Woody's Retro Project,Time To Start Over Again 17/11/14

[woodym3evo]

Right i thought i would add this on here as there has been a few other e21's popping up on the forum.

When i first picked it up this time last year.






When i first bought the car it had 16's on (see above) which didnt come with the car as i didnt need them because the plan was to fit my BBS RS's on it but as they are 17's i knew there would be problems which there was.

The car came fitted with a set of Gaz coilovers which made it easier to raise up to get the 17's on.



First trial fit of the RS's.












I also gave it a good clean up & got rid of all stickers as i want it to look original (well as original as i can).

To keep the retro look going i have seen a few cars with wooden steering wheels on & thought that the E21 could do with one, so i had a quick look on eBay for one & few days later this turned up.

Vintage Classic Nardi Steering Wheel.









After fitting the RS's i had second thoughts as they just didnt look right on the front, as they are 8.5's there was just too much poke on the front but saying that the rear's looked spot on,so during the week i had a play around & thought about test fitting the turbines to keep the retro look going even more, also as the are 8's they would fit alot better.
After fitting one on the front i thought they just look so right for the look im going for & decided as the next local South West meet was coming i would get them fitted for the weekend,then it still wasnt low enough on the front so i went for a set of 195/40/17 instead of the 205's they already had on & now its sits just how i want it.

Some pics that Gareth took today after the meet.





















Lots more to catch up on, i will keep adding more post as soon as i can.

[j2b]

looking good

[woodym3evo]

Thanks mate.

Lots more to catch up with though from the last year.

Small update, after fitting the Nardi steering wheel i really wanted a gearknob to match as the car came with a hand grenade fitted as one lol ! So i searched through ebay & found this nice Genuine brown leather Nardi Torino Knob.

Nardi Torino GearKnob.









It needs a good clean up & then will be fitted, should tie in nicely woth the rest of the interior.

So i finally got around to fitting the new Nardi gearknob & steering wheel after its refurb.



Oh yeah & i fitted these.







Full write up to come later on.

[woodym3evo]

Right so everyone now knows that i have fitted the new 16 inch RS's, so here is a better update all about them.

So after finding this set for sale on bmwe21.net & as i was passing Birmingham i thought it would be rude not to stop in & pick them up, a few days later after picking them up they looked like this below.

All split.



Next was paint, always had the colour brown in mind for these wheels but wasnt sure which brown & after seeing a set on Stanceworks which were metallic brown i decided that was the colour to go for, i also wanted a bit more dish on the front as they were only 1 inch lips fitted when bought.

So i ordered these 2 inch lips.





Then i dropped the wheels off to a mate for a nice new lick of paint, he came over the next & said they were ready to pick up (i said shit that was quick lol).

New paint & lips lined up.



Also while this was being done i dropped the rear 2.5 inch lips off to a local guy for a polish including the centre caps & Nardi steering wheel, one week later when Gareth came around to see me he said he would pick them up for me & turned up with these.

Best £70 ive spent for a while.



The rears polished & lined up.





I also bought these as it would of looked wrong using the olds ones that came with the wheels.



At the same i also bought a bbs centre nut tool,which i love.



More pics of the Nardi refurb.







So then ordered up a new set of 195/40 tyres all round,once they were fitted i borrowed a mates ramp to fit the wheels for the first time,just knew it wouldnt be straight forward & as i thought found out that they all need spacing out away from the coilovers they were slightly touching.
As it was just down the road i drove the car home with it rubbing & straight away found a set of 15mm spacers (sorry didnt take a pic) & ordered them up.

So then last weekend i fitted the spacers on the rear & dropped the car as much as i could,the front can not go any lower & im still waiting on the second set of spacers for the front which means the car can run without no problems.

More pics from last weekend.

















Im also toying with the idea of the no mirror look but im not sure yet.



More updates when the front spacers turn up & hopefully some decent pics.

[jmc330i]

Looks great

Loved the turbines, really want some for my Sport.
You need to lose those mirrors, maybe a period chrome mirror would look good?

[woodym3evo]

Looks great

Loved the turbines, really want some for my Sport.
You need to lose those mirrors, maybe a period chrome mirror would look good?

Thanks mate.

Funny you should say that as the Turbines are for sale now & there is a mirror update coming up.

[SiamLars]

That tailpipe
Seriously clean and good lookin E21. Love the RS, fits perfect

[oomz1975]

This is nice...

[mani]

well done mate you've got this looking perfect !

[Duke137]

Loving that gear knob!

Car looks ok, bit to scene/stance for me nice effort though at least it is loved

[Craggy73]

Looks fantastic!

[FinalD]

Do love this car, saw it on e36coupe when you got it, looking awesome. Also, still find it amusing that I live about 5mins away (unless you've moved) but never see it.

[woodym3evo]

Thanks for the comments guys.

This is not much of an update but i finally got all my spacers fitted all round so i can actually use the 21, i have fitted 10mm ones on the rear & i got a cheap set of 6mm ones for the front.

I also wanted to tidy up the engine bay a little bit before going down for the show on Sunday, so i decided to get the rocker cover polished up by the same guy who did my wheel lips & steering wheel & get the airfilter unit/housing coloured coded porsche metallic brown.

Pics of them both fitted. (Will add more pics of before & after when i get them of the camara at work tomorrow)



Pic of us all when we got to the campsite.



Saturday evening before the show on Sunday me & Adam decided to give our cars a wash ready for the morning.





Pics from the show on Sunday.











The show was really good just a shame the weather was horrendous & it did help that i came 2nd the the non VW class & won a nice shiney trophy plus a £50 cheque.



On Monday the sun did finally come out & a managed to get some pics of Swingles & mine out side the caravan.











Enjoy everyone.

[Cook318IS]

We need to do a proper dedicated shoot!

[woodym3evo]

We need to do a proper dedicated shoot!

Yes mate we do once its back on the road.

[woodym3evo]

A few more pics that i promised earlier that i would post up.

Rocker Cover before.



Air Filter Housing before.



Both fitted after polish & new paint.





A few more from when i fitted the spacers.







And a quick few i took parked at the local pump just after.





Some pics from a local S.O.S meet i went along too one Wednesday evening last year.

[woodym3evo]

Some pics from last years Southwest Autosport Show.

[woodym3evo]

Right so the Mot was due on the e21 last week & it needed a bit of work doing (which i aready knew about when i bought the car) but also with it be so low i managed to damage the fuel tank in one of its last trips out & it looks like that now needs replacing.

So i spoke to my mate who does my bodywork for me (he did all the work on the e36) & he said bring in then we can see what it needs,after giving a good look over he was surprised to see how good condition it was in for a 30 year old car.

How it looked two days later.





Wings taken off.





Fuel tank dropped.



Damaged drivers side that needs replacing if it cant be repaired.



Then on Saturday morning to speed things up i went in & completly stripped all the interior out so he can crack on with any welding that needs doing without any hassle.

All stripped out.







Now anything can be sorted that needs sorting & any other bits we find will get done all at once to make the car solid underneath & them protected for the future years, alos when all four inner arches have been cleaned up & sorted we have also decided to paint them the original colour Hennarot so it all looks brand new ready for next years shows,also going to get the inside of the boot cleaned up, smoothed out & freshly painted.

Boots pics.







This has now also speeded up the next stage with the interior getting stripped out for some of the work to be carried out which John (Sleeper) & i have been talking about for the last few months by getting the full retrim done sooner tham planned.

Plans for interior are.

New carpet made.
Retrim all seats.
Retrim door cards front & rear.
Retrim parcel shelf,sunvisors & gatiors.

But to keep the retro look & thyme going you all might be shocked as i not going to go for leather lol this time but at the moment im nearly that im going to go with a Brown Vinyl & Cord combination, something like this below.

Some kind of idea of what im going for.



As soon as some of the bodywork gets done i will go in & get some more pictures & post up another update for everyone to see.

[kangman]

The only thing that car is missing is my name on the log book

Im after a wooden steering wheel, let me kno if wana sell your nardi cheap

[JGTI]

That is a very, very nice e21.

[woodym3evo]

Thanks guys.

And the steering wheel is not for sale sorry.

Just a small update, went up to the bodyshop tonight to see how things were getting on & i will let the pictures do the talking.

A few i took a week or so ago after they started cleaning/stripping back the holes that needed welding up which did make it look alot worse than it actually was.









From tonight.

Holes plated back up but still need finishing off & cleaning up.






Front inner arch work so far.






Also ive some extra work done on both sills which wasnt planned.









Next stage is for me to clean up around the rear plug holes which im getting also welded up.

Areas i will be cleaning up the weekend.






Hopefully i will have the car back all finished at the end of next week looking a bit better for its self.

Also sorry for the crap pictures,it was dark & they were leaving when i got there tonight.

Next update should be alot better so watch this space.

Another quick small update.

As i said in my last write up that i would be cleaning up around the rear plug holes over the weekend,so i popped up to the bodyshop yesterday morning to get it all ready for them next week.

Areas all cleaned up ready to be welded up

[e30topless]

Im after a wooden steering wheel, let me kno if wana sell your nardi cheap

I have a lovely Momo with the correct E21 boss

[Kedge]

Been watching this thread with interest as this car was local to me and I'd heard it'd been moved on due to rust issues Good to see you're getting it sorted

@Steve, have you got any Zender steering wheels?

[Gert_8]

Enjoyed that, thank you. Lovely car.

[kangman]

Im after a wooden steering wheel, let me kno if wana sell your nardi cheap

I have a lovely Momo with the correct E21 boss

needs to be a 3 spoke wheel .

im in no hurry so if u ever do have one please pm me details n price

[woodym3evo]

Thanks for all the comments again guys.

Another small update,went in to the bodyshop yesterday to see how things were coming along,nothing major has changed but now it is nearly ready for paint.

How the car looked when i got there.



Rear plug holes are now welded up.






Front archs cleaned up ready for paint.






And my job for the afternoon was to clean up the inside of the boot ready to be painted.

Before i started.






Didnt take any pictures of it after as i forgot but it is now all ready (well i think so anyway).

Also this week i had a little surprise in the post from John,a sample of cord which my new carpet is being made from.

Cord sample.



Right after getting a text last night saying the car had been painted i couldnt wait to pop in this afternoon to see the out come.

How the car looked when i walked in.



Front inner arches painted.






Sills with fresh paint.





Rear inner arches with a new coat of paint.






And finally the boot.






Really pleased with how it looks now & looking forward to it being but back together, then the stage will be the interior.

[kangman]

you going to for a salmon coloured carpet?

[Speedtouch]

Looks good, although the rear camber looks a touch excessive!

Do you name yourself 'woodym3evo' because of the wood-rim steering wheel, or do you/have you owned a woody?

[woodym3evo]

you going to a salmon coloured carpet?

No the carpet is getting made out of brown cord.

Looks good, although the rear camber looks a touch excessive!

Do you name yourself 'woodym3evo' because of the wood-rim steering wheel, or do you/have you owned a woody?

Yeah the camber is going soon & that has always been my user name on forums because of my other car below.

[Craggy73]

Coming along nicely. Newbie question, but what are the rear plug holes for? Think I might weld mine up if they're not needed.

[Adtheant]

Love this car!! I'm soooo jealous!! Love the M3 too. A selection we'd all be proud of.

[Adtheant]

Love this car!! I'm soooo jealous!! Love the M3 too. A selection we'd all be proud of.

[woodym3evo]

Thanks guys.

Not 100% sure why the plugs are there mate but as they were not needed i got rid of them.

So i popped to see the car over the weekend & this is how it looks.

All back together now.



Next the whole underneath is getting a coat of protection while the petrol tank is away getting welded up, then the inside welds will get nicely cleaned up so a new layer of sound deadening can be fitted & the new carpet can go straight in once its been made.

Also today these turned up.









Thanks to a mate who saw these & Fritz Bitz & let me know about them, they are e23 mirrors modified to fit the e21 so they should look alot better than the plastic ones that are on it now,plus they will tie in nicely with the rest of the chrome.

Just another little update,went into the bodyshop last weekend as i was told that the car was ready for me to put the interior back in & the get the car mot'd.

How the car looked when i got there with some nice new sound deadening.






And it how looked when i left with the seat fitted back in.






And another one for no reason.



So the car was booked in for mot yesterday so today i went in and collected it done & ready.



Once the car was home i adjusted the coilovers back to their normal height & then gave it a quick wash in the dark lol !



I also took one of the 17s off of the e36 to see what it looked like in the freshly painted boot ( one of my show pieces ).

[Craggy73]

Sweeeet. What's next?

[woodym3evo]

Sweeeet. What's next?

Thanks mate.

Well the interior has been dropped off over christmas for the full retrim & im now looking into smoothing & painting the engine bay.