E21: Steering Wheel Retrofit Guide

I got asked on eBay UK if my E21 steering wheel would actually fit an E30, which it turns out they don't. The wheel was then snapped up by someone with an early '70s 2002, but only after I could convince them it would fit...

It's not straight forward, so to clarify...

Later E30/E36/E46 3-Ser / E28/E34/E39 5-Ser / E24 6-Ser Etc. Steering-Wheel to E21 + other Classic BMW:

To fit later model steering-wheels with the modern spline to your E21 or other pre-'82 BMW, then you will need a steering 'boss' adapter, which bolts to the steering-column and usually has multiple sets of bolt-holes to accept any after-market steering-wheel. Some may only have holes to fit the brand of steering-wheel that make the hub, such as the MOMO one, here for about £60, but could be easily adapted to fit whatever wheel you have. Getting a universal one is harder, sites like meanmachines.biz claim to have ones here for £25 that fit, but they may need adapting to go on the E21.

Earlier E6 [1602/2002] / E12 5-Ser Steering-Wheel to E21:

Not sure why you want the thin, bendy rim of the older model steering-wheels to noon your E21 around, but they are a straight fit and require no modification to the wheel or dash/trim. The horn contact ring at the back needs modifying to work - refer to step 3 of the guide below.


E21 Steering-Wheel to E6 [1602/2002] and E12 5-Ser:

This is a common mod and it makes sense to upgrade 60s and 70s BMWs with the old-style steering wheels to E21 types - they're newer in design, better to use and safer in an accident. E21 wheels are a straight fit to the spline, but some cutting it required to the dash or back of the wheel to get it to fit. The horn button-contact at the back also needs modification.The definitive guide on tidily retrofitting E21 wheels to 2002 etc. is on the 'Bay Area '02' club site- http://www.bayarea02.com/techtips/320_wheel/index.html

The are highlights taken from the bayarea02 guide:
Spline Fitment:
If you place the 320i 4-spoke steering wheel onto the '02 steering column, you'll find that the bottom portion of the steering wheel interferes with the padding on the steering column by about a 1/4 inch. Grab a sharp utility knife and carefully trim away the bottom of the steering wheel, or install some sort of 1/4-inch thick spacer between the steering wheel and the steering column.

If you choose the spacer approach, you have to make your own spacer, as commercial flat washers are too large. The spacer needs to have an inner diameter of about 5/8 inch and can be no larger than 1 inch. When I installed a 320is steering wheel into my '02, I made the spacer out of a piece of 1/8-inch diameter aluminum rod and bent it into a ring using one of the sockets from my toolbox as a mandrel.

One cautionary note about the use of a spacer: The lock nut might not grip the shaft threads if the spacer is too thick. Losing a steering wheel in mid-apex is BAD!

Horn Buttons:

Take a sharp utility knife, and make a radial cut completely through the brass ring on the 320i steering wheel. Once the ring is split, use pliers to carefully bend up one end of the ring high enough to form a cantilever leaf spring. Then bend the tip of the ring over to form a smooth contact surface for the steering column.

This method works well with the standard 4-spoke 320i steering wheel because there is little, if any, access to the internal wires going to the horn buttons.

The classic BMW parts market is a lucrative one, as I will detail my own exploits in another post. I assumed E30 steering-wheels where fair game for the E21 and at the time I listed mine the going rate for an E30 foam-plastic wheel was £30. I got £50 for my original E21 wheel, but I wonder if I could have got more. Due to the scarcity of E21s, I would estimate the value of the basic 4-spoke steering-wheels at minimum £50. The 3-spoke 'sport' wheel in foam-plastic is even more sought after and should fetch up to £100 in good condition and at least £100 for a leather-bound one. The wheel fitted to me E21 was a period AC Schnitzer 3-spoke leather wheel with a removable centre. The boss-adapter and condition of the wheel led me to believe this had been pulled from an E30, though I've never seen another like it and wish I'd put the original one back on to sell the car.

E21 Retrofit Angel Eyes! [Single headlight models 315, 316, 318]

I fitted CCFL [cold-cathode fluorescent tube] angel-eye rings to my E39 5-series a while back and it was pretty straight-forward, so I thought I'd have a go at a real retrofit and stick some in the E21... because all Beemers should have angel-eyes right? I know it's not a stance thing, but it is a style thing nonetheless and you don't see many E21s with angel-eyes. Twin headlight models share lamps with the E30, so the aftermarket world is your oyster, but there are no kits available for the single headlight E21 so I bought the bits separately. I bought two 145mm CCFL-rings and inverter-ballasts from car-mod-shop-ltd on eBay, which worked out about the same price as a kit @ £10 for each ring and £5 for each ballast. 

The difference of course between retro and modern cars is the headlights nowadays are usually multiple lamps fitted into a cluster, which can be easily popped open and clipped back together, making it easy to fit the CCFL-rings inside them. Classic cars, say pre 1990, tend to have separate single lamps that have fully sealed lenses and cracking these babies open without busting the glass is what gave me the most trouble on this job, so bear this is mind before undertaking it yourself and be careful, it's not something I would want to do again anytime soon! 

1. Headlight Stripping:

Exploded headlight diagram on RealOEM.com to reference parts and construct: [http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=1712&mospid=47166&btnr=63_0023&hg=63&fg=05]

1a. Remove the front grilles and headlights - see this guide if you need help doing that - [http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3344522564318790310#editor/target=post;postID=2422546919882957928]

1b. Free the spring-clip arms from the wiring-connector and rotate them back, then pull off the wiring-connector / covering-cap and remove the bulb / sidelight-bulb + holder.

1c. Remove the tensioning spring from the headlight chassis.

1d. Use a flat screwdriver to carefully pop the legs of the adjusting-screws out of their collars on the front of the headlight chassis.

1e. Carefully tilt the rear chassis away from the lens against the plastic mounting-clip, being careful not to snap it, until the chassis is clear of the spring-clip/lens and can be rotated a quarter-turn and removed from its mount.

1f. If the headlight has one, gently prize off the thin metal cowl from around the rim of the lens. [One of mine had it, one didn't.]

2. Opening the Lens:

2a. Leave the glass lens in a very low-heat oven for 10-15 minutes to soften the sealant between the glass and reflector.

2b. Score away as much of the sealant from around the rim of the glass as possible using a square-cut razor-blade and pick it out using a small flat screwdriver.

2c. Gently push a small flat screwdriver into the gap between the glass and the metal rim. Gently rotate the screwdriver to carefully prize the metal rim away from the glass and completely crack the seal, repeating around the entire circumference of the lens.

**Make sure you take time to pick away as much sealant as possible and can see or hear it crack away from the edge when prizing with the screwdriver before trying to lift the lens - it won't take much to crack the glass!**

2d. Place the end of the screwdriver beneath the edge of the glass and gently prize it up out of the metal lens. This will likely need doing in a few different spots before the glass becomes free enough to lift out of the lens.

3. Angel-Eye Fitting:

3a. Clean the lens and inside surface of the glass.

3b. Locate a suitable position for the CCFL angel-eye ring just inside the bowl of the lens. The larger 145mm rings I'm using have a flat section along the top that meets the bonnet shut-line on E46 etc. and I thought it would make too big a gap in my round lenses, so I mounted mine with the flat spot offset 45  degrees inwards on either side, giving it a sort of badboy-bonnet look, or that's the idea anyway.

3c. Push the socket and wires from the CCFL ring trough the sidelight hole in the lens [the socket may need one of the lugs cutting off the side to fit through], locate a suitable position for the two wires in the lens with the shortest path from the ring and attach them along the flat plastic side of the ring and to each other using clear-tape.

3d. Attach the CCFL angel-eye ring just inside the bowl of the lens using clear-sealant or the sticking-pads supplied with most CCFL-rings.

4. Resealing and Fitting:

4a. Apply clear-sealant [I just used multi-purpose silicone stuff] around the metal rim of the lens and replace the glass. If you haven't marked the position of the glass, the two hooks that fasten the spring-clip down is the top of the lens.

4b. Gently prize the edge of the metal rim back toward the glass and run another bead of sealant around the outside of the rim and leave it to set.

4c. Replace the headlight bulb and holder.

4d. Drill a hole of about 8-9mm in the covering cap, just to the right of the curved contact from the original sidelight. Pop the socket and wires from the CCFL-ring through the hole and replace the covering-cap.

4e. Use a bit more sealant on the hole where the CCFL-ring wires come through the cap.

4f. Replace the metal cowl [if it has one] and prize it back tight around the edge of the glass and lens.

4g. Reassemble the remaining headlight chassis by first inserting the plastic-lug and rotating the chassis back into place. Then drop it flat enough against the lens to easily get the spring back into place and stretch the chassis back until you can pop the ends of the adjusting-screws back into their collars.

4h. Refit the headlights and grilles to the car.

5. Wiring Up:

5a. Find a suitable place to mount the CCFL-ballast where there is plenty of room for the wires to reach and affix it with the provided sticking-pads. [If you're only running a single headlight it's worth heavily insulating the unused CCFL socket and tape it out of the way - they carry a high current and can short out very easily, I've burnt out a few inverters before just by them contacting the body for a second or two!]

5b. Chop the lower of the 4 wires on the headlight wiring-connector. This is the one that sticks out further away from the other 3 terminals on the connector and should be Gy/Wt for O/S and Yl/Bk for N/S on European single-headlight model E21s.

5c. Connect the cut wire to the terminal on the CCFL-ballast's red wire using solder or crimp-connectors and insulate with heat-shrink ideally, or tape.

5d. Connect the black wire from the CCFL-ballast to the headlight earth-wire - the brown wire on both sides. You could do this by soldering or with a multi-crimp connector, but I found the easiest way was to bend the metal terminal of the black wire 90 degrees and slide it into the brown wire socket on the headlight connector. The connector then holds the wire tight when it's pushed into place. A bit slapdash, but it does the trick!

5e. Plug the wiring connector back into the headlight and connect up the CCFL-ring to the inverter-ballast.

Enjoy your new angle eyes!