yes, i know they will accept GM LS power. that's not what i'm after. i am going to sell my '03 Mazda6 and get something with some character. E12 is on my radar, but it is the least familiar to me of all the things on my radar.
parts availability? bolt-on upgrades / updates from later BMWs? weak spots (besides rust)?
GO!
They are like simpler E28s. Unless it is a grey-market car it should have the good ol' M30. They respond well to cams, headers, and head work, as well as FI. The bottom ends are STOUT. Parts aren't terrible but not as easy as, say, an E36. There are a few NLA parts that are mostly related to carburetion or trim stuff. I think IE and a few other companies may still make hop up parts for them, and a lot of E28 stuff can be used.
M30s of that era had some head casting problems that lead to cracks between coolant passages. Any one you look at should have had it taken care of long ago, as the design was updated in the early 80s, but if it has an overheating problem or anything else weird...
i found one that's got a 3.5L bottom end from an '87 6-series, but they kept the L-Jet and the '79 cylinder head. not sure if i'm moving on this one or not. it's a neat looking car, but i need to drive it to know if the big bottom end works with the older head, and if the L-Jet can feed the larger displacement.
There's a lot of information over on the First Fives board, including head interchangeability: http://www.firstfives.org/faq.html The biggest problem with the e12 is rust, so get the cleanest one you can find.
That is an odd combo. The B34 bottom end should have a lower compression ratio (if it's US-spec, anyway), I bet the L-Jet does well enough. There is no performance difference in M30 heads by year until you get to the B35, which came in the E34 and isn't a bolt on affair; so, your E12 candidate essentially has a stock 1987 M30, but with a different fuel system.
does L-Jet work with teh boosts or do i need to update the fuel system first?
AngryCorvair wrote: does L-Jet work with teh boosts or do i need to update the fuel system first?
You will almost definitely need to go Motronic (which has many drop-in turbo fuel chips available) or Megasquirt (which has been done many times on the platform).
MyE28.com has a great forced induction board that should prove very helpful to you.
L-jet works as a draw through setup, but very sensitive to leaks.
Budget?
dyintorace wrote: Budget?
low. the one i'm contemplating is asking just outside challenge budget.
Is it a 2500, 2800, 3.0S, or Bavaria?
(Pop Quiz: What was the only OTHER BMW to bear a non-numeric designation?)
shadetree30 wrote: Is it a 2500, 2800, 3.0S, or Bavaria? (Pop Quiz: What was the only OTHER BMW to bear a non-numeric designation?)
It's an E12, so it should either be a 530i or 528i. You are thinking of the E3.
Oh, and the answer to your question is the Isetta. 
Unf.
AngryCorvair wrote:dyintorace wrote: Budget?low. the one i'm contemplating is asking just outside challenge budget.
Shoot. I was going to offer you an 840ci. 
poopshovel wrote:
that car makes me starch my dreamcatchers. the one i'm looking at is similar color, similar wheels, but it's a US car so big bumpers and the ugly side marker lights.
poopshovel wrote:
A friend of Pseudosport and I who recently passed had one of these in almost the same exact color in High School. He was the first one of us to get his license and we drove everywhere in that E12, which we called the "Booger Green Bimmer". \
We are pretty sure that his was a gray market car, because all the US ones had fuel injection. A buddy of ours remembers it having a Quadrajet! 
Everything was in German, and it had this strange yellow/green cloth interior. It was ratty as anything, but it was so damn cool.
Someday. I'd love to build one of these and dedicate it to him.
SlickDizzy wrote:shadetree30 wrote: Is it a 2500, 2800, 3.0S, or Bavaria? (Pop Quiz: What was the only OTHER BMW to bear a non-numeric designation?)It's an E12, so it should either be a 530i or 528i. You are thinking of the E3. Oh, and the answer to your question is the Isetta.
A thousand pardons....I should know better. I actually had one!(getting old)
And you of course are correct. BTW, "Bavaria" was a US-only; a 2500 with a 2800 engine; courtesy of Max Hoffman!
so i looked at this E12 today. current owner works at a local BMW repair / parts / salvage place, and we have a couple of mutual friends. car was sitting in carport, and it was about 20 degrees out. it started right up from dead cold, but he had some jury-rigged vacuum deal on a secondary idle speed thingie so the idle speed was a bit jacked. anyway, it didn't rattle or smoke and the body seems pretty solid, with a little rust in the doglegs forward of the rear wheels and a little rust in the bottoms of the passenger doors. shock towers solid, rockers solid, floors solid. lots of new-ish bushings in suspension. needs a guibo and some tie rod ends (i hope it's not a steering box problem). it drives pretty well, and i dig it. i asked him if he's heard of GRM and told him of my idea to rock it in the challenge, and he immediately offered a price drop to make it feasible. when i got home, i asked my wife for permission and she said "after the mazda is gone you can do what you want." 
so the '03 mazda6 is for sale a bit sooner than i expected, and I hope to make this happen within the next 2 weeks.
Where are those not pretty much extinct? I live in ca, and other than one in the junkyard recently and one i saw on the road a couple weeks ago I haven't seen those anyplace in years. I think they are better looking than most of the other older bmws, for sure better than the newer 5 series that replaced them.
I had a '75 530i. Great car except for having the most useless a/c ever. Drove it over 200K before I sold it.
If you get one, don't let it overheat. Heads are a bit prone to crack.
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