Newbie from the Rust Belt

[1Jarhead2]

Hi everyone, my parents named me Derrek. I am a long time BMW fan and have restored several E36 M3. I have a low mileage 1972 BMW 2002 tii that is a nice original car. While I was trailering the 2002tii from its old storage facility to my new shop,I had some guy flag me off the road. He was acting like the BMW was going to come off the trailer. Turns out he had a 1973 BMW 3.0 csi in his garage that he took apart years ago and lost interest in. I went and looked at it and purchased it on the spot. Now the restoration on the 2002tii will go back to the back burner as I am excited to build the sweet coupe. I have been pouring over the pages of this forum and have found them to be a great help. It has taken me 3 trips to drag home everything as this guy has been collecting parts forever. I think that there is enough parts to build 4 cars. I own and operate a restoration shop where our main focus has been Porsche 911,912 and 914s which is funny as 9 years ago we started out building StreetRods and muscle cars but I have always owned and driven German cars. Looking forward to leaning on you guys for information and will have some nice parts to get rid of in the future.

 

[Stevehose]

wow, nice find! Congrats and welcome. Keep us posted on the resto.

 

[MyFemurHurts]

Welcome! Good luck with your project.

 

[jmackro]

This is the e9 forum. We all live in the rust belt!

Congrats on your new project - keep us informed - post more photos

 

[teahead]

Lucky guy! Wish we can all find our E9s like that.

More pics please!

 

[m73]

What are we looking at? You say 73 CSI but there is definetly a second chassis there...does it exist? (w/Clean title...)

Looks like a massive project, but enthusiasm goes a long way in staying motivated. Good luck with your project....

I would suggest starting a restoration thread & getting unwanted parts listed in the classifieds section. The later will probably help give your project direction & also introduce you more closely to fellow coupe owners.

Mo

 

[1Jarhead2]

Thank You for the warm greetings. No project has been too big for me,yet. lol. There was another BMW there but it is on its way to New York. I dont know who bought it. It had aluminum doors,deck lid and hood but I dont think it was a real Csl. Here is a picture of the vin stamped into it. I think the second chassis is a CS that someone was cloning into a Csl. Mine does have a clean title and I have sent it off to the Illinois DMV. That garage had a few old Novas,Firebirds and a Tbucket in there also but none of those are for sale. Dont worry guys, this one will live again. It will be slow as this one will remain mine so my customer work will take a front seat. Here are a few pictures of some of what I do. fyi. The 1974 Porsche 911 was hit by a F4 tornado and took a pretty good hit. I found pink insulation stuffed under the front carpet and straw punctured thru the seat material. Dont mind the dust on the carpet as the Porsche had not gone thru its final cleaning and detail.

 

[Stan]

You do good work! Where in the rust belt? You can go to User CP and update the profile. Also love the color of that 914!

Please keep the coupe the original Verona red, is it a wonderful color especially (IMHO) with a tan leather interior!

Congrats on the good purchase. I heard a story about a guy in California who finds old BMWs by driving around with his old 2002 on a trailer.

 

[1Jarhead2]

Thanks Stan. I live outside of Peoria,Illinois in the small village of North Pekin,IL.

I do like the red and according to the vin it is the original color. The only draw back of this whole project is that the original motor and trans is gone as the PO was planning on dropping in a 327 chevy with a power glide. I am not sure what drivetrain I will be going with. I have thought of fitting an E36 M50B25TU and a 5speed manual with itb side draft fuel injection from racehead.

 

[Stan]

Thanks Stan. I live outside of Peoria,Illinois in the small village of North Pekin,IL.

I do like the red and according to the vin it is the original color. The only draw back of this whole project is that the original motor and trans is gone as the PO was planning on dropping in a 327 chevy with a power glide. I am not sure what drivetrain I will be going with. I have thought of fitting an E36 M50B25TU and a 5speed manual with itb side draft fuel injection from racehead.

You can go from stock to however far your budget can stretch.
I stayed old school with carburetors but a lot of special parts. The car is very fast, doubtless some are faster, but not too many. M30B35 is a good place to start.

 

[CSteve]

Your coupe has found the perfect home. Lovely work on the Porsches. Verona, the color of a friend's coupe has really grown on me. I have nicknamed it "Whore Red."
A compliment. Hope to see lots of photos in the coming years. Steve

 

[tmason]

Welcome to the Forum! PM sent.

 

[jmackro]

.... the PO was planning on dropping in a 327 chevy with a power glide. ......

Yuk! With a powerglide?

 

[teahead]

Yuk! With a powerglide?

That would have been the absolute worst swap ever in an E9.

M30B35 would be easiest to swap.

twin-cam motors, you'll have to fab quite a bit. Unless you're going to drop in an S52 or S54, why bother?

 

[m73]

Engine Options

This is your car & your project, but if you where checking this forum recently, there was a rusty csi complete w/d jet engine for sale....albeit priced high (8k)

Just a suggestion, if I where serious about the project, buying a car like that would make sense, then selling of its parts and your own extras to cover the costs.

There is no substitute for originality...

But there is also no substitute for ease (3.5 Liter) or Power (M5/M3 engines)

Glad to see you rescued this car and I hope its in good hands 8)

Mo

 

[Arde]

A contrarian approach would be to put an E36 M44 4 cylinder engine with the 5-speed CR transmission, lighten up the car, and have an urban coupe for daily errands and commute.

Then you can celebrate rust as it keeps making the car lighter and lighter.

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

When I drive around with my bmw on my trailer and people wave at me frantically like the car is sliding off the trailer - it is because my car IS sliding off my trailer.

.... well cars are like friends-you never know where, or if, you are going to find one

Great story and welcome to the club!

 

[CSteve]

True Sliding Off the Trailer Story. Went to DC this weekend via I 95. Up ahead see a van with flashers on. As we pass we see a small motor boat on the shoulder facing south. A couple of people around. In front of the boat is a long flatbed with an empty boat trailer on the back. In front of the boat trailer are about 15 motorcycles strapped together and then to the deck of the flatbed. That boat, as it catapulted off the trailer could have done some serious damage to multiple cars. Perhaps injured or killed people.

And this reminds me of the time I came upon a car carrier parked on the side of business Route 1 with a car dangling off the side from the top deck. I now scoot around car carriers as quickly as I can.

 

[Stevehose]

In Miami I saw a truck towing a boat on a trailer hit a car in front of him, the boat launched off the trailer and landed on the truck roof.

True Sliding Off the Trailer Story. Went to DC this weekend via I 95. Up ahead see a van with flashers on. As we pass we see a small motor boat on the shoulder facing south. A couple of people around. In front of the boat is a long flatbed with an empty boat trailer on the back. In front of the boat trailer are about 15 motorcycles strapped together and then to the deck of the flatbed. That boat, as it catapulted off the trailer could have done some serious damage to multiple cars. Perhaps injured or killed people.

And this reminds me of the time I came upon a car carrier parked on the side of business Route 1 with a car dangling off the side from the top deck. I now scoot around car carriers as quickly as I can.

 

[1Jarhead2]

There are some crazy people out there with trailers.lol. Just for clarification, I would not even begin to entertain the thought of putting a chevy engine in one of these beautiful coupes. She will remain all BMW, whether its a modern drivetrain out of a wrecked BMW or if I can score a good deal on an original engine. I think the winters get too cold here and people start to become delirious and want to start slapping whatever engine and drive train they want in their classic car. The guy I got my 2002tii off of,had purchased it back in 1976 to go dirt track racing with it. Thank God that never happened and it just sat in the garage until I spotted that little round tail light under a mountain of boxes.