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1978 e21 m20 turbo swap, AKA What did I get myself into


bfinley

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What linkage parts?  Kruse Warthan is usually dissapointing, on service and price.

I'm at my parents so I went to motorwerks BMW in Bloomington mn.

I'm going to go back on Monday when a friend of a friend is working. He is supposed to be good.

Basically the whole carrier and linkage that you have in yours John

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Oh, I have been thinking about a better deal, there are floor mount shifters available like this. 

 

QS236lg.jpg

 

We could make a custom one, it is just a plate over the shifter hole with a socket for the pivot ball.  And then all that is needed is to fabricate a custom length selector rod once you know the dimension from the shifter to the transmission.  Do you know for sure that the e30 parts will even work correctly in an e21?  I bought a used aluminum carrier from somebody on BFC for $35 shipped so I would not but that stuff new.

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Well I went to the Motorwerks BMW in Bloomington MN on Saturday since I am at my parents for the weekend.
They want 538 dollars for everything in the specific exploded diagram, I politely thanked them for their time and walked out with an itemized list and the memory of why I don't work for a dealership anymore.

After doing some more digging about my specific trans I found that it is a "late" model gt 260 which can accept both the plate and beam style of shifter...
So that helps and I'll be holding out for a used part instead of dropping a ridiculous amount for NEW

Which means I can look at buying the clutch and flywheel as well.

Shooting for an installable motor by the end of the month.

 

Here's the website that helped me sort out which version of the 260 I've got

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=33173

 

AND - dohcdoh on bimmerforums.com just sold me a complete linkage for 45 dollars shipped... that is a lot better than 500!

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lots of dust up in there!

Are you finished with the metal cutting/welding patches?

Havent started yet... I'll admit that cutting the floor out scares me a bit and I've been fixated on getting the pait stripped so I can deep clean the shop and be done with that.

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Glad you found one, I got one minus the shifter itself for 35 shipped.  I just used my old e36 shifter for the e30.  What are you thinking for the flywheel clutch setup?

 

Yeah someone said I could reuse the e21 shifter as well, I figured what the heck and got the whole unit so I don't have to mess around with it.

I'll get a short shifter eventually as well.

 

Clutch and flywheel I'm just going to buy new and bite that bullet but as long as both pieces are for the same car I can use a clutch and fly wheel from any model e30 I like, so lightweight single mass kit it is.

 

spending 700 bucks on a kit doesn't sound so bad when you're not spending 500 dollars on a shifter either

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What kits in particular are you looking at?  I think my UUC is great at 11.5 lbs (flywheel is actually 8.5 but the larger clutch/PP is 3lbs more than stock) but very expensive.  After more research I think the are made by Fidanza, I am not convinced that the Ebay ones are different at all.  You may be able to tell by what clutch parts are used in the kit.  Mine uses an e34 m5 oem clutch, PP, and throwout bearing.

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Ok, Watch their site directly, they do nice promos almost every weekend, until midnight it is 10% off and free shipping.  The price on their site is $974.  They frequently do 15% off so I would hold out for that, Price has probably gone up from 3 years ago but I think I paid 750ish.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Might be saving a bunch of cash and getting the clutch and fly off the Kamotors e30

Got the shifter linkage

Flares are ordered

Got a second lead on fenders in good shape

So I'm using mine to test the paint scheme

Dtm fiberwerks Motorsport front bumper and factory rear vent windows are on there way shortly

Now I need to drop the rear sub, get the drive shaft out

Fab motor mounts

Fix brakes

Paint

Reassemble

M20 burnouts !

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etehuqen.jpgsatu6yre.jpg7udahuve.jpgeqa3avuj.jpg

Got the first layer of green on the fenders only to run out, no one in town currently has the dupli-color self etching OD flat primer that I'm using.

I'm going to check with napa tomorrow about custom mixed aerosol cans....

Since I didn't want to go home with no power I went back to the shop and cut my riveted aluminum panels to cover the gaping holes in the fenders

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  • 2 weeks later...

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