Restoration project

[woosh]

Originally Posted by SBC

LS1 E36 is beast. There was a grey one on carsales earlier this year. Have you seen the E36 MSupra? Do you want 2JZ or LS1????

Haha yeah I followed his (grey e36 in GC) build thread years ago. There are a few of each roaming around Australia actually.

[TimMc]

One of the BMW club guys from the GC has an E30 with an LS1 in it.

[130iguy]

there was an e36/LS1 for sale in brisbane not long ago, pretty well done too

[gazz]

I know I'm not the best poster on this forum as I tend to be easily distracted from I series issues. Buuuuttt -- I thought I'd update this old thread. After a long search for a prime bodied E9 coupe I've have hit on this beauty. An Australian delivered 1974 3.0 E9 CS club car that has been barely used for the last 13 years. Stored dry, the owner hasn't washed it or been in the rain over that time! The critical issue with these Karmann bodied coupes is rust, so finding one in this condition is a real score. There are very few RHD CS E9 coupes left in the world, I read recently that these may be the rarest BMW model with as few as 50 remaining out of the 422 originally produced. And you thought the 1M was limited. With most of the RHD models being sold in the UK the damp and salt have killed them off like a bubonic plague. Of course there plenty of LHDs out there though many of these have rusted away as well. Total CS production from the earliest 2000 models was over 30,000 so you can see how rare the RHDs are. A back to bare shell restoration allows remedial work on the shell to fix the Karmann construction faults, assuming there's enough shell left to work on, especially in the complex rocker panel area, not to mention the inner guards, the roof pillars, spare wheel well, the floor pan etc etc.

This particular car, amazingly, has none of those issues and while it is not a period correct colour, ( being Henna, an E24 colour and something I will correct when the car is stripped ), just about everything else is correct. The plan is - remove and store the original engine / auto trans and install a stroker M30 taken out to 3.8 Lts with the emphasis on torque and covert to manual. ( I have a 265 getrag 5 speed overdrive ready ). This is a common upgrade on this car. CSLs are generally the only E9 series left in original condition. Vintage Italian made triple DCOE Webers on the way from the US. Engine to be built by either Simon at RX automotive or Ian at IDB. Full back to bare metal repair and paint in original series colour. Complete interior retrim to original specs. Upgrade suspension, brakes, diff. And whatever else is required. Whew! Time frame hopefully 2 to 3 years.

[Zuzu]

Great find Gazz... Looks like you found her up there.. Noice..

Love your garages by the way..

[Alpine*]

Cool Gaz, keep us up to date with progress, pics and text pls

Is that the tow vehicle in front of the 1M?

[GJA003]

What a great find ! Congratulations

Can't wait to see the progress on its restoration

Pretty sure another Member on here owns a E9 CSL.

[gazz]

Wish they were my garages. I live down on the coast, waterside, on a much smaller block than this one and even though I have space for 4 cars the spaces are usually taken up by my kid's cars. The CS will spend a fair bit of time at various workshops so it won't impact too much.

Qld find is icing on the cake. Tow vehicle not needed.

[david.orr]

wow, nice gazz. something to look forward to next 2-3 years!

[gazz]

Hi guys, long time no text. As you can see I have been busy. I have found another car, a CSi which is a complete restoration partially completed. The shell that you see is completely rust free, primed and ready for paint. The engine is a complete rebuild, even new manifold studs, balanced rods and pistons etc etc. I have triple Webers as well as fuel injection options. Webers will be fitted first. I am working on a custom airbox which will be partial heat resistant perspex in order to show off the ram tubes. See pic. Have a kit in which every nut, bolt, washer, screw, etc etc for the car is brand new. No grubby old stuff will go back onto this car. I may not use this engine shown as I have a lead on a complete M90, ( check out this amazing engine ). Front and rear subframes, control arms etc have been completely restored with all new stuff, full blast, prime and repaint. All the engine ancillaries have been dismantled and are being restored to new. See the pic of some of that work. The guy doing this has an amazing process that leaves the finish like brand new but without the blasted look and feel that dirties up straight away. It's a secret and he won't show anyone how it's done.

Possible finished product may be a replica like the CSL, shown below. Just like the one on Carsales at the moment. Still considering colours but I do like Verona which is period correct. Just can't bring myself to do a Turkis car as originally planned. Looks great on someone else's but not for me. I have a complete restore of the interior underway which will be black leather to replace the original vinyl. All the wood has been relaminated and I have a full new carpet set also in black plus new hood lining and a lovely original Petri steering wheel.
Fun fun fun...... money money money.

[Curare86]

Late night car porn. God yes

[BrokenVert]

Holy hell. How do you even find something like that?

Cool cool cool.

[1MOz]

Subscribed.
Look forward to see the progress of your project Gazz.

Quang