The car was bought as known project sight unseen from Chicago, IL as a "rust free" type of project just to assemble and be a driver. Upon arrival of the car we noticed that was not entirely the case and realized this car will go under almost a full nut/bolt refurbish/restoration with a touch of our own outlaw flare while maintaining true to BMW heritage. Once we received the car it was immediately placed onto the lift to inspect and see where to go with the project. The car was about 80% rust free other than the absolute known common areas- pedal box as well as driver side rocker panel towards the rear. Thankfully this car is a non sunroof car and also a blue plate California car so while there was some rust it was in fact minimal in all cases.

 

 

 

 

Once the body was assessed we jumped straight to the mechanicals- engine compression test was in order because of the way the engine felt after a drive upon delivery. As suspected the compression was not where we would have liked for it to be for the plans that we have for the car. A full engine teardown and rebuild was in the very very near future for this car. 

 

 

With the motor on the stand and contemplating what to do considering I had just purchased an virtually 0 mile S14 engine the same day a tough decision was made but we decided it was best to keep the numbers matching engine to the numbers matching car and save the S14 for a rainy day.

 

Engine Parts list:

 

10:1 Tii pistons

IE 292 Billet Cam

Coated Rod Bearings .25MM

Coated Main Bearings .25MM

HD Rocker Arms

39MM Exhaust Valves

47MM Intake Valves

HD Valve Springs

Chromoly Retainers

ARP main studs

ARP head studs

ARP Rod Bolt/Nut

MLS Head Gasket

Oil pan baffle/windage tray

Dual DCOE 40MM Weber Carburators

Water divider

Silicone hose kit

Water bypass pipe

New Intake Studs

New Exhaust Studs

Ireland Engineering Tri "Y" Exhaust Header

Ireland Engineering Stainless Exhaust

 

 

Other misc parts - gasket sets, rocker hardware, timing components, freeze plugs etc etc

 

Cylinder Head is receiving the supporting treatments:

port

polish

3 angle valve job all by former engine builder for Penske Racing. 

 

Ignition Setup:

 

MSD Ignition box

Pertronix Electronic Ignition

Tach Adapter

Bosche Red Coil

8mm plug wires

Plugs-BP6ES - we will see how these work, I ran Brisk plugs in my E-Prod race car

 

Now that the engine has been planned out it was time to think about the suspension, we cannot build one thing without the other(and you guessed it) the slippery slope has commenced. Everything must be supporting or "congruent".

 

Suspension parts list: 

 

New Bilstein Shocks/struts

IE Adjustable Camera Plates

IE 22MM hollow front sway bar

IE 25MM solid rear sway bar

both with new hardware

IE Stage II Springs(may go coil over in the front still undecided)

Control arm bushings

Trailing arm bushings

Ball joints

Tie rods

Center steering bar

Steering box refresh kit

Steering coupler

Pedal box refresh kit

 

As parts start to arrive, and the engine goes off to the machine shop its time clean up the inside of the car. 50 year old carpet and sound deadening be gone! 

 

 

 

With the passenger rear floor stripped, treated and coated in semi-gloss black(not pictured will update soon) my mind is already churning on the interior- I'm thinking come period correct seats, something from GTS Classic maybe the Hockenheim- we will see. 

 

Did I mention this is a race against time? The car is scheduled to be at the C&C at Amelia Island in March 2018.

 

 

 

Until next Time!

 

-Tyler