After another winter at the VSR Spa, Vern is back home again. Newly chromed bumpers, completely restored vent window frames, new carpet, restored and rebuilt seats, modified wiper system with intermittent delay, paint retouched and looking better than ever.
Dropped off Athena, who developed a stumble along the way, which will be addressed...I do not care for her original distributor with points!
Chris Langsten followed me as we sped along at a rapid pace on NH 101. In fact I set a new record from VSR to Ricetta’s Falmouth 1:20. Usually 1:35.
We've been hard at work (and having a lot of fun) developing new "period correct / vintage" motorsport products for the 2002 community!
Our new cast aluminum dead pedals are designed specifically for the BMW 2002 (tread design matches OEM accelerator pedal) and help to aid in driver comfort and access to clutch pedal while driving aggressively, on and off track.
The upper mounting holes lock under factory underdash panel tab, (drilling optional) lower mounting holes require two 3/32” holes drilled in floor pan. (to install two #8 sheet metal screws, provided) choice of three finish options: raw/tumbled cast aluminum, satin black powder coat and satin black powder coat with brushed KoogleWerks logo.
http://www.kooglewerks.com/products/cast-aluminum-dead-pedal
TESORO’s trunk is nice and tidy in preparation for the Bay Area 02 swap and show in Brisbane, CA on May 4th. I am ecstatic over this brilliant fuel filler design by Kooglewerks ! No more contorting myself in fear of gas burping up onto the paint! 😉
The wiring is sorted with everything removed that I don't need (I hope.) I need to tie in all the new components before wrapping it up. Headliner in, not perfect but I am happy with it. I will start putting in the our 2002 Underground parts soon.
It seems like every project meets some sort of random parts wall at some point. That is to say, you end up waiting for ages for parts to arrive, things are difficult to source, or you end up with the wrong parts entirely. That has been the case for the last few weeks for me. I’ll try to tackle things in order and get everyone up to speed.
So you may remember last year I bought a beefier version of the radiator I currently had in the car. This was in an effort to keep the poor 2002 a little cooler in the hot summer months. However once we started going down the rabbit hole of shaved bay, and systems deletes, that radiator became non-viable. I also purchased a Radium Expansion Tank, that is likewise useless. The part itself is great, but for my purposes needlessly complicated.
Purchased, assembled and immediate regret. Not using this wonderful piece anymore.
The solution? Capped radiator. Since I am deleting the heater, the expansion tank loop becomes a bit redundant. Some measuring and scrolling through Summit later, and I found this unit. I couldn’t tell you what car it normally lives on, but I can tell you it fits perfectly between the frame rails of a 2002.
I also ordered an M20 header flange, because we decided to make a header from scratch. Off the shelf options for M20s simply don’t clear the 2002 steering linkage. Problem one, no one in the US seems to still make this flange. Problem two, after finding an international company who makes a flange, it took ages to arrive from Bulgaria. Problem three, it was warped to hell. I don’t want to put the company on blast, but it is frustrating to wait all that time for a fairly ruined piece.
On a more positive note, my wiring harness came back from modifications. At it’s core, it’s mostly my stock E30 wiring harness, however it’s been freshened up, reloomed, and most importantly modified for my standalone. I’ll be running an ECUmasters EMU Classic, and the plugs have been swapped out to accommodate ECUmasters sensors and ECU. I also had a few areas extended to help with the tucking plans.
Now onto the physical car itself. My fabricator has been working on the radiator support. Now that he has the right radiator in, he cut a pretty sizable chunk out of the bottom of the nose to sink the radiator into the chassis. He also finished cutting the shock towers flush and welding the seams.
You may notice a bar peaking in the edge of those photos. Progress has started on the radiator support. This will put some sort of structural piece back into the nose. For my car, this will double as the radiator mount, hood mount, oil cooler mount and so on. Additionally, and perhaps needlessly complicating things, it will be removable. I will be able to unbolt this bar from the car if necessary. The fabricator bent it to fit the nose of my car, and cut out some end plates to start the process of fitting it.
Hopefully within the next week or two the radiator support will be all welded up and ready to go. We’ll be adding ducting, and some vanity panels to help hide this all as well. I’m also now looking into just painting the whole car. I realize this is another jump in project scale, but it’s going to be so close to being perfect for me after this stage, that paint would just be the icing on the cake. I’ll have to figure out how that will work exactly, but it’s something I really want to finally tackle.
Major milestones achieved. 1. While I’ve only seen it in side a building the paint is fantastic! Derby is grey once more. 2. Head built.
Next big big milestone is the bottom half of the engine!
Stay tuned. More pics to follow once it’s back home.
Previous versions were unnecessarily complicated. This version is simple. The wall is now wider and thinner - more flexible for mounting.
file is here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3531308
Another 2002 came my way that I could not say no too! Its a 1974 2002tii. Definitely has its issues including rust, however there is a lot going for it as well. bilstien shocks, H&R springs, poly bushings, five speed and strut braces are a plus. Some of you might have followed my M42 2002 Build a few years back. This car is getting different treatment. I have only a limited amount of time to get it on the road and am embracing the “patina” look so to speak. Anyway, here is a short video of my progress so far.
One of the many projects that I’ve been dreading on this car is replacing the trunk floor. Not just the part aft of the wheel wells, I mean the entire trunk floor. When I bought the car the gas tank was about the only thing holding the center of the trunk floor up. The brace down the center of the floor was no longer attached to the floor. There was no bottom to the spare tire well and the quarter panels were the only things keeping the tail panel attached to the car. I’d cut the main portion of the floor and the tail panel off a few yrs ago. The other day I finally cut the panel away from between the whee houses and fitted the replacement from the parts car.
Somewhere just before that I saw an ad here for some Compomotives... 13x6 and 13x8s. I had to have them.
This pic shows :far right 165r13, 185/70/13, my new rears 205/50/13, and far left my new fronts 185/60/13s. I’m gonna have to really lower this bad boy to make these look right.
I made a new throttle pedal base using the longest m10 ball studs from McMaster Carr and a scrap of metal cut to mimic an original. It’s gonna work great.
In order to move the car I figured I better get a seat installed. You may recall that I bought some seats from an ‘84 Ford Mustang SVO. It’s not in its final position (too low and it needs the front tipped up for better thigh support), but at least I’ve got somewhere to sit now. I removed the bmw mounting flanges and will use the Ford rails and custom frames to get elevation and slope that I’m after.
The spare tire well kit arrived from Jaymic. I haven’t decided if I’ll add a band to it for a wider spare, or if I’ll leave it as is and get a space saver spare from a mini or similar.
I started cleaning up the rest of the trunk floor from the donor. Tons of work still to do, but it was nice to see something in the hole even though it was just clamped in place.
First of all, thanks to all of those who have supported me through this project. It has been fun and challenging, but not being able to leave well enough alone, I have embarked on incorporating the timing function of the Sniper EFI into my build. What am I hoping to achieve by this... no clue.. if I were forced to give a reason... I guess I would say because it was there, and life is too short to ponder things that satisfy your curiosity.
So after consulting a lot of people, and getting quite a bit of apparently conflicting advice, I think I figured out the answer to a long-standing question. Why can't I use the dizzy and fool the EFI into thinking it was a crank trigger. In short, I can emulate the signal or the spark distribution, but not both.
A longer explanation is that you need to give the EFI enough warning in order to trigger the ignition based on your timing table. This is a critical angle, and the dizzy can't tell the Sniper when to trigger. And I quote from the manual.
"Once these steps are completed, the rotor will be pointing to the cylinder #1 terminal on the distributor cap (ensure the engine is still at 50 degrees BTDC on the compression stroke on cylinder #1). Note which position this is on the distributor cap."
So this 50-degree angle means that the system gets an idea where the crank is ahead of the trigger event and can do what it needs to do, then trigger the MSD to fire, all this while making sure that the dizzy is pointing in the right cyl.
I hope that makes sense.
Here is an article that helps explain this perhaps a little better.
https://wiki.autosportlabs.com/MJLJ_V4_vehicle_installation_guide#Crank_timing_wheel_and_sensor_installation
Crank Pulley Design
I consulted Tom at 02Again, and he is providing a hub, 2 pulleys (one for the accessories and one for A/C) and a trigger mount (which I will have to mod a bit). The trick is to get it all packed in a relatively small space. This is the unit built for an EDIS based system (this type of system has a different wheel design), which is incompatible with the Sniper EFI, but taking the parts from it will allow me to sandwich a fabricated "flying Magnet" style of trigger wheel between the pulleys for the accessories and A/C .
I may have to modify this a bit because my trigger wheel may sit slightly closer or farther away from the front pulley, but all in all, I think I am about 80% of the way there.
Parts arrived
Edit.
Here is a video of AMT machine shop where I get my stuff done. A great resource for those folks who live in Vancouver CA.
Regards
And instagram
https://www.instagram.com/adamturbo1/
Ok so I finally programmed the timing curve into the Sniper. The interesting thing is that the 123 doesn't change vac advance under 2000 RPM whereas the Sniper EFI will. The crank wheel is done. Pictures to come.
Here is the finished pulley and sensor holder.
Vern is back at VSR after 2 months in storage, he started right up. Re-stuffed seats look great. Bumpers are back from the shop and look like mirrors. Vent window frames have been polished and ceramic coated by Speedway. Re-assembly starts in earnest Monday April first. Scheduled to pick him up April 19.
Got the sunroof back in with a bit of trial and error. Fit is ok just a slight passenger side height difference.
Also installed heater box and dash. Mocked in the gauge cluster to fill the hole. It will be removed before permanent installation.
Added H4's w/city lights and a relay/fuse harness. Will install the driving light brackets when they arrive. Thanks, Pierre.
Took this down to Buttonwillow so Ken Blasko could install and race today. My daughter went with and we really enjoyed looking over the cars and talking to everyone. The Salmon burgers weren't bad either. We got there at 11:30 or so and Ken quickly prepped it and got it installed prior to his heat at 3:00.
Ken's starting position was next to last but he quickly made his way thru the pack and finished 4th. I guess the gearbox held up.
http://vid1379.photobucket.com/albums/ah153/roundl76/VARA%20Buttonwillow/502A306B-6A2A-42F4-B037-E112EE2EDF1F_zpsz34fyhfy.mp4
Thanks Ken...
Working out some details over the winter. Slow going...
Stared at this for a couple of days while putting on trim. It hasn’t installed itself yet so...
I came across an opportunity to purchase a larger 3D printer at a significant discount. Went for it.
The size of the new printer allows me to attempt modeling the grille with its various surfaces, planes and splines.
45 hours and 58 minutes of printing.
Voila.
Side by side.
Fit check.
