Old version of the cluster was made of E21 front part of
the housing and E28 rear part. All parts were glued together.
An E30 speedo with the e28 scale front plate was installed because of the
correct
gearing.
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During winter 2001/2002 a new cluster was developed:
E21 housing
E28 260Km/h electronic speedo - recalibrated to 205/50/15 wheels
E28 tach 7Krpm with econometer
All gauges are installed in the E21 housing, the electronics is seperated via 2
cables
and has its new home in the foot compartment.
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Unfortunately in 2019 the E28 based cluster showed some issues
with tach not working anymore.
So I completely rebuild the existing cluster using an E30 cluster / electronics:
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As it nearly impossible to find LSDs here in Europe the
only chance to get a 3.64:1
is to regear a 3.45:1. All you need is two working diffs (no noisy bearings) and some
technical experience.
Diff is running well - no whining, no noise,...
Here are some images of disassembled diffs:
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Rear Soundboard was made of 2pcs 12mm wooden plates and an
20mm offsetring
to fit the 6*9" speakers above the trunklid spring.
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During winter 2000/2001 a rebuild of the engine has taken
my free time:
Specs:
325i / eta block rebored, milled down for 1.4mm (to correct the CR)
diesel crank
new 325i pistons
eta/320/323 conrods
slightly ported 325i head with 284/272 Schrick cam
Cam gear reseated to compemsate new block height - new: adjustable cam gear in
2012
6.3kg 323i flywheel (eta flywheel: 10.4kg)
ECU with Alpina B3 2.7 chip
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Following images show the suspension upgrades done on my project car.
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new: Alpina C1 suspension (Alpina revalved Bilsteins, Alpina - AHLE springs):
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here you can see how to fabricate strut bearings with 5mm offset, installed in the original E21 rubber mounts:
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Front: Volvo 4-piston calipers
Rear: E30 calipers (no image available)
Crossdrilled rotors front and rear
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More Infos to the brake upgrade can be found in some
mails about brake upgrades
(special thanks to the BMW320/323i digest, Jack Roberts and a lot of
other E21 gurus):
Some documents about the upgrades:
| E30 Rear Caliper Upgrade | Re brake conversion | Brakes Eta |
| Girling Caliper Upgrade | Re Brake Upgrade | RE calipers |
BMW E28 caliper + pads
FIAT / Alfa 284x22 disk
custom made adapter to fit E28 caliper to E21 hub
custom made brake lines
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finally I managed to make an E30 oil cooler fit into the E21
Chassis by modifying tubes and hoses.
This took really lots of effort and I cannot recommend doing it again...
First I used an old E21 front as template to install an old oil cooler and make
the tubes and hoses fit.
After that a new oil cooler and new bent tubes were tranferred to the project
car.
Here are some shots to get an idea of the upgrade.
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together with a new timing belt (after 15000km - 10years) I
took the chance to install an adjustable cam gear which allows
a proper tuning of the Schrick 284/272 cam.
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finally received my Alpina look alike valve cover (which obviously Alpina never had in their portfolio - but looks interesting, anyway).
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Sebring Header
325i E30 cat - '07 replaced with E34 M50 cat
Remus mufflers on both sides with 102mm tail pipes
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E34 M50 cat installation:
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Referring document: Remus installation
The complete roof has been replaced with one from a sunroof model
How to do the cut
Beware:
DO NOT cut pillars straight and weld them again (you can't weld the middle layer) and you'll loose body stiffness...
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I recently built another modified E30 intank fuel pump / fuel
level sensor kit.
Basically the resistor wires in the sensor need to be swapped and the pump unit
need to be cut by 8mm
Below you see some photos:
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