This is the Roundel that has sat on my bedside table for the past two years. The car on the cover is something of a celebrity in CS Coupe circles. It's owned by Paul Cain and it's without a doubt the nicest performance upgraded CS I've ever seen. The quality of craftsmanship on it is simply unparallelled and it served as inspiration for the resurrection of my CS. This Roundel has three CS Coupe articles in it and I've probably read it a hundred times. Even today, it still sits at my bedside. The Roundel is a great publication but CS articles are fairly rare, just like the cars themselves.
So the car was now gone, and in its place were boxes of parts, some good, and some bad. The tired non-original engine sat there leaking oil on my garage floor (thank god for Griot's Garage Floor Paint) with the 4spd transmission still connected.
So one evening over a couple tumblers of Maker's Mark and a cigar I drafted out (in my head more than anything) an idea of not only how my car should look, but how it should perform. I got out my stack of BMW books, my back copies of the CS Registry Newsletters, my old Roundels (especially the Coupefest Issue from 2000 with Paul Cain's car on the cover) and got busy. I should pause at this point to tell you that my wonderful wife Chela did not hesitate one moment when I asked her what she thought of this project. As new homeowners and newlyweds there are certainly other areas to spend time and money but she was onboard 100%. Without her support and patience I never could have handled this project. Here is the vision that I had in my head that night (and virtually every night since) and the blueprint for what would be our coupe's restoration.
The goal again was to build a reliable, usable, performance enhanced classic BMW that would not only run well with modern traffic, but would have the potential to perhaps make owners of some modern "sports coupes" or spiders wonder what the heck that was that just passed them. I did not want a fully-maxed race motor. I did not want a car so stiffly sprung that the ride would be compromised. I did not want a car so noisy that driving it was a chore. I wanted the climate control to be as effective as possible in an old car, and I wanted supportive and comfortable seats. Cosmetically I wanted a car that epitomized what I thought a German Sports Coupe should be, with a dramatic yet tasteful interior. I wanted some modern instrumentation like an Oil Pressure gauge, and I wanted a high-quality sound system that would fit unobtrusively and would not cost more than the car.
Here's what I came up with.
The engine is a 3.5 liter "L" block engine. These are the blocks from European 5 and 6 series cars. They have siamesed water jackets and a 93mm bore. The crank is a stock big six crank. The camshaft is a copy of a Schrick 282 camshaft. The head is a later style Spanish head as the original head was cracked (not at all uncommon for the old big 6 heads). The head has some mild porting and gas flowing done to it. Both the intake and exhaust manifolds were ported and polished. The connecting rods were shot peened and balanced. The pistons are forged and made by Arias. For induction I opted for good old fashioned carburation. I chose the dual 38/38 DGAS Webers over the triple DCOEs. That was a tough decision but I'm very happy with the way they perform. The DCOEs do look incredibly trick though. The headers and downpipes were Jet Hot coated for longterm cosmetic reasons although they are supposed to reduce underhood temperatures which is always a good thing.
3.5L European Block, twin DGAS Webers, 282 Cam
Manifolds and
downpipes JetHot Coated
I retained the stock exhaust system although new mufflers were installed front and rear. I upgraded the waterpump and installed a viscous-clutch operated 9-blade fan. All internal engine parts were replaced including the oilpump, timing chains, and timing gear. All the ancillary items like the started, alternator, radiator, heater core were rebuilt and tested to as new condition. I did not want any of these components to fail after 5000 miles of driving.
The common 5spd transmission swap was a no-brainer so I obtained a used Getrag 265 (common on early 5 series) along with the necessary parts to complete the installation. The non-original differential was replaced with a newly rebuilt 3:45 Limited Slip unit with 50% lock. The driveshaft was shortened to accomodate the new gearbox, new u-joints were installed and then balanced. A new guibo joint and driveshaft bearing completed the driveline restoration. New wheel bearings were installed.
Bilstein HD shocks were installed at each corner, mated to Suspension Techniques coil springs, custom made for La Jolla BMW. These springs lower the car and inch and a half or so, and greatly increase the road feel while reducing body roll. Sway bars front and rear received new urethane bushings. All the steering-related components were replaced with new ones and the bearings in the steering column were replaced to eliminate the play that had resulted from 30 years of driving.
The brake system is basically stock although virtually every component was replaced with new parts. E9 coupes had a "rear brake proportioning valve" located over the rear axle which prevents the rear wheels from locking up under heavy braking. This part on my car was completely inoperable as far as I could tell, and the brakes in the old car were never any good. When I took it apart, most of the seal fell apart in my hands. Rebuild kits are not available. I sent it to White Post Restorations back East who restored it and returned it to me in an extremely timely manner. My experience with them was great, and I'd recommend them to anyone needing obsolete hydraulic component repair. I installed a rebuilt brake power booster, new stainless steel brake lines, new front Master Cylinder, and newly rebuilt calipers all the way around. I love the look of red calipers you see on Porsche Turbos and so I powdercoated mine red with my Eastwood Powdercoating system. This home powdercoating kit was invaluable for many of the small brackets and parts in the engine compartment. Powdercoating is so much easier than painting, and it's much more durable too. New ventillated brake rotors were installed front and rear. New emergency brake shoes and cables completed the braking system. When it was all together Ate SuperBlue brake fluid was added.
To me certain cars just best in their "native colors". As it turns out these colors tend to be their International Racing colors. For instance, Italian cars, Ferraris and Alfas, look best in red. British cars often look great in Racing Green. If I owned a Mustang it would be White with Blue stripes. So as far as I'm concerned, the proper color for a German sports coupe is Silver. Porsches, Mercedes and BMW have all used the color in their legendary racing cars. Picture a 300SL or RSK Porsche in your head and what color is it? "Silver of course". If you thought of any other color you don't read the same magazines and books that I do. BMW itself chose Silver as one of the color options for their legendary CSLs and many CSs came in what was called Polaris Silber too. So our coupe would get painted Polaris Silver. Nothing was added to the exterior of the car. While I love virtually every variant of the aerodynamic packages fitted to the CSLs, I also think that the CS body is one of the purest and prettiest ever made. It needs no adornments. My car was is a 73 year model which means it has the redundant side marker lights front and rear. They clutter the side of an otherwise beautiful body so I removed mine and had their holes welded up. This is incorrect for the year and one of a thousand reasons my car will never win a concours.
As you may have noticed by now, I have definite opinions about "The Way Things Should Be". When I get my Ferrari someday, it will be Corsa Rosso (Racing Red). With the exterior color chosen it was almost a no-brainer as to the interior color. Polaris E9s came with several different interiors. I've seen them with tan and black but the color I like the best for Silver cars is red. Again, I think of silver cars and I think "red interior". This was a color combination offered by BMW when the cars were new, but as far as I can tell it was pretty rare. Tracking down red interior pieces (door handles and panels) was neither easy nor cheap. My original seats were covered in tan leather but what was left was in horrible condition.
I decided to replace the original front seats, which are beautiful but lack side support, with a pair of Recaro SRDs that I got from a friend of mine. They were virtually new, but had a burn mark on one side of one seat, the result of a shoplight falling over on to the seat. This didn't matter at all as the black cloth upholstery would be removed and replaced by red leather.