E30 Parts Compatibility To E21

Post Fri Sep 28, 2007 7:30 pm

Hi all, this is my first post so bear with me. Does anyone know if the E30 front seats would fit in an E21? Are the subframes the same, or are they interchangeable? Do the two models share any parts? Look forward to any responses. Dan.

Post Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:02 pm

welcome dan i'd assume most of the parts would fit mate not 100% though

Post Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:47 pm

Virtually no parts are interchangeable and that includes the seats , sorry

Post Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:49 pm

i stand corrected i thought the e21 had a similar floor pan

Post Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:49 pm

Apart from M10/ M20 engine parts not a great deal

Post Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:52 pm

whipsey wrote:i thought the e21 had a similar floor pan

I thought that too.
I may have been wrongly informed that E30 was based on E21 and E46 on E36.
We learn something new every day!

Post Sat Sep 29, 2007 11:52 am

My mates got a E21 323i, with a set of retrimmed E30 325i sport recaros waiting to go in, the e30 rear bench was an obvious no no, so he's stuck with the E21 bench, but the fronts are gonna need work too as the subframes need to be messed about with... from what he's told me it would have been easier if he had sourced a set if E21 recaros, & thats saying something as those are hard to come by!

Post Sat Sep 29, 2007 1:16 pm

An E46 is basically a fat E36 with a whole load of new problems, but the E30 and E21 are totally different. Nothing was swapped over and BMW changed everything apart from the roundels and the odd nut and bolt.

Post Sat Sep 29, 2007 7:41 pm

Andyboy wrote:An E46 is basically a fat E36 with a whole load of new problems

Andyboy wrote: but the E30 and E21 are totally different

Another day passes when I've learned something!

Post Sun Sep 30, 2007 4:27 pm

but can anything be "upgraded" on an e21 from a e30 / e36? like suspension, calipers, steering rack?

engine and box is ok for swapping though, this ive seen first hand

Post Sun Sep 30, 2007 5:45 pm

johnono wrote:but can anything be "upgraded" on an e21 from a e30 / e36? like suspension, calipers, steering rack?

A good question very well put Andy.

:lol:

Post Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:18 pm

johnono wrote:but can anything be "upgraded" on an e21 from a e30 / e36? like suspension, calipers, steering rack?

engine and box is ok for swapping though, this ive seen first hand

Nope, nothing at all. They're totally different cars. You could put an E30 engine in but the e30 box is no good as it doesn't have a speedo drive. The E30 is a much better car so why fart about?

Post Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:22 pm

There is an E21 with an S14 engine in on my calender??

Post Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:27 pm

maxfield wrote:There is an E21 with an S14 engine in on my calender??

At your age Maxfield the only calenders that interested me had pictures of young ladies taking it up the gary !

Post Sun Sep 30, 2007 8:27 pm

pacerpete wrote:At your age Maxfield the only calenders that interested me had pictures of young ladies taking it up the gary !

That's on my other wall

Post Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:03 am

maxfield wrote:There is an E21 with an S14 engine in on my calender??

Getrag 265 gearbox has provision for a speedo drive. The 265 is based on the four speed 262 which came out in 1968 on the 2500/2800.

Post Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:01 pm

what are the diffs in comparison to e30 ??

Post Thu Oct 04, 2007 4:12 pm

Hi

Well a few parts swap apart from engines not much, e30 rear calipers are an upgrade for the e21 items, and the rear disks and shoes are same. The seats fit as mentioned, but require a lot of chopping to the seat frames.

All e21 run a small case diff, i have a e12 diff in mine as it is a meduim case item but dimensionally is the easyist to fit.

Jason