and doors were also repainted at some point, and colors didn't match. Floors had couple small holes.
 

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autokunst

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I think I saw your other thread of all the filler on the roof, correct? (looking for a roof until your body guy said he'd build you a new skin)?
The car looked deceivingly good - but so many hide their issues well. Sounds like you'll be converting to electric power? You may want to read through
https://www.e9coupe.com/forum/threads/1974-bmw-cse.29796/
Same type of project.
Best of luck - looking forward to seeing how it comes together in what sounds like a very aggressive schedule.
 

Peter Coomaraswamy

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Hello Mane! excellent way to keep an e9 alive! I think we all like the e9's with combustion engines but the truth is that electric cars are here to stay. I recently saw a beautiful 912 Porsche that was "electrified" and the car still had it's original gearbox. Having owned a 1966 912 years ago I can say that the gear box was very well made so it can probably handle the torque. You won't be the first to go electric in an e9 so you can probably get some help from YouTube but I think we all would be really interested in how the car comes along. For seats, I think Recaro's from the e21 models fit, otherwise there will needs be done some modifications to the floor. The floor may need quite a bit of work in the conversion process as well, so you may have allot more choices in seats. I have been told that there needs to be allot of strengthening done to the e9 to handle not only the torque but the battery weight. It's great that the weight is low to the ground but I think that poses some structural challenges as well.

Please keep us posted on this project- but whatever you do please don't make it "self driving" :)
 

Markos

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Despite the silly meme I created, I really am excited to see the end results. I love electric cars an long desired to build an electric 914 back when folks were using an array of golf car batteries. :D It's a lot easier to make one with real range these days. Keep the updates coming!
 

mane

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Got interesting image from soda blaster. He said that there was a signature in the hood metal.

Something maybe like "Dachzing Bach". Is this something common on these, or just some previous owner drawn before painting? :)

2.jpeg

1.jpeg
 

mane

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Replacement roof panel is in. For some reason the guys at metal shop used a roof from sunroof car and welded that close. Maybe that shape was the closest fit to original.

h.jpg


And some more rust repairs from different places.

h.jpg j.jpg g.jpg
 

Markos

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I actually have no qualms about this. There are plenty of e9’s in the world folks. They are not rare, despite what we tell ourselves. :)

I’m not worried about completed electric conversions. I am a bit worried about incompleted conversions. So far I haven’t seen anything to believe that the conversion projects that we know about won’t succeed.
 

mane

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Thanks for this sudden personal attack @Philippe db. I'm sure you must feel real good to get that out from your system.

I can't really understand what people think when they write stuff like that. People here are building these lovely e9s and trying to be helpful for others. I guess that's not everyones agenda.

For admins, please remove these last three posts. I'd like to keep good spirit here, and be happy to read this thread many years after without seeing shit like that.

Thanks for the kind words @Markos.
 

Markos

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Thanks for this sudden personal attack @Philippe db. I'm sure you must feel real good to get that out from your system.

I can't really understand what people think when they write stuff like that. People here are building these lovely e9s and trying to be helpful for others. I guess that's not everyones agenda.

For admins, please remove these last three posts. I'd like to keep good spirit here, and be happy to read this thread many years after without seeing shit like that.

Thanks for the kind words @Markos.

Hi @mane

I am going to leave the posts in place. There was an opinion expressed and a recommendation, not a personal attack. It is good for all readers to see how various forum members think and behave, whether they are respected for their grace or their candor. You are modifying and electrifying a highly sought after classic car, and blogging about it on a forum dedicated to said car. I expect that you will get more flak in the future, perhaps not from this forum but from other areas and ultimate onlookers. If things get out of line in here, or if there are any actual personal attacks then the thread will be modified accordingly. One thing you will notice on this forum is that there are almost no locked threads. The forum owner/administrator @dang likes to let users police themselves, but action is taken when necessary.


Keep posting your progress! I suspect that there will be no more comments on electrification. For those who wish to debate the merrits of emerging technology and how it pertains to our love of cars, I recommend this OT thread started by @deQuincey:

https://www.e9coupe.com/forum/threa...e-infamous-road-girl.31204/page-2#post-254157
 

JamesE30

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Hello Mane,
I think I have been following your work so far on Instagram. I do love classic internal combustion cars, (I’m not a fan of new cars in general), but driving an electric vehicle is quite impressive, and I can absolutely appreciate why someone would want to convert a classic car to electric rather than buy “an ugly Tesla”.
Especially with classic internal combustion car registration becoming increasingly difficult and regulations on use in city centres getting tighter and tighter.
It would be ignorant to think you will be able to drive ancient gasoline engine cars in cities forever without huge restrictions.

Look forward to seeing your progress and wish you the best of luck.
 

Markos

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Mane, I read it as a personal attack, but knowing this group I expect more support than criticism. One, you're saving a car, and two, it's yours. Ignore and continue, there's a lot of us watching...

Dan

Thanks Dan. I’ll note for future responses with equally poor taste. :)
 

autokunst

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I want to stay out of the "attack" discussion, despite having been attacked once or twice here and knowing how much it stings. But regarding the topic of petrol and batteries - I am a fan of the fuel based version of the cars - at least for me. The sound, smell, (old) technology - maybe it is the history of it - that's what drives me. But I think there is a very cogent argument for the electrified cars truly carrying the vehicles/hobby into the future. There may be a time when all cars are electric, and gasoline may be completely unavailable, outlawed, or prohibitively expensive - and the electrified cars may be the only ones actually driving/drive-able. So @mane , when that happens you will have that in your hip pocket. :)

And kudos on the work - I love following your build thread. Please keep posting.
 

Bmachine

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Can't but pity the poor E9, buy an ugly Tesla and leave real cars for people who appreciate and love them.
Haha, my good friend Philippe is a great guy and he obviously feels very strongly about the protection of classic cars in their original form. We need people like that. Perhaps the way of expressing it was not the most diplomatic.
Even though I have very good friends in the "keep it original" camp I actually really appreciate and respect both approaches. The non CSL e9 was produced in enough numbers that we can afford to see different paths chosen for their enjoyment. I'm just as big a fan of electrifying classics as I am of bringing them back to original showroom condition. I am following both types of efforts very closely.
 
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