"Emery" the 1974 Bavaria

BimmerTimmer

BimmerTimmer

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I have a really hard time walking by a nice classic BMW in need of resurrection.

Here is "Emery". She's a 1974 Bavaria 3.0s that has been parked as part of a collection since 1984. We've have been wanting a 2002, but finding nice ones without taking out a second mortgage is near impossible.

Cruising FB marketplace, we found this Bavaria and decided take a peek at it. The first time I saw a Bavaria was at the Vintage in 2022, and there only was 3 of them.

So, here she is!! I just got her running again after sleeping for the better part of 40 years. Very solid car... She was repainted to Red in 1983, but was originally silver.

I've been going through everything; drained the fluids, and inspected the cylinder bores, added a starter relay, new starter, rewired a bunch of stuff, added grounds, new brake calipers, and new wheels and tires.... It's been a hell of a busy past 3 weeks, but she is back on the road!

She made it to her first car show this last weekend for our BMWCCA Badger Bimmers Chapter spring picnic.

She's right at home with our E21, and 2 E30'S. The poor Lotus is lost surrounded by old BMWs! Lol.

More content to follow, I have lots more work to do. These forums have been a much needed resource the last few weeks, thanks to you all!

-Timmer IMG_20240502_102050~2.jpgIMG_20240502_102050.jpgIMG_20240502_102054.jpgIMG_20240502_102059.jpgPXL_20240421_125542548.jpgPXL_20240421_132511516.jpgPXL_20240422_145000748.jpgPXL_20240422_160632538.jpgPXL_20240420_214524669.jpgScreenshot_20240414-195148~2.pngPXL_20240510_185453236.jpgPXL_20240510_185506995.jpgPXL_20240510_185515800.jpgPXL_20240510_185527852.jpgPXL_20240313_224356961.jpg
 
Summer is long gone, winter work is underway....

Lots of work was done over the summer including new brake calipers, wheel bearings, aluminum radiator, wheels/tires... driving good(ish), but starts hard and does not like much throttle without backfiring horrendously . The Zenith carbs are tired and beyond my expertise to repair.

Bavaria is under the knife again, this time tiding up some wiring, oil/transmission leaks (gaskets), and installing the Redline Weber carb kit.

Good news is the heater blower functions great on the bench after a good cleaning and lubrication! Unfortunately, it is not getting power from the fuse box. No power at fuse #4 (and a few others) so I'll start tracing back to see if there is a relay (unloader relay?) that is unhappy. No AC on this car, and I don't know if it ever had it, but there is no evidence other than a couple holes in the center stack for knobs.

This car is still a mystery. I did find an address for the previous owner who purchased it in 1984 and owned it through 2024. I intend on writing a letter in hopes of finding some history on this car. From what I can determine from the receipts in the glovebox, the car was purchased from a Import dealer in Marshfield WI in 1984, coming from the Chicago area with 94,000 miles on the odo. The car now has ~94,600 miles on it, so I probably drove it more this summer than in the last 40 years!

More to come!
 

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Good progress!

Your car most likely had AC. The center stack in a "no AC" E3 looked like this...

Screenshot 2024-12-30 at 1.57.10 PM.png


The two holes in your center stack were for the AC temp and blower speed switches.
 
Dick Steinkamp said:
Good progress!

Your car most likely had AC. The center stack in a "no AC" E3 looked like this...

View attachment 195564

The two holes in your center stack were for the AC temp and blower speed switches.
Click to expand...
Nice, thanks for the info! In that case, my AC is gutted, and long gone....lol

From what I've been reading, the '74 cars didn't use a changeover relay for the heat/AC blowers... I'll have to dig into th old AC wiring to see if that's where my problem is.... Then there's that mystery switch by the fuse box.

Old cars are fun!!!
 
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BMW put 1" spacers on top of the front struts on North America bound cars in order to raise the front of the car to DOT requirements. Yours are still in place. It's a quick job to remove them and results in a more visually appealing ride height.
 
If you have not done it yet replace all your fuses they may look good but they are not, plus use a small steel brush or steel wool to clean the fuse attachment ends. The cable with the round end is how you reset the odometer
 
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