Two BMW 320i E21 S packages. Vintage BOGO! Projects or TONS of great parts!

1979 BMW 3-Series S packages Description

Okay, I’ve had to cop to the ugly fact that I don’t have the time nor the skills to get these cars back on the road. And, as much as I love the e21, I can’t bear to see them in this condition while I continue to fool myself that I can restore them to their former glory. Both ran when parked (summaries are provided at end of listing).

What follows is a rushed and woeful description, I know. So please send questions. Also, I have perhaps 100 photos of the details of each car and all the parts for the green 79. So please drop me a line. I’ll be adding details as I think of them, and responding to all questions so that any bidders can see my (hopefully helpful) answers.

Now’s your time to get a good deal on two projects on a car that is finally getting the attention and respect (and value) that it deserved all along.

As both the bodies of these two cars have succumbed to the usual e21 rust (rocker panels, trunk floor and rear transom, floor pan, beneath the LOVELY Hofmeister kink, etc.), I think they’d be most useful for parts. If so, here’s what you’re getting (cars are in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, NW panhandle):

Interiors:

o Two 3-spoke Momo steering wheels (1 good shape but could refinishing, 1 in better condition). Fantastic wheels. Thick, meaty, and heavy.

o One 1979 interior (black), great condition, original carpet

o One 1983 interior (black and gray), good condition, but sun rot on rear seat back

o All functioning gages and switches and panels. Everything in very good conditions in both cars.

o 2 black leather(?) Recaro sport seats (these have a color BMW roundel on the top surface of the seat but BENEATH the adjustable headrest. So they're hidden when headrest is fully down. Never seen this before.)

o 2 gray-cloth/black leather (?) Recaro sport seats

o 1 early-style dash, good shape (crack on upper middle)

o 1 later-style dash, good shape (crack on upper middle, custom-fit cover in same material [I think] as seat cloth

Wheels and tires:

o 4 OEM standard S-package BBS wheels, 5.5×13 (white 83)

o 1 OEM BBS wheel (spare for white 83)

o 4 period-correct RA 119 BBS wheels (on green 79), steel with gold lace/web (but faded), stamped MAHLE / BBS / 119 KBA 40415, 6Jx14H2ET13

o 1 standard, full sized, OEM e21 “fan” alloy wheel (spare for green 79)

Drivetrains:

o 1 5spd overdrive transmission (green 1979 is without transmission due to fragged guibo)

o 2 limited-slip differentials (white 83 has standard S package unit, green 79 was with car at original dealer purchase (listed on the window sticker)

Suspensions:

o 1 traditional S-package suspension (the white 83) (Bilsteins, rear anti-sway bar, thicker front sway bar, etc.)

o 1 Korman competition suspension (the green 79) (all work done by Korman):

o Korman antisway bar (31333825) front 25mm

o Korman antisway bar (33333819) rear 19mm

o Korman sport/race springs front (31559320)

o Korman sport/race springs rear (31550320)

o Bilstein shocks (P30-121 front)

o Bilstein shocks (B46-612 rear)

Engines:

§ 1 standard 1.8L M10B18 (US spec, with standard Bosch K-jetronic) [I think]), with air conditioning.

§ One M10 M43/1 (but Korman Stage II, so Bosch K-Jetronic professionally replaced by dual sidedraft Webers). Details:

· Korman autoworks Stage II cylinder head (ported and polished)

· high performance camshaft (unknown, but probably Schrick 292 or 316, a little lopey at idle, but loves to rev. Still very streetable; was daily driver for four years)

· modded rocker arms

· dual Weber 45 DCOE sidedraft carbs (Carb 1: Tipo 45DC0E16, no 1251, Carb 2: Tipo 45DC0E15 no 1229; both modified by Korman with progression holes for smoother uptake of power from idle…apparently an old racing trick).

· Venturis had individual K&N sponge filters that dry rotted while off the road (never driven without filters). Venturis were very shiny/polished, now have surface rust

· dynos at 160-165hp (according to Korman letter)

· fitted for 5-spd overdrive (Korman replaced original 4-spd with 5-spd overdrive [not the sport trans], driveshaft professionally shortened and balanced. Transmission out of car and not available: selector rod fragged by guibo failing

· Distributor: Bosch mechanical advance, clockwise, unknown original application (Porsche 356 maybe?) (P/N is 0 231 129 026, JFR 4)

Intake/exhaust (all work done by Korman):

· TISA intake header: The TISA header is incredible rare and probably has a unique provenance. BMW made only 200 of the 1800 TISA (minimum homogenization for racing eligibility). Ray Korman purchased one of the first BMW Ti sedans sold in the United States and won two national championships (in S.E.Asia? Wha?) with the car. My thinking: Ray Korman is well known for building/driving winning race cars, and he’s not a sentimental guy: he builds one, wins, and then builds another. Because a long-time and current Korman mechanic and driver built this car for club racing out of “stuff around the shop,” perhaps he used the TISA intake header that could have come from only a 1-of-200 1965 1800 TISA, and he puts it in the e21 he’s building. Again, I don’t know this, but I’m not at all sure where you could get a TISA header. If anyone knows if other cars came with them, give me a holler and I’ll correct this.)

· Korman-Stahl exhaust header (1 3/8" primary tube) (18213138)

· PrimaFlow front exhaust (18112BA1612)

· PrimaFlow exhaust (18112BR22)…..I think this was probably replaced when I had the current Ansa exhaust installed

· Engine seems to be a combination of a Korman Stage 2 and a Stage 2 Competition. If anyone is interested in sleuthing the exact details, I have this information:

The following details are from the Korman shop manager to the original owner, offering to sell the modded car back to him (will provide the original handwritten letter. I also have many if not all of the receipts for the parts/work:

· Korman Stage II cylinder head (ported and polished)

· high performance camshaft

· dual Weber 45 DCOE sidedraft carbs

· dynos at 160+

· 5-spd overdrive

From the Korman website are the following descriptions of the different Stage 2 engines:

Korman Stage 2 2.0 liter engines

· 150 HP

· revs to 7000 RPM. Dual Weber 40 DCOE's

· Korman intake manifold

· Stage 2 porting and polishing

· high compression pistons

· lightened rods

· Korman K300 cam

· dual valve springs

· chrome alloy retainers

· Korman rocker arms

· mechanical advance distributor

· Korman-Stahl exhaust header. Also available with Schrick 292 or cam (160 HP)

· Weber 32/36 carb (140 HP)

Korman Stage 2 2.0 liter Competition Engine

o Schrick 316 cam

o two twin 45 DCOE Webers

o lightweight connecting rods

o high compression pistons

o titanium valve spring retainers

o racing headers, etc

White 83: bought from trusted/known local mechanic when owner didn’t want to pay $365 for blown head gasket. Bought, replaced gasket, drove great for a few days, went to replace plugs and broke a brittle (plastic) fuel line, tried to replace fuel lines with rubber lines, didn’t know what I was doing, noted leak at fuel distributor, stopped. Has sat ever since.

Green 79: Was wonderful and incredibly fun daily driver for probably five years. Guibo started its tell-tale whine, bought the replacement, and the original went off like a grenade before I could install it (bending the trans selector rod and breaking rear transmission flange). Wife had great job at time, dissembled the interior, she lost the job, and I was stranded.

The wiring harness for the green 79 was carefully removed, each connector was labeled and wire stubs left for identification, everything documented with probably 250 photos, and I color-coded and annotated two separate large factory schematics with all the correlating details.