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Announcements
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Introducing FAQ Memberships 04/17/2017
I would like to introduce everyone to the FAQ memberships. A fun way to fund the site and to contribute for those who are interested. Everyone starts as a Solex Member. This membership is free and not much visible is changing (I limited the personal message storage to 150). Kugelfischer membership. As a reward for your donation of $20.02 per year, you will not see any external advertisements, the site will look cleaner and run a bit faster. You will also get a couple of BMW 2002 FAQ Stickers. Turbo Membership. As a reward for your donation of $50.02, you will not see any external advertisements, the site will look cleaner and run a bit faster. You will also get unlimited Personal Message storage, ability to create Private and Restricted Photo Albums. You will also get a couple of BMW 2002 FAQ Stickers and a Bottle Opener. Alpina Membership. As a reward for your donation of $100.02 per year, you will not see any external advertisements, the site will look cleaner and run a bit faster. You will also get unlimited Personal Message storage, ability to create Private and Restricted Photo Albums, and an ability to upload Movies to the gallery. You will also get a couple of BMW 2002 FAQ Stickers, a Bottle Opener, and discounts on our accessories at the store. There is also a fancy title that comes with each membership.
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MY INTERIOR - Traditional or Custom
First some background...
From the day I committed to this project and up until just a few months ago, close to some 4 years now, I struggled with a clear plan or direction when it came to the interior and what I wanted it to be.
I remember receiving a message from a member of the FAQ shortly after introducing my car the the site saying “what ever you do to it, do not paint it...leave it as a survivor. Your car is more valuable without any fancy upgrades.” At the time I was somewhat confused by the suggestion, after all it had been some 30+ years since I had experienced the joy of driving it. I just wanted to have that feeling again.
With that said knew I wanted more than something a stock O2 was going to offer me. Fortunately, I was now in a better position that would allow me to sink a few dollars in it to make it go a lil faster and handle just a bit better. All the rest was not at the forefront of my thinking. So once I decided what I wanted performance wise I knew it was no longer going to be a survivor. To be honest, the car was more important as a source of enjoyment rather as a potential investment.
So with all that in mind, I struggled with what I wanted to do with the interior. I was however committed to keeping the car as close to its roots as possible and more importantly, what works for me. So, I started searching for ideas and collecting examples of what I consider to be something I would like to have sitting in my car. That part of the process took me about a year. After all I had I had a bit of time before I was even close to starting the work.
My predicament now was how far do I push the envelope in terms of trying to stay true to my pledge. What do I keep and what to I change to suit my tastes. This decision was somewhat easier to make once I started to see progress in the other areas of my build. Seeing what others had done with their builds also was a huge help. It provided me with both comfort and inspiration with what I wanted to do. Finally, I now had a plan that I could follow but I was to quickly learn it would not be without a lot of trail and error. A lot of the former and more of the latter.
But first some prep work was required was going to be required before I could start. This work was all completed before the car went to the restoration shop. I have covered this step in an earlier post but thought it worthwhile to provide some continuity.
Some befores of the first job....taking out.the sound proofing. Fortunately no worries of rust to deal with.
After a few pounds of dry ice and a quick bead blast.....
....it was ready for a quick blast of epoxy.
Next plugged the holes
.....It would soon be ready for the next step.....mocking up the rear seats and console.
First some DYNA-MAT
But first the complete install of Dyna-Mat. It did take a few nights to complete with the help of a heat gun and roller to help in dealing with all the the contour and ridges of the floor pan and bulk heads. A little more than 100 sq. ft were used to cover everything, including the roof and door skins. This was a logical place to start for me seeing as this was the first experience with the product.
Once the sound deadening was complete I was ready to deal with more of the stuff you could actually appreciate and SEE. As mentioned earlier I struggled with what I was going to do with the seats. I was torn with using the stock seats. They were in near perfect condition but after researching some different ideas I slowly started to think of a complete redesign when it came to the interior. After seeing a lot of projects with Recaros, I thought about taking the upgrade a lil farther with changing the rears as well. It certainly has its drawbacks with this upgrade but I was prepared to make it work. So after sending a few more weeks looking at different interiors I decided that I would try to source a set of E24 rear seats to match up with a period set of Recaros. Fortunately I found a pair rears first from another FAQ member who was relatively close to me. The fronts would take a lil longer to land.
Once I had them in my possession I was anxious to get them in so after doing some more research I was set. I made a few strategic cuts and some fine tuning with a trusty cut off tool the seats were in and positioned within a couple of hours. I thought they looked great.
For those contemplating a similar install beware there is a consideracble amount of retro fitting. I was faced with a sizeable gap between the top of the rear bulkhead and the back of the seat. In addition there was another area between the respective rear cards and the edge of the seats that I would have to be address to help achieve that custom look. I will endeavour to illustrate that in the next post. But for now they fit pretty snug. I just had to figure out how I was going to secure and finish them off.
To secure the base I decided to use the stock lower brackets on the E24 seat. They lined up perfectly with the top of the cars rear seat bulkhead. I just had to drill an appropriate size hole for a machine bolt and clip nut. Securing the top portion of the seat was a little more of a challenge. Here I had to fabricate a L shape bracket and riveted to the rear of the seat. A similar bracket was then fixed to the rear bulkhead to accept a 10m bolt. The downside to all this ....it would have to be accessed from the trunk to remove these brackets.
I should also point out I decided to use the centre console design and try to incorporate a 3rd brake light to take advantage of the higher profile of the top portion of the console. This would be cut into a redesigned self tray. It would also help filling that gap created by the new seats. I will try to detail those issues in the next post.
Thanks for taking the time to have a look.
Regards
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Arm Rest - Restoration
Hey all,
i had an issue in the past with my dirty old arm rests, they were brown, cracked and one was missing the support so it was really floppy and not much support for your arm. i was on the hunt for some black arm rests to go with the black interior, however these seem to be hard to come by in good condition, so i opted for a grey arm rest which i would clean up and paint with Rustoleum Direct to Vinyl Black Gloss Spray Paint.
The arm rests were particularly dirty and grubby when i got hold of them, also slightly sticky and smelly, YUK!
a quick rub down with some thinners and a rag to remove dirt and grime. and then a quick dust coat with the Paint.
The paint adheres very well and comes out of the tin very well.
i let it sit for around 20minutes to go off a bit more before the first pass. already looking really nice!
i took a close up shot to show the paint sitting nicely in the fabrics contours.
i have to leave them for 24hrs before they are totally dry and ready for one more coat just to cover any areas that were missed. but so far i think they look really nice.
also had a chance to test fit the new parcel shelf which will be wrapped in a black cloth.
the Boot lock also arrived and after many months of having an open boot, i finally have a closing, lockable boot! result
until next time
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Had both Derby and Tesoro trailered out to Burbank for a shooting on a youtube episode for Jay Leno's Garage.
What an amazing experience to be in a presence of a very well known car enthusiast with a super large collection of rare cars!
Both cars were trailed down with the help of Performance Technic and my local mechanic Bill Arnold.
Jay LOVED Derby... he glanced over at Tesoro and admired the recent build, but Jay absolutely fell In love with an 'unmodified, mostly original car' within Derby.
Filming was nerve wracking and I felt very rushed as I didn't get to say what I wanted to about Derby so much... it just went very rapidly and lights and cameras were recording at different directions which were not easy to follow from someone who has no TV experience...
Jay and I then went on a drive and that's when it was much more relaxed and answering questions was much more easier than being put on the spot.
Jay had a catered lunch and we got to tour his HUGE collection of cars.
Regardless if someone's garage is bigger or better than the other person's ... Jay was a total down to earth person who has the same "car enthusiast bug sensation" that we all share.
Can't believe what a dream come true this is...
I hope to have represented the 02 community with much pride and respect and as soon as the show is posted, I will share the link on my blog.
It's owning both these pieces of art and meeting car enthusiasts of all different levels of love for these boxy little german cars that makes this car passion so incredibly amazing ...
Cheers! (With my gin and tonic in the garage detailing Derby before taking off to Burbank)
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I hope to have represented the 02 community with much pride and respect and as soon as the show is posted, I will share the link on my blog.
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