'76 3.0 Si - Introduction

Luis A.

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I recently picked up a 1976 3.0 Si, automatic (ZF 3HP22) in the crazy cool period color of Taiga. Built 7/76, last month of US 3.0 Si production. Many thanks to Chris Macha and Ron Perry who were invaluable in assisting me with this purchase.
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Car is a one-owner, 84K mile car with the service book fully stamped up until 76k miles in 1992. The owner was a very successful Culligan Water franchise holder in San Diego in the 70's. As attested by the service book stamps, they took delivery of the car in Munich, with subsequent service stamps in Vienna (1,000 km) and Brentford, England at 7,600 km before shipping it home and registering in California early '77. License plate was CUL H2O... Owner passed away in February of this year at the age of 90. His wife had passed away in 2007, the year of the last registration stickers visible on the plates. The car was donated to charity after the man died and had gone through two wholesale auctions until I found it on Ebay being offered by a corner used car lot/quickie oil change outfit.

The car passed California smog in June and thus has all the strangling pollution control devices, which I plan on removing and saving for posterity. Not surprisingly, since it has run with thermal reactors for all these years, the head has been replaced in the past by one of the more reliable Spanish heads stamped "AMC". Read all bout M30 heads here: http://www.firstfives.org/faq/cylinder_head/cylinder_head_faq.htm

While I was in LA for the Socal Vintage show my plan was to take it to the show and then ship it home. Well... I almost made it. About 52 miles into the 53 mile trip to Van Nuys, the car --which was running great and the tranny was shifting crisply with zero slippage, decide to expire in a *huge* cloud of white smoke. Turns out one of the radiator-tranny hoses ruptured.
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They are available from BMW but I plan on getting a local hydraulic hose maker to whip them up for me, rather than waiting for 3 weeks and paying top dollar from BMW.

Second order of business is to get the hood support fixed. The torsion springs are good but the hood was not being supported. The reason is that end caps where the short end of the spring is captured have essentially turned to play-doh after all these years and the twisted themselves out of shape:

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...but also the spring end gouged itself into the bracket in a way that lessened its effectiveness, as seen below.

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...When it should really sit this way:

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The end caps are available so I'll be getting those and trying to have a welder somehow repair the support tube and leg since those parts are not available, unless someone here an supply me with a good one.

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The leather is in very nice condition and must have been treated over the years. The horsehair padding is a different story so I'll be having the seats properly re-stuffed.

Surprisingly, this car has points ignition. I would have thought BMW had electronic ignition at this point in time.

I hope to continue to update as I continue to give the car the TLC that it deserves so it's ready for the driving season next spring.
 
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Nicad

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Wow, a Taiga E3. Never seen that before. Looks like a keeper. Can you post some photos of the interior. I would have thought by 76' the cars would have had the big bumpers.
 

HB Chris

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Luis had Ron P install the earlier bumpers, makes quite a difference. I drove this car, the auto makes for leisurely acceleration but it's a great highway cruiser, a real time warp right down to the factory yellow paint dots on suspension bits. Glad you got it back home successfully Luis and great meeting you and your son.

Chris
 

thehackmechanic

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Tiaga E3?!

Love E3s. The feeling of spaciousness inside the cabin is I think unmatched in any other BMW. Never seen a Tiaga one. VERY cool!
 

deQuincey

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looks great, congratulations luis,

what about those blue stands that you are using, are they expensive ? how do you lift the car with them ? are they fixed in the floor ?

regards
 

Simufly

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e3 Si

Very nice reminds me of my garnet Si which has gone to another BMW fan in the UK. The 3.0Si was only available in the uk with manual transmission, which is a shame I upgraded mine to a five speed box from and early 635.
Very fond memories of the e3!
 

Luis A.

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Bob: Like Chris said, I had the Euro bumpers installed. I struggled with that a bit since the car is so original but the looks are so improved I couldn't not do it. I did save the bumpers and all the bits so it could easily be convertted back to 100% original.

Rob: It is indeed an airy, stately feeling driving the car; I love it.

DQ: The "stands" are actually a lift. See it here: http://www.ezcarlift.com/

Here are some more shots including the interior. The seats need re stuffing but the leather is in great shape, even more so considering it lived in San Diego all its life.
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The survival of the stock Becker can only be attributed to the advanced age of the owner when better stereos eventually came into the market...

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Even the oddly placed fader survived

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Spare tire looks original. I can't believe the black paint in the center area was so sloppily applied and is slightly off center on this wheel and the other four. Was it really this bad or was this repainted?

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European road assistance sticker in trunk
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Where is the secret reset button for the reactor and EGR service lights?
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tmason

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Very nice find! Where did you find the jack stands? I would like a pair. Thanks
 

HB Chris

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Luis

I think the reset button is on a box in the speedo cable which is a two piece affair. I also think someone tried to touch up that wheel and did a poor job.
 

Luis A.

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Thanks Greene3; good meeting you as well!

Mario: Thanks man. What happened with the coupe up north? Did you get it?!
 

Stefan

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Really a nice car!!!!

Luis: Yepp, spare tire is original. I've the same tire with my sleeper since late 79. Stunning tire!!
 

Luis A.

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Powder coating and plating are back

The first batch of plated parts (yellow cad fasteners) is back and the powder coated parts as well. I have firmly reached the point of return; wrenches start turning the other direction now.

Just some of the powder coated parts --about 1/4 of them:

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The plating process is a magical thing. These bolts just looked beat up and tired and they are now restored to nearly their original German glory. They look a bit more yellow in the pics than they really are.

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Before plating, you couldn't see the engraving on these speed clips:

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And here, the first encounter of plated and powder coated parts getting reacquainted:

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Nicad

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WOw, that is amazingly nice looking Luis. I will be getting your platers contact info. I am hoping to do something similar with my Coupe's hardware and suspension.

My worry is keeping track of all the tagged stuff in individual bags. Nice to see such attention to detail.
 
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