'77 E23 730 - Povo Spec

[rob0r]

I've been after a parts car for my mint E23 728i ( http://tinyurl.com/7unnzwp ), it turns out E23 parts/donor cars are very few and far between. I popped down to the local BMW place and got an E30 track rod end, while I was there I asked about E23 parts/spare car. It turned out they had an MOT'd early 730 for cheap with MOT... I couldn't help myself. I part ex'd my old E28 for it so it cost me even less ( http://tinyurl.com/7nu7gsf ). I've had the car for a month and it's by far more of a keeper than my 728i .

The car itself is pretty cool and proper povo spec, it feels far more retro than the later E23 728i I've got. The suspension is proper boat spec and the engine is smooth 3L six with a nice big carb. This one is auto compared to my manual 728i. It's wind up windows all round, no sun roof, beige cloth seats and it only has one wing mirror - very povo for a 7!











Retro-tastic dash setup

[rob0r]

I'm 99% sure the car has only done 16,000 miles. I knew the mileage when I bought it but I assumed the clocks were broken or it had new clocks, but looking over the car I'm starting to believe the 16K is genuine. The interior was mint (bloody dog...), the engine internals look new, the underside is mint. The only rust spots are where they could occur from just sitting around anyway.


Here's where the haters gonna hate, I've lowered the car. The springs have been trimmed by 2 coils on each corner and it now handles and rides 10x better. The boatiness has gone but the suspension still has plenty of travel.







I then fitted some style 5s 8J all around. The front tyre profile is far to small as I borrowed them off another one of my fleet. This will be addressed when the final wheels arrive later this week .




The fabric/rubber water lines to the carb had completely broken up so I had the fun job of replacing them all with new hose and clamps. Fighting seized hose clamps and with limited space down the side of the block made the job more difficult than I would have liked. The starter has also been replaced with an E21 M10 item I had laying around.

[Sawyer_E30]

Looks great, you don't see many of those old 7s. loving the dash instruments - more airplane than car!

[Andyboy]

You don't see many that old. The first E23 I had was an R reg 728 manual in Cypress green, and the last one was a LHD Reseda green (same as yours) 728 manual with olive green vinyl/cloth interior. That was a 1978 but on Foreign plates. I literally ran it into the ground and it gasped its last breath in the scrapyard car park.
2 coils was too much - one coil out does the job (it looks silly low now) and it looked better on the steels. Just needed a clean up and a coat of silver hammerite.
The old carb E23's were undergeared and have horrific economy. You should have kept the later one!

[rob0r]

Lowness is a personal preference, 2 coils is perfect for what I want. But yes, the economy is unbelievably horrific, I'm starting to think something is wrong with it . If I didn't think the engine was practically new I would be swapping it for something else! As it stands I might look into swapping the autobox for a later 4 speeder out of an E34/E32, but this is likely to be a huge amount of work to get working right. At least with the economy it is likely to stay low mileage!

[Coops90]

Lovely!

I've been finding myself looking at E23s recently too.

[Speedtouch]

I agree with Andyboy, the steelies with rimembellishers look good, giving a slightly menacing look.

[rh306]

.sad to see such a low miler being molested, E23s need to have boardroom spec ride height to retain their dignity

[cecotto479]

Super.
The three speed auto is an horrific fuel guzzler.
The 4 speed should be a straight swap.
Speedo drive is the only issue AIUI.

Earlier ones look better.

[Andyboy]

E23's are all electronic speedo iirc, even early ones. I think the E23 was the first BMW with such a thing.

[Phill172]

Car is so cool, i love it

[rob0r]

I expected the "molesting" allegations, my car my way. All I've done is trimmed the ride height and stuck some wheels on . The only other plans I have is to give it a good service, replace all the water hoses, repair the rusty rear quarters and if I could afford to, give it a respray in the original colour. The truth is it would have been scrapped if I hadn't of got my hands on it, it was sold to me as a parts car.

Anyway! I dug out the old MOTs that came with the car and found out more about the mileage, well the lack of it!

There are some huge gaps where the car has done barely anything. The first MOT I have is 1988, in ten years it hadn't even done 1,200 miles!! It looks like it was used sparsely up until '94 after which it clocked up to 15.7K. After it's MOT in September '99 it only went 29 miles in 8 years up to '07, I guess that was to and from the MOT in '99. Then after '07 it looks like it was run to and from the MOT only up until I got my grubby hands on it. I can't believe this car is barely broken in after 35 years... I suspect the previous owners cherished it because otherwise the car would have just fallen apart with neglect even if it had done so little miles.

MOT Date - Mileage
May '88 - 1,194
May '90 - 1,676
May '92 - 2,726
May '94 - 4,676

Sep '99 - 15,751

Jun '07 - 15,780
Aug '08 - 15,838
Sep '11 - 15,872

[Speedtouch]

Then you have a rather nice executive chariot to waft about in, barely run-in!

[Low_E30]

Whats the underside like?... Deos it reflect the low miles?

Nice find...

[rob0r]

The underside, interior, under the rocker cover, condition of the engine bay and generally the car reflects low miles.

[rh306]

..good work for saving it from the scrappie, if it was me (and I had the space ) I'd be driving it into one of these and giving a good dust every weekend

[j2b]

Seen this in the metal , very nice ,

[rob0r]

We set about cleaning it after the car had gained years of moss and algae


The whole car was covered in this stuff




And then it was clean!














The car came up much better than I expected, it's like it's a different car. We celebrated by having a swift pint at a local pub where the 730 decided to disgrace itself and broke down on the way home... It had a fuel leak that had been getting worse, now the engine was starved of fuel completely. It turns out a rubber/fuel line from the tank had perished so bad that the suction fuel pump was unable to draw anything from the tank. We had to tow it back where it was fixed with new pipes the next day.
Erm...


Both were completely brittle and perished so we got the two new pipes on, no fuel leak and no more issues.


Cleaning up the engine bay was next. It was pretty good already but there was some sludge, water marks and grime. The pancake filter housing was also treated to some satin black.

The side of the cylinder head came up nicely






We gave the interior a hoover, lovely!






More service parts have been ordered, including brand new water hoses for the whole engine, and my new wheels have arrived too

[Barx325i]

scrubs up well! sick rimz & slammage ftw

[Sawyer_E30]

Looks great! Going to keep watching this. What's the carb like? Is it responsive?

[Sawyer_E30]

Triple Weber time!

[rob0r]

I thought the package of a big carb, 3L dinosaur engine and 3 speed auto was horrific on fuel, but I suspect the fuel leak was really not helping. I'm doing a lot of miles next weekend going to the Retro-Rides Gathering so I'll know how bad it is. Performance wise I can't fault the carb, it runs amazingly and never hesitates, very responsive. It's probably something to do with how low mileage it is.

It's now sitting on the new wheels with additional dish

[pacerpete]

Epic paedoing ! Next you will be refitting the stock springs !

[Speedtouch]

What carb is it - a Solex four-barrel?

[alan1272]

looks lovely all cleaned up. but i'm a bit confused, did you lower it before you cleaned it?

[Andyboy]

What carb is it - a Solex four-barrel?

Oh yes, the Solex 4A1 DVG! Two of everything including idle shut off solenoids. Make sure it's got a good inline fuel filter.

It looks nice all cleaned up - I'd still be putting the steelz back on though. Re fuel economy - expect to be averaging 18-20 mpg.

I'll have to post up a pic of my old Reseda 728. She was four on the floor with a working 4A1.

[jonb]

Needs slamming more! some banded steelz, rusty bonnet and some sticker bombs. Forget those wack original rims, hood ride man.

Seriously though It looks great as it is. If you are going to use it regularly then i say put the 4 speed in, apart from that dont fuck about with it. At least the steels can be kept and springs put back in. Its not an e30 m3 of course, but presuming you look after it then this car will have a value so is a nice investment.

No coilovers, borbets etc!!!

[Andyboy]

Naaah, coil overs, matt black and a small teddy bear hanging from da resr towing eye - u'll ne down wiv da 15 years olds bruv.

[j2b]

Blinding job rob looks lovely all cleaned up, loving it on those rims too

[Speedtouch]

Peculiarly, Practical Classics magazine Price Guides give values for the 3,5,6 and 8-series BMWs but no mention of any 7-series models!

[rob0r]

It was lowered, gained style 5s and then a few weeks later cleaned.

Yes it's a Solex 4 barrel, I'm really impressed with it so far. I'm renewing any pipe that looks past it and an inline filter will be going on.

All I'm doing to this car is wheels, suspension (both reversible) and a huge dose of general maintenance. Not sure why it's attracting such comments . As for values and selling it, the car is a virtually new 35 year old car that owes me next to nothing, it won't be going anywhere unless I get an offer I can't refuse.

The new 10J wheels at the back fit very well, nice and tucked in the arch with some slightly stretched 235/45/17s

[Speedtouch]

Beware of aftermarket in-line fuel filters. I had a problem with my 2-litre Fiat twin cam whereby it would kangaroo going down a dual carriageway at around 65 mph, and also do it going up steep hills, to the point where it would sometimes cut out. It took me two different carbs and a rebuild of one, to eventually try removing the in-line fuel filter, which instantly cured the problem.

I think that under certain conditions, the fuel was frothing inside the in-line filter, restricting the flow.

The carb has a built-in filter anyway, which may also be the case with your Solex.

[redcar]

Epic

[jaymos]

Tasty.