Tony's 71 CS2800

[Tony.dreamer]

Hello Folks
I finally decided to start posting my resurrection (not restoration) of my E9.
I get very busy at times like many of you and several days or weeks may not be able to get on this forum...
but I have been looking at E9s for few years now and have been watching and reading on this forum for a while and became a member in 2015 summer, I think.
So I would list as much as I can on the resurrection of this beauty. I hope I can count on your help now and then to get closer to finish line.....To me the side view of E9 and section above the c pillar where the embelums go is the best looking part of any car I have ever seen. Not sure what it is. I look at all the time and I get energy to take the resurrection to the next level. I know by the time I am finished the car would cost me more than it is perhaps worth. I hope I can afford to finish it one day.
So here is goes.
I found the car on CL in kansas small town asking $1500 in early 2015 described as "very rusty but complete" . A classic car dealer beat me to it and wired $100 to the seller and the car was supposedly sold. Two weeks later I got a call and the seller tells me he is keeping the car and the deposit as the dealer backed out.....
So with help from another associate we drove a truck with a trailer 230 miles northeast (edmond to Small town kansas can't remember the name now) and met the seller . The car was sitting as you see it in the picture...

 

[Tony.dreamer]

Looking at the car I was pulled by two directional forces in opposite directions ----- my brain and logic and the other feeling of love..... can't describe it well. Even though money I was about to pay for it wasn't a fortune the idea of restoration of such a thing was beyond comprehension for me at that time.

I was walking around the car on the pasture for couple of min and trying to decide whether I drive home empty handed or take it with me . The more I looked the more she was looking back at me too .... she had perfect body figure , very voluptuous with slight dent to the center of her booty (rear bumper.).... she had almost everything but really deteriated, bad case of osteoporosis! But you could tell she was a looker sometime ago.. she had chrome bumpers, tinted green glass, blue leather interior, odometer showed 91,000 miles, she had AC , sun roof Factory wood steering ...With few parts barely hanging.. but all there.
She had a foggy film on her , it wasn't sun tan lotion it was something else I had not seen on anything before ..... start touching and robbing the chrome. She looked at me and as if trying to say "not on the first date .... but then again.....since you are here ......" . The rubbing on the bumper with my thumb brought out a nice beautiful almost unpitted shine , wow I was right she was defiantly a looker once......
while I am dreaming .... supposedly deciding what to do I hear the seller yells :" OH no not him again" ..... a white Silverado truck was driving toward us .... not knowing what is going on we were alerted but then he said : " guys I don't care if you buy this or not but when he stops here I am gonna tell him this car is sold and paid for, otherwise this A..hole is not gonna leave us alone. Ok?".
I suddenly felt like a 15 year old highschool boy trying to ask for a date but competition is walking up...... I suddenly said "we take her . It is sold. We didn't drive all the way for nothing.... "
The guy in Silverado stopes and said: " I got my money coming this afternoon, I told you I take it.... to which the seller replied and said sorry man this car is now sold you have been tellinG me this for two months...." a little more discussion among them...... the guy left spinning his tires ...... We signed the bill of sale I had already mostly prepared, got the title , And I paid for the car knowing by then the engine is seized. My logic was: "there is a lot more usable parts on this than what is costing me......" but then again I am not in used car parts business.....
Front calipers were unbolted and hanging with wires on both side and the one rear wheel was recently put on off brand wrong size .... it pulled easily onto the trailer and after tying it down and paying for it I took the title and off we go....

 

[Tony.dreamer]

For the first few months I started doing a lot research including values of E9 , history of E9 , availability of parts, sources for parts and making list of gurus / experts or shops specializing in E9. Names such as Carl Nelson( LaJolla independent)Don Dethlefsen (the werk shop, Libertyville Illinois ) Coup king , and several others ......
I had picked up the car in early March 2015, had it stored in a storage / shop facility I had rented. Started evaluating it immediately after but didn't dismantle but few small parts to get familiar with E9 . I knew I had to first figure out the condition of the Engine and whether or not the body could be saved... as I inspected more and pulled some interior parts I was reading more about the history of BMW and how this model was hand build in low quantity of high quality expensive components. I took the horn circle off the factory wood steering. It was still very intact and in very good condition. I noticed it is a machined piece made of Aluminum. Not a pressed piece !!! Wow!! I tried to pull out one of the chrome trims and noticed how solid the piece was and how well it was made with grooves machined for the Fastners. All wood trims were in multiple layers of wood laminate stacked on top of each other but faned and separated ..... it was very clear that wood peices were also hand made...
I was then more determined to save her and take her back to her glory days.... each time the logic and economics of the potential plan kicked in I paused and made me procrastinate the decision to retire her. so I started looking to buy a nicer E9 for a reasonable price. But nothing panned out. I had few other classic cars and every time friends came by to look and talk we got gravitated toward the CS2800 . All my friends were grinning when I told them I am thinking about saving her...... I had made list of parts with prices for body parts, I had more than 300 pictures of all types of CS coupe and CSL and parts and on and on... continued my reseach .... in May 2015 with help from a friend, Lonnie ; we decided to get into the engine, and see what it take to get it running. Upon pulling the plugs very quickly we realized that the head or head gasket must have been breached and the coolant fluid had run and stayed in the cylinder # three. And seized the engine. So we pulled the head first and then pulled the engine. Taking the Zenith carb attached to the manifold pulled both banks together . It took us 4 hours while I was taking notes and labeling the parts and putting them on a flat construction paper in order.
I took the head and the block to a local very well known machine shop and engine rebuilder I had researched and they confirmed the head was cracked. Earlier spend several hours to unsieze the piston so I can take out the rest of the engine components ...
It appeared that cost of machining and parts needed to rebuild the engine and a replacement head I had to buy of newer year was more than cost of a nice Replacment engine. I also realized that with E-9 originality of the car specially engine part is not that important. It appeared that in fact CS coups with newer or upgraded Engine would be more reliable and desirable. Things such as dual Webber , 5 speed conversion, aluminum radiators was actually adding to the value. So the car sat for another year and half as I continued to look for a nicer E9 that I can drive. By then, I probably have had over 40 conversations or more , each about 20 min or more, with people that came to see the cars and as usual I gravitated to her. Each time telling the story of BMW beginning , hard times,New Klaus and Batmobile , years of racing E9 (4 years passed its end of production date ) and on and on and on... so when they get tiered of hearing me they usually said something like "so what are gonna do with this thing .... " to which I replied. ..." she is my best looking car and gonna be my best looking car, I am gonna restore it..." that was my heart talking whereas my logic was saying wait , wait look for something already done...
So the search continued , I wanted a car with AC and Sun roof , power windows , and 5 speed. Looked at about 12 cars or so during that time. ..Nothing worked out . In June of 2015 I found a very nice looking 73CSi in Fjord but it was in Calgary . Planned a 4 day trip and my wife and I flew there .... it looked really nice! The owner was a very nice gentleman who had the car for over 20 years.... but upon close inspection as I reached into top section of fender tower near the bulkhead area , where sand usually collects, touching and feeling, bunch of crusted rust fell out without much if any effort. That was the turn off ,,, and since the seller wanted no less than $50k for his 73CSi. I passed on it....
In Jan of 2017 I decided that if I want a rust free car I had to build it myself. So I decided to take the plunge . I had two guys helping me dismantelling the CS2800. It took 5 days 2 people to take all the pieces out and catalogue them. as I was working at my job checking on them and helping them when I could take a day or two off.

 

[Markos]

Cool story Tony!

What is the VIN on your coupe? Looks like a euro model based on those pistons.

 

[Tony.dreamer]

1st Photo , May 2015 .... of the spark plug shows the residue left from coolant leak. Oops ! But apparently that is very common with almost all early E9 since the all had very weak allun head which either warped or cracked having had to be replaced with much newer heads....

Fast forward to march 2017 photos of the Coupe undrsssed and as you can see her we cut out the fenders right at the edge leaving about three millimeter of the fender edge on the body.
My Bodyman did not want to change the body line of the car as we knew she had never been in a major accident!

 

[Tony.dreamer]

1st Photo , May 2015 .... of the spark plug shows the residue left from coolant leak. Oops ! But apparently that is very common with almost all early E9 since the all had very weak allun head which either warped or cracked having had to be replaced with much newer heads....

Fast forward to march 2017 photos of the Coupe undrsssed and as you can see her we cut out the fenders right at the edge leaving about three millimeter of the fender edge on the body.
My Bodyman did not want to change the body line of the car as we knew she had never been in a major accident!

Then we took it to media blast using plastic beads and warning the media blaster that the shell of these type of cars are very thin and they promised they will make sure it won't warp from blasting it with plastic...more on that later...

 

[Stevehose]

excellent, keep the updates coming!

 

[Gary Knox]

Tony,

GREAT START. Keep up the good work. Just post a BIG picture of a great looking e9 in your work area in the color you are planning to paint your car. That will keep you focused on the objective (and enthused about the progress). Keep on posting!!

Gary

 

[Tony.dreamer]

Thanks Guys!!
Everyone in this group have been amazing! This is something else. Makes this so much more fun. I never planned to post the resurrection in process. With that in mind I will take and post more pictures!!!
Cheers guys!!!

 

[Sooner]

I also purchased a coupe just across the Oklahoma line in Kansas, north of Tulsa. Owner told me a story of his brother who purchased 5 BMW's back in the 70's as they got wet on the way over and it was an insurance claim. At least 3 coupes and 2 Bavaria.

 

[Tony.dreamer]

Cool story Tony!

What is the VIN on your coupe? Looks like a euro model based on those pistons.

Thanks Markos,
VIN is 2270597 , factory AC , blue leather interior , Polaris , 4 speed , sunroof ... Elec windows radio, wood veneer factory steering !!!

 

[Tony.dreamer]

Thanks Markos,
VIN is 2270597 , factory AC , blue leather interior , Polaris , 4 speed , sunroof ... Elec windows radio !!!

I think I got hold of bmw classic lady and she showed it was a USA delivery in late 1970 with Huffman motors...
it was owned by an executive lady most of its life....

 

[Tony.dreamer]

it was apparent that the car had been painted once or twice the most only in two very small areas on the rear trunk lid and the left quarterpanel. Very little bondo work not any sign of hammer and dolly. The car has great body lines ...

 

[Markos]

Thanks Markos,
VIN is 2270597 , factory AC , blue leather interior , Polaris , 4 speed , sunroof ... Elec windows radio !!!

Yeah that is a US car. I wonder what block you have in there. When you are free you should check the flat spot on the block right above where the starter bolts up. It should be easy to see with the head off, but you'll likely need to wipe it down. You should find a VIN or a serial number.

 

[Tony.dreamer]

Markos
I left the block in May of 2015 at the machine shop while I was looking for a replacement piston.... since I wasn't sure if it was worth a rebuild I left it there . I stopped by two months ago and the shop owner wasn't there but his worker took me back where they keep such stuff and it wasn't there. If it is important I can go back and hunt it down...

 

[HB Chris]

That's a 2800 piston, same as our e3 2800

 

[Tony.dreamer]

Couldn't find another piston like it... may be I didn't look in the right places. I wasn't familiar with this forum then!!

 

[Tony.dreamer]

 

[Tony.dreamer]

Ordered in two sessions over $5200 body steel parts from W&N, nearly everything they had...
Arrived in early April within two weeks. All fitments were very good and seems as if they know exactly what the weak points are and the patches were made bigger than our rust area for each sections. My guy, Kyle is an excellent welder and metal fabricator. I just love to stand back and watch him. He thinks through everything first and take a lot of time before he starts once he starts he is very fast . It is amazing watching him work. He makes sure it would come out right and corresponding parts are aligned right before and after he is done. He also made sure that the subsequent parts will not cause trouble. He does that by spot welding it and refitting everything and then takes it apart and make his minor adjustment and then he does the final weld. I am yet to see him make a mistak. The bulk head had to be completely taken out and rebuild. We welded a frame to make sure the car stays rigid and keeps its original body lines, and does not budge.
When he was finished with the two front shock mount we measured them and wow they were DEAD on. He said it is now build better than when it came out of factory. He is true believer that you stop welding when you know you have more than enough bond between the pieces. Spot weld were drilled with a $98 special and sharp spot weld remover drill bit and new pieces were welded on the same spots He is very careful not to warp the panels from the heat of the weld. When he is done with a weld and he grind it you can't tell where the weld was ... yes he is that good!!! We have a wire feed Miller welder. We invested in a high quality plasma cutter and a bead roller.
Some of the pieces we made ourself (Kyle made and I watched) that is my definition of the "we"

 

[Ohmess]

You are a brave man. Keep the pictures coming.