Introducing my 1972 Bavaria 3.5 5 speed

Gpdenver

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Hello everyone,

Just thought I would post up pictures of my 1972 Bavaria 3.5 5 speed, dual zenith carb car.

I purchased it from an owner that had the car since the early 80's, and did a full restoration in the mid 90's. This is when the car had the 3.5 and 5 speed swapped in, as well as a full respray, and all new upholstery.

The car has covered about 30k miles since restored, and is still in great driver condition. I have started to bring the car back to its former glory and have some major changes in store to make this a resto mod, track day, weekend driver.

Here are some pics, have put about 3k on the car since I picked it up in July.

Next up, Motronic conversion, 3 piece vintage wheels, coilovers, exhaust and a LSD.

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DerSchwede

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Great car you have!

I wouln't bother about the Motronic conv but stay with the Zenith carbs. You gan get the power up a bit as well. Coilover with to hard springs is another way to kill the body...

What I'm saying: keep it clean and classy - there are enough mods around.

Cheers
A
 

jmackro

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What I'm saying: keep it clean and classy - there are enough mods around.

I think that DerSchwede offers great advice here. Before reading his post, I was going to say the same thing about your three piece wheel idea - those 5 spoke e9 rims just look so right on the Bavaria.

What DerSchwede and I are saying is that old cars are neat because they remind us how wonderful cars were 40 years ago. Yea, 21st Century cars are OK too, but they are two different things. Trying to turn a 1970's car into a modern one generally produces a frankenstein - you lose the vintage charm, but can't match contemporary technology because of how the chassis, suspension, electrical system, .... were designed.

My suggestion: Keep the e9 vintage, and get a modern car for performance.
 

Mike Goble

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Very nice looking car!

As the driver of a 72 3.5L 5-speed carbureted Bavaria, I'll triple up on the recommendation to keep the carbs. My Zeniths worked great, but I wanted manual secondary carbs so now I've got a pair of Webers on mine, and they work very well.

I also have the 17" style 5's and I get a lot of compliments on the looks. The et20 offset is just right to clear the front strut, and there's plenty of room in the rear. A lot of good rubber available in 17" tires, also.

I was curious as to why the strut spacer is bolted on top. I found that I had interference problems with the front bolts and the hood, so I just used shorter bolts.
 

gary bellamy

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Great looking Bav Brother. Like Mike I am partial to style 5's and have seen several Bavs and 530I E12's with them and they look great.

Gary

73 E9 chamonix-- sold

86 M535I
 

Gpdenver

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Sorry guys, you're just gonna have to see what happens with this one. I ensure you it will stay classy.

I am negotiating on a set of wheels as we speak. 16" French three piece racing wheels from the era.

While I like style 5's, I think 17" is too big for the e3, I'm going for a era modified look. I am on the fence about losing the carbs, however I had planned to do a built head, with oversize valves, new cam, header, exhaust and run a megasquirt standalone tuning. The car came with all the EFI parts to convert the car to motronic. I may convert to tripple webbers instead.

I live in Denver, and plan to take this to the mountains-Vail,CO during the summer on the weekends. It is 90 miles west of the city, with multiple 10,000ft elevation passes. I drove it as is, and its not great. The car does not feel very planted.

I want better brakes, suspension, and more power. At 10,000ft a car is making 30% less power, and most of the drive is going up 6% grades or more.

I'll post updates as I make changes.
 

Gpdenver

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Well looks like I work too quickly. Managed to make a deal on a set of 16x9 french designed wheels for a great price. These were built for an early 80's Corvette originally.

I love the era look. I will need spacers, but it looks like there will be more than enough space. The company builds the spacers to my exact specs, so I should be able to fit plenty of tire. The lips are getting polished and the centers will be done in a vintage gold.

Also managed to test fit them tonight. Here is what they looked like:
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Mike Goble

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If I was running around at 10,000 feet and expecting some real power I'd be looking at some boost.

It's nice that BMW and Chevy have bolt patterns that are real close. I've got some BMW wheels to use on my 67 Chevy.
 
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Brian D

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Beautiful car! My build will not be strictly stock either, and you will always find people who would do it differently, but if you're satisfied then that's what's important.

Edit-Although I'll also admit that my car is much less of a restoration candidate than yours. Yours being so clean and close to stock will rankle some people when you mod it.

I'll be coming to Denver after this summer, as my daughter will be starting college, perhaps we can meet.
 
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thehackmechanic

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LOVE the look of the E9 5-spoke rims on the E3

I just bought a Bav, the first I've had in over 25 years, '72 with 49k on it, very original. Thanks for posting the pics of yours with the E9 5-spokers. I think they look perfect on the Bavaria. I have an unused set of 5-spokers from my E9 I'm now totally going to throw on it.
 

Gpdenver

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Not looking to sell these wheels as I love the design, however going for a different look for the time being.

I do have a set of these I will let go of.
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Gpdenver

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It's not my pic, I stole it from someone else on the forums, but I have a set of the same wheels sitting in my basement. If anyone is interested I can take pictures of the actual set
 

DerSchwede

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Those are the 14x6 BMW/FPS rims fitted to E12 and E24 beginning from 74 year model as HBChris stated, they were never fitted to E3 or E9 though as the rims for these models didn't have the small kink and profiled spokes. they seem to be in very good shape though!

Cheers
A

Not looking to sell these wheels as I love the design, however going for a different look for the time being.

I do have a set of these I will let go of.
S7300601_zps067d4f69.jpg
 

Mike Goble

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Those are the 14x6 BMW/FPS rims fitted to E12 and E24 beginning from 74 year model as HBChris stated, they were never fitted to E3 or E9 though as the rims for these models didn't have the small kink and profiled spokes. they seem to be in very good shape though!

Cheers
A

They are in very good shape - I see them in my garage occasionally.
 

timbob

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Looks awesome mate. What suspension have you got in mind? With which rims. In a similar position to you - 3.5 + 5 speed -> already done the efi conversion though.
 
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