-which model are you converting?

cheers

I'd recommend C3 - 0208 659 7272.

Very helpful guys, very quick delivery. OEM parts at a lot less than dealers.  As for Simon or Kirby.

Good luck.  I'd say the logbook is just an error when the car was imported to the UK.  It ofetn seems to happen.

All the "official" UK 2800cs cars began life as LHD though, and were converted over, badly, by a garage close to the then Concessionaires in Brighton.  It wasn't until the 3.0cs came out that they actually built the big coupe in RHD.

Good luck.

Hi Kyle, been following your thread on E9 Coupe.com as well

Cant believe someone converted a manual 2800 CS to Auto???

and then it's registered as a 3.0 CSL?

according to Mobile tradition, what was your car manufactured as?

it's a major conversion, far more difficult than  vice versa, It's Bell housing,propshaft, some electrics and possibly the diff too. Unless they transplanted an entire engine and gearbox. Are your engine numbers and Vin no the same?

When you find someone in the UK who knows  what they are doing re the bell housing, please keep us posted

regards

Dax

jkyle, I'm not disputing or impugning your reputation.

there are a umber of issues here that are going to be cost related.

Alpina worked on all BMW's especially 2800 CS's

If you email your Vin no to mailto:info.konzernarchiv@bmw.de - info.konzernarchiv@bmw.de   they will tell you your model which month and year Manufactured, wether Auto or manual,Original colour and to which dealership the car was delivered to. 

The biggest question here is wether your car is Curburetteded or

Fuel injection as that could cost you far more than Malc's estimate of 100 hours of labour as that involves Re-wiring, Different fuel tank,brake booster as well as the bell-housing etc for the manual conversion..If your car is already FI then you are ahead of the game.

Enclosed is a pic of a friend of mines car that started life as a 2800 CSA

Regards

Dax

I can only relate Johan's story.

His car took over 300 hours to build

He bought a E12 M535 as a spares donor

Body kit came from Walloth& Nesch(prepare for a Heart attack when you download the price list)

But, in answer to your question,Complete wiring harness,ECU,New head with all injectors intact,Manifold,possibly a new Fuel Tank as FI needs a pressurised system with a return line,twin brake boosters as your existing brake booster wont fit any longer

and a genius mechanic.

Even though Johan transplanted everything he could from the 535

there were still a myriad of other small things he had to source.

At the end of the project, Johan worked out that had he bought a  concourse condition 1 CSL  and then added the modifications he wanted to ie:cam, suspension,brakes,pistons crank,body kit  etc the car would have cost him  40% of what it actually cost.

and the real kicker is that it is still classed as a 2800 CS by BMW and any other E9 Coupe Club/collector etc no matter what the DVLA registration says,and is worth only what a Condition 1 2800CSA is worth.

Another Friend, John Meiring, bougt a CSi and has upgraded it to CSL spec and is only now getting to the £12000 mark,admittedy without the body kit

If you want to go this route, buy that rusted wreck CSL you spotted on Ebay, strip it and your car, use the best chassis and bodyshell and rebuild a CSL.Remembering that Genuine CSL's had Ally Bonnet and Boot lids and genuine Bats had Ally skins and perspex rear windows

At the end of the day, you will never recover what you have spent (no E9 restoring owner ever does) but at least you will have something that will appreciate in value and if it started as a Genuine CSL it stays that way.

In my opinion, whoever sold you your car or put CSL on the DVLA register committed fraud and there have been any cases of CSL Fraud. 

I would echo Dax's comments re the Log Book.  It is in fact quite easy to describe your car as whatever you want when it gets imported.  My M3 spent the first 6 years of it's UK life with 3 digits incorrect in the VIN.  That's the original importing MOT, BMW dealer service (some) and subsequent MOTs, all without anybody asking.  It was only the heavy accident that I had at the end of '04 in which the Insurers tried to stiff me and write the car off that caused a "VIC" check, which the car initially faile, because it didn't match its own docs that brought all this to light.  It is now a bona fide Sport Evo, just like the factory intended it once more. 

Whether your PO was fraudulent or guilty of wishful thinking, whoo knows.  I've seen a fair few "Alpina CSL" cars which were CS or CSi's with a few stickers.  There were very few really genuine Alpina CSLs back in the old days, in the UK certainly, and those that were are either squirreled away in collections or have long since been crashed as race cars that someone converted for track use at some point.

As for the 2800 cs being a bas for a full-on race car, Dax's mates car looks awesome, and I seem to recall that the famous Castrol '76 ETC winning "Massive" car (Black with BMW Italia white/red/green livery) was known as a CSL, but was in fact built up on a shell from the early days of 2800cs race cars in '69/70.  I might be wrong about specifics of the year, but it certainly isn't a CSL in the sense we know.  However, with that car, it has a huge racing provenance, and I reckon it must be worth even more because of its peculiar history than it would be as a "standard" CSL - if there is such a thing.

As to your car - it's hourses for courses.  I think you need to slay the "csl demon" and just get on with enjoying it as it is.  I agree as regards a track day car.  With the right suspension and brakes, there isn't much between a well sorted CS and a CSL, except expendability.  You would HAVE TO ditch those dreadful solid front discs and rear drums that a 2800cs has though.  I once set mine on fire on my 2800 cs on a semi-sprited road drive!  Your car may have lost these at some point already though - not sure.  As a point of fact though, the 3.0 coupes all had vented discs all round, csls included.  The UK cars had the two servo arrangement, and the LHD cars had the one larger servo.  All 2800 cs cars had solid (pathetic) front discs and drums at the rear, enlarged slightly from the 2000cs.

I had a 2800 cs, which I always planned to upgrade in the braking department, and have a number of bits which might help.  I'll PM you with details.

I think just enjoy it for what it is though......