'72 Bavaria resurrection

Buffarea

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Assuming the Bavaria is not shunned here, and since this sight has thus far been very helpful, I have decided to start a project car page.
In November '09 I bought this 1972 Bavaria from a college student who had driven it from lower michigan to upper Michigan to school 3 years in a row performing only the absolutly nescesary services to keep the car going. He finally parked it and let is sit a year because no exterior lights worked, three calipers had frozen, and a regular clanging noise eminated from the engine area.
Thanks to Craigslist I was able to find the car, and with a little coaxing was able to drive it a slow 25 miles to it's new home.
My intention is to make it a reliable daily driver, with mechanicals taking priority over cosmetics initially and a complete resto eventually.
I will start with the pic I took on the day it came home and try to update as things progress.
http://
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CSteve

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Welcome. I have owned two more than roadworthy e3's, a 74 Bavaria and a 76 Si. Parts cars included another 74 and a 75Si. I love those cars. Yours looks like a worthy candidate for resto. A friend is close to getting a 1969 2500 RHD automatic on the road. Lovely valour interior a huge canvas aftermarket sliding sunroof not uncommon to cars like this in the British Isles and low miles. And title with the Queen's(not Freddie Mercury) seal.

Keep us posted.

Steve
 

Buffarea

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Initial assessment

It probably isn't fair to say initial assessment because there was so much noise the first time I drove it that I really couldnt hear everything that was making noise. For example the seized brakes were growling, the engine noise (which at time of purchase I had determined was loose alternator mounts) the throttle linkage was sticking keeping rpms high, the downpipe was cracked were it becomes a "Y", and the cooling fan clutch was waisted causing alot of rattling. Something else I did not notice at the time of purchase, was that the drivers window was made of plexiglass and fixed in position with clear packing tape which caused substantial wind noise.
The first job I tackled was removing the cooling fan and tightening the alternator so I could hear what was happening in the engine room.
The next thing I did was braze the leaks in the Y pipe, and then pulled off the air cleaner so I could tell what caused the throttle to stick.
I have a policy that when I remove something I have to either clean or repaint it before I replace it so I cleaned and repainted the aircleaner.
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Here you can see I removed the cooling fan, and all A/C and emmisions components, painted aircleaner and p/s tanks and basically started to clean up the engine room.
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Buffarea

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So the brakes were next. long story short I replaced all the rubber lines and both rear lines, rear calipers and all rotors and pads, then flushed out the fluid and painted the calpers grey.
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I picked up some cool wheels, cheap!
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verde2002

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Love everything you are doing except the wheels. I would get something a little more period correct or maybe factory BMW wheels from other cars of the era or 80's. Some 15" or 16" BBS mesh wheels would look great also.
 

Buffarea

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Love everything you are doing except the wheels. I would get something a little more period correct or maybe factory BMW wheels from other cars of the era or 80's. Some 15" or 16" BBS mesh wheels would look great also.

I agree completely! Although on my extremely limited budget I could not pass these up. I had a set of 15' Blizzaks that I was able to trade even for these 16' Borbets and they included the tires! The original steel rims were mismatched and all tires had seperated treads.
First chance I get for a set of Alpina's or the BBS will happen!
Although I do get alot of good comments for them on the car.
http://
100_7770-1.jpg
 

verde2002

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I agree completely! Although on my extremely limited budget I could not pass these up. I had a set of 15' Blizzaks that I was able to trade even for these 16' Borbets and they included the tires! The original steel rims were mismatched and all tires had seperated treads.
First chance I get for a set of Alpina's or the BBS will happen!
Although I do get alot of good comments for them on the car.
http://
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The wheels do look better than I had expected now that I see the photo but still I would change them soon. By the way why don't you buy the Alpina replicas by Hoffman. I bought my set of 16x7 wheels for only $550 from a guy on E-Bay that had quite a few sets. They are the same wheels Coupeking is selling for $1,500.

On the website the wheels are listed for $305 each but you can buy them for much cheaper.
http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/vintage/product.lasso?prodinc=wheels

Photo of wheels on car.
http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/vintage/products/bmwwheels_gallery/gallery.php?image=2
 
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Buffarea

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Next step was the cooling system. Since I do not care for A/C I removed the entire system except the electric cooling fan. I powered the electric fan via a neat thermostat switch, which required only basic battery power and a probe slid into the fins near the inlet. The temperature at which the fan comes on is adjustable with a small knob.
http://
100_7812.jpg


Next I needed to reseal my windshield. Since I can't replace the seal around the glass at this time I used an old favorite seal trick. I masked the glass and paint and ran a film of RTV on both sides of the trim. The outer edge of the original rubber at the top where it meets the roof was cracked badly and leaked into the car, but the RTV film fills and seals it and it works well.
When the car is eventually repainted I will of course replace the seals.
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HB Chris

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But the Alpina eBay wheels are 6x14 which is tough to find tires for (from Coupeking though) and affordable. I have 15" gold mesh wheels if you are interested with great tires.
 

Buffarea

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But the Alpina eBay wheels are 6x14 which is tough to find tires for (from Coupeking though) and affordable. I have 15" gold mesh wheels if you are interested with great tires.

Thanks but not right now. Multiple projects in addition to this car make even the cost of shipping from Ca. impossible, besides the fact that this merely an appearrance item putting it way down on the priority list.
Cheers
 

Buffarea

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Wheel upgrade

So I did like the Borbets but my wife didn't and so they came to pass at a local pothole.
In a weeks time I searched and posted an A.P.B. for some replacements, and what I found was an amazing set of TRX's for the cost of a set of vw rims I had lying around, virtually NO investment!
I realize that the replacement cost of 1 TRX dams this set to become garden hose reels for all my friends, but for the cost I can consider them the Bic lighter of rims. Now I need to lower the front end.
But for now, I am lovin it.
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Buffarea

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Update: 8/9/10

So as usual lots has happened since my last update, but the car has been a daily driver and largely has only required normal care.
None-the-less the list of needed repairs/resto is still growing.
The past few days I have replaced the front struts, ball joint boots* and inner fender liners.

First, the front struts were so blown out the the collar nuts on the inserts had actually loosened them selves! I installed some KYB's, generic strut bellows and painted them up to look like Bilsteins. When these cars were imported to the U.S.they had a 1 inch spacer between the strut top and mount, I discarded this and efectivley lowered the car an inch. Now I am wishing I had also cut a coil off the spring.
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Next, upon takin things apart I discovered the ball joint boots were both blown out, but the joints were fairly tight and since they are only available as part of a spendy lower control arm, I improvised.
Northwestern Auto had these cool ball joint boots so I cleaned them out and packed'em full (when tightened down they sealed up nicely on the bottom but gonna keep an eye on them). This is a multi link steering setup with loads of tierods and boots so I used my grease gun with a syringe and refilled the rest, then put a dab of RTV over the needle holes.
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Last thing to do during this project was to make some inner fender liners. The old ones were rusted out and unfortunatly driving in the rain without them means water sprays directly up into the fresh air vents and you know the rest. These are just made of aluminum.
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Oh yeh, the wiper motor crapped out and the only used one I could find was 225.00!
So a pilgramige @ LKQ found one in a MB 240, the Bosch number on this MB unit had only the last number of the part differing from mine, but it was because the gearbox was a reverse fitment. So for $14.00 I bought it and swapped over the gearboxes and Voila!
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CSteve

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As i said in an earlier post, these are beautiful, great handling cars. When we owned a couple my wife liked to ride in the back seat. She said it was like riding in a limo. And I could still throw it into a turn like two-seater.
Great solution to the rim problem. I like to stay as close to original myself.
Keep the photos coming.
Steve
 

dj_efk

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Buffarea, some friendly advice: I notice your driver's side sill (rocker) looks like it's in a very bad way - This is a structural part of the car and if it's rusted out on the outside there's bound to be some serious compromisation of the shell's structural integrity - You should get this sorted before driving it in my opinion!
 

Stevehose

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Buffarea, what color/brand of paint did you use for the air cleaner? Looks close to spot on.
 

Buffarea

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Buffarea, some friendly advice: I notice your driver's side sill (rocker) looks like it's in a very bad way - This is a structural part of the car and if it's rusted out on the outside there's bound to be some serious compromisation of the shell's structural integrity - You should get this sorted before driving it in my opinion!

Thanks for your concern.
The floors, inner rockers and door sills are all nice and solid, and I have a reservation for the bodywork with an experienced BMW bodyman in 2 months. The car will not be driven during the winter in order to complete body/paint. and I plan to document this as well.
The car HAD TO go back together right now, but control arms and right tierod will be replaced as soon as possible.

I cherish this sight as an invaluable resource but realise I am in the minority, not because my car is not an E9, but because I need to arrange my restoration around my budget and more importantly without interupting it's daily function. I try to schedule around the "bread-winner" and my real job as full-time dad of 2 hellraising cheribs.

I like to think of it as part of the challenge!

In 2 weeks I plan to replace the guibo, dr/shaft support and shifter rebuild, and again it will be in the driveway and in 2 days time.
Keep the comments coming and I will keep the updates "rollin".
Michael
 

G-Man

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Three great sources for E3 parts in So Cal are:

-CoupeKing, Peter's shop has parted out many a E3
-Mesa Performance, Jim and Spence have parted out many an E3 and give a 10% discount to Senior Six members on parts.
-Carl Nelson: Carl's shop in San Diego has parted out many an E3 and Carl's parts selection is incredible. I walked in to Carl's shop and bought a complete E3 window and door seal gasket set along with a new lock set for the doors, ignition, and trunk for my 70 Euro spec E3 2800. It was pricey but name me any other shop in the US that would have that in stock for an E3.

G-Man
 
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