New Forum Member West of London

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Barty

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Hello everyone, what a wonderful community this is and such a valuable resource.

I had 2x E9's and an E3 in early 1980's. I still think the E9 is the most beautiful car ever made.

I will be looking to buy one over the next few months. I am looking for a project, however, the few I have seen in UK over the past months have been silly expensive and look really rough.

I remember one of my E9's was a 72 car which i bought in 1982. Interior was shot, thrust bearing wined and doors never shut very well. I sold the car after a year and the buyer bought it straight back to me as his mechanic had discovered chronic rusty floors, both top mounts for front suspension rusted and one failed completely.

The car was just 11 years old at that point so I am sure the UK climate and salted roads are not terribly healthy for these cars.

I have looked at the numerous youtube records of rebuilding and E9 and there seems to be a common thread running through all of them.... strip back to bare shell, bead blast, spend $5000 on various patch panels and learn how to weld, lead load, fill, prime and paint.

My question is.... if the bare metal respray is the only reliable way to get a car that you can trust it makes sense to start with a car from a warmer climate with, hopefully less welding. How hard is a RHD conversion from a LHD shell if you have already committed to strip the car completely.
 
Afternoon, welcome to the forum, quite a few of us in and around London so should be in good company.

Earlier cars were actually LHD and then converted to RHD by BMW's UK Concessionaires. It's entirely possible as long as you have the right parts. RHD cars had a different braking set up and other minor differences, i'm sure someone will chime in later with some information. What was the reg of your old E9s?

Ahmet
 
Hello and welcome! I agree with your comment that the only way to truly trust the car is to strip it down to bare and put it together as good or better than BMW did. I think it is hard to say how much more or less work some cars will be, as they hide their circumstances so well. And the cost to purchase doesn't always seem to track with the amount of rust lurking. But I think with some patience and perseverance, you will find a good candidate! :D Good luck. I look forward to seeing how a LHD conversion might go.
 
Yep mine is a 69 2800cs that has been converted as described above.

The conversion was done poorly when it comes to brakes, you can definitely improve on how they did it as long as you’re not gunning for originality- personally I would prefer to stop before hitting something - hence if I can find a specialist that can build me a custom setup I will be going for it.
 
Welcome. There is someone here in Perth that converted LHD to RHD ....but he used a RHD donor car that had been written off after an accident . Main items unique to RHD I believe will be brake boosters ,steering box, dash pad(s) . RHD wooden dash can probably be replicated if you have access to a template.... Cheers, Simon
 
Welcome, hope you find the car you are looking for, I think it will be cheaper to learn to drive with LHD car as appose to switching (too much work).
Almost 95% of E9s have rust, as long as the car is safe to drive and one can weld the problem is solved!
 
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