Pikachu is giving way to the tin worm and needs some care. I evaluatated getting all of the rust fixed our finding a better shell to start with. During Oktoberfest 2005 in Winston-Salem, NC, I bought a nice 72tii shell from Andy. The shell was "stored" at Mike Pugh's house until December 2006 when I moved it up to Maryand.

After recovering from a total hip replacement on December 28, 2006, I decided to start the makeover of Pikachu 1 to Pikachu 2. My original plan was to have the new shell painted and move all of the mechanicals, interior and trim from 1 to 2. Right? Simple? Yep, until young son Evan says he would like to keep Pikachu 1 on the road. Now it becomes difficult and more expensive.

We think about and plan to have Pikachu 1 and Pikachu 2 both on the road with expenses contained and both cars be drivers. Pikachu 1 will not have any of the rust cared for at this time and will give up the current drive drain to 2. 2 will have a like paint job, Dakar.

20 Februrary 2007, the stripped shell was trailered to Mike Hannigan's shop in Highlandtown, MD for body work and paint. Evan and I also picked up a parts car in Baltimore to help contain the costs.

So, the story of Pikachu 1 and 2 begin.


Pikachu 1 (1972 2002tii)


Pikachu 2 (1972 2002tii)


Square light parts car



Evan and I picked up the shell at Greg LaValles shop in 2005 and stored in at Mike Pugh's house for a year


Leaving Mike house in December 2006.


Mike checking it out in Maryland




Interior


Engine bay


Trunk


Floors in good shape (sometype of soundproof stuff in the floors I will remove)

Evan working on sunrroof transfer

Evan and Mr Eric working on the donor roof

Pedal box age

Revvin Evan welding the hole in the pedal box



I powder coated the pedal box Satin Black


Refreshed works



Evan pulling Ruth up the street to our side street so we could load it on a trailer to take to Mike Hannigan's shop


Tucked away in Hannigan's shop awaiting his master's touch


License holder during sand blasting process


This tool makes cutting a car easy!



Ruth helping take the shocks off of the parts car


Ruth pulling the suspension from the parts car to the midget garage




Garage filled with rusty moily parts


Evan separating tie rods


Painted tie rods, center link and control arms

Struts ready to go








Mike Hannigan's paint removal results. He uses a razor blade to remove paint and open sanding paper to remove the primer. "Look ma, no swirl marks!"


Evan reinforcing the motor mount. Seems like yesterday he was sleeping on those Care Bear sheets that are now under the subframe he is welding on.


Original condition of the brake booster

Refurbished 30 March 2007

Hood release bar ready to go

Struts ready to go

Calipers rebuilt and installed on the struts



Front suspension almost ready to install




tii fuel pump assembly - black photographs so poorly






Epoxy to install Dave Pineda's lip flares


Mike cut the fenders and quarters, flanged the metal and them welded additional metal to bond the flares to. He feels this additional metal with the marine epoxy will keep the joint of metal and fiberglass free from cracks. Mike is impressed with the quality of Dave's flares.

I wish the photo I have would show what Mike did on the inside of the flares. He completely filled the area between the flare and body metal with epoxy. The area that is usually hollow and subject to breaking is very solid.


Visited the car at Mike Hannigan's shop in Highlandtown, MD, today and went away anxious to get the car on the road. Mike did tedious work to get Dave Pineda made flares on the car to ensure no cracking. He flanged the metal, welded on additional metal to provide a larger surface to bond to, then used

a bunch of marine grade epoxy to bond the flares to the metal. No screws no rivets. They look really good and all four seem oriented correctly. Now he is working on a cut out to accomodate the long return on the bumper. The flares interfere with that return on the bumper by about 3/4 of an inch. We also decided to eliminate the knee molding since it too interferes with the flares.


The transplanted sunroof clip is on and he will start to lead the joints at the C and A pillars today or tomorrow.


Mike has a template/die he uses to cut the metal the same size as the US lights when a customer chooses to remove the US spec stuff. Real good way to do this I think.




Heater box is almost complete, this pix shows a home made heater valve support.






Zinc epoxy primer complete

10 July update. Color and clear on, sanding in progress






Final coat of clear and curing in the sun

Mike saved the rare sticker for me. Not easy but a nice restorers touch

Mike shaped the front spoiler into the Alpina lip flares with a torch and spray bottle.







20 July putting suspension


Mike with two of his projects

Headliner in on the sunroof transfer

Happy with the gloss.




Aug 12 update:









Work resumes in small bits:
I forgot to ask Mike to fill all of the holes in the rear panel. So, the holes were filled and painted in the driveway.




Revvin Evan putting the defroster ducts in




Interior painted with epoxy, now to apply the sound deadner


Revvin Evan installing that dreaded clip, easy when the motor is out, he says











Battery installed in battery box under rear seat.

Most of the electrical items check out.








Wrapped wiring in the new BMW fuzzy stuff




Stainless steel brake lines installed 30 November


Hood latch bar seen from the heater box area




Heater box installed





I am hoping this works. Trying an in tank e-30 fuel pick-up, pump and sender.

This eliminates the pump and canister from underneath the car and replaces the tii fuel level sender. Thanks to Scott at BavAuto for suppling the harness so I could wire it in.



In order to further clean up the engine bay, I moved the Mann tii fuel filter to the bracket that normally holds the fuel pump.



Undercarriage sprayed with Wurth Body Underseal - Used three cans to spray the undercarriage.



Working on wiring to the auxiliary gauges. Thanks to Pat in Quebec, I found the "butt" for the light to the Automatic shift panel. This butt can be used to wire the lights to the auxiliary gauges.


Installed the third brake/rear fog light


Mike Pugh designed a circuit allowing the rear fog light to come on via switch and also come on when the brakes are applied. Wiring will be wrapped when I am sure it all works correctly.


9 December 2007





Going with the yellow and black theme.



The old box is the top and the newly flocked box is below, I used a company called EIS and their stock gray color.




Started working on the rear seat delete. Evan welded up the frame to hold the slanted piece of masonite and will hold the hinge for the "seat" part of the delete.



Rear seat covered








Ruth stitching the side panels




shop dog


Chris Willet's carpet kit going in

i think this was easier when I was younger and did not have all that grey hair



Good help....


Trimmed the binding from Chris Willet's kit to make if fit nicely under the threshold strip



Carpet is in, need to settle it down in places, kick panels left to do.





Ruth recovering the center console side pieces








One type of connector from radio shack, the brass tube is an .89 item from a local hardware store that can be used to free the metal connectors from the plastic holder if you need to free them. Radio Shack makes a tool but it almost $3.00.



These are three of the harnesses for the gauges. Still need to make one more for a gauge, one for the fog light switch and one for the radio. Hopefully these harnesses with connectors will simplify the installation and removal of the console.














These are Scheel seats I have had for many years.



Installing a SPAL pusher fan


Fan switch - goes in the upper radiator hose





Test fit the Alpina differential cover, the carrier holes are 1/2 inch wider than the stock carrier and use larger bolts, so I drilled the four ears that usually hold the carrier.

I bolted the cover to the diff and the half shaft assembly. Went in with it all together, it beat me up a bit getting everything to line up.





My hat is off to the people who can get a round light grill in with equal spaces, no scratches and no cursing. I am terrible at this.

The grill slat difference is not a mistake, that was just having a bit of fun when we remodeled P1. The boys dared me to do it. The C1 2.3 was a grill badge the boys bought me for Christmas when I put the bigger motor in. The boys are a hoot and never let up on me.



Going and coming



Got some good help on the safety wire today






Getting closer



Kick panels with seperates installed


e-21 sun visor installed, allows clearance for the larger Bavaria mirror


Down

down

down

out

away
Thanks Bill Riblett for the help today on April fool's day

Resurfaced flywheel

Exhaust fitted

Matthew Cervi stopped by to help - resurfaced flywheel on, rear main replaced

Mating transmission to motor the hillbilly way





Motor plant today with the help of Bill Riblett



















First drive around the block - still needs dialed in. Surprisely I did nothing to the motor and it runs like crap.

The brakes are still soft after power bleeding and pumping, more later




Off to the muffler shop to have some work done.

Huggie worked some magic



Chris Issacson, aka, Stone Racing, from Philadelphia, stopped by and worked his magic dialing in the car. It runs very well now!


Can you ever say - done?

Body work includes:

Sunroof transfer
Stripped to bare metal with a razor blade
Tailpipe exit welded
Alpina flares installed
Ireland front spoiler
Front snorkel welded closed
PO mistakes on welding front clip squared away.
Reinforcement welded in engine bay
Battery box installed under rear seat
Body lines on side squared away
PPG color with Flex on flares and spoiler
House of Kolor clear coat
_________________
1972 2000tii Touring
1972 2002tii with A4 system
1972 2002tii found a motor
16' Mad River


Last edited by BillWilliams on 4-20-08 02:21; edited 156 times in total