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About this blog

BMW 2002 tii

US VIN 2781566

Manufactured on March 21st, 1974

Delivered on March 27th, 1974 to the BMW importer Hoffman Motors Corp. in New York City

Original colour was Malaga, paint code 021

 

Well, I am back after about 15 years away from 2002 ownership.  I sold my last 2002tii in 2006.  I purchased this 1974 2002tii (VIN 2781566) in July 2021 after a long 11 hour drive from Elk Ridge, UT to Bend, OR.  The original color was Malaga, and will stay that way.  Prior owners had done most of the body work and I received it in the primer stage.  The original engine was replaced by BMW sometime back in the early 1980's based on the head stamping and the block VIN  reading "X            X".  That tii engine was pulled out some time back and stored.  It was replaced by a 1975 '02 engine, so the car was running when I bought it.

 

He has been appropriately named Conrad, after my Great Grandfather, who was born in Germany and immigrated to the US.

 

I have started tearing down the engine to assess it's condition and get it rebuilt.  I have also started sorting through all of the tubs of parts, to assess their condition and completeness.

 

Luckily, my last purchase was a 1983 320is.  I will be swapping in the 5-speed, 3.91 LSD and Recaro seats.

 

Much more to come!

1974_bmw_2002tii_1566360578e7dff9f98764daIMG_4239.jpg

Entries in this blog

Restoration

I Can See Clearly Now...

After 50 years of life, Conrad's windows had seen their fair share of hard water.  Almost all of the windows had a thick film, hard water spots, and were difficult to see out of.  So, I went to my trusty foaming glass cleaner and went to work, only to be sadly disappointed by the result.  Sure, it cleaned the dirt off, but didn't touch the baked on hard water spots.  Out came the Bar Keepers Friend.  It is sold in all grocery stores and hardware stores with the Comet cleaner.  I chose the powder
Restoration

Sunroof Dome Light Panel Rebuild

As is very common, the dome light panel that attaches to the roof behind the sunroof opening (in a sunroof car, obviously) was warped, swollen and crusty.  I had some 1/8" melamine/whiteboard material, so I thought why not?     Luckily mine was in decent enough shape to use as a template.  Cut it out, marked the appropriate holes for the panel clips, headliner rod brackets, the dome light and the wiring clips.  After I got all of the holes drilled and cleaned up, I applied some urethan
Restoration

Raising Recaros Back from the Graveyard

Recaro seats from a BMW E21 were at the top of the list of upgrades that I was planning for Conrad.  I have had them in my 2002s before, and to me, they are a must for ultimate comfort.   The journey for these seats is a long and interesting one.  Here are all the details, if you care to follow the journey from graveyard to resurrection...   While pursuing the internet for parts, I came upon a website that searches wrecking yards for cars and parts based on your search parame
Restoration

Clock Swappers

BMW used two different clock designs on the Tii.  The earlier model (used up until 1973) is the Kienzel clock, which is electromechanical.  It uses a mechanical clock mechanism with is wound electrically.  These clocks are usually pretty easy to fix when they stop working.  The other type of clock (used in 1974 and up), is a purely electronic clock, with a circuit board, transistors, resistors, etc.  Any one of these components can cause these clocks to fail, and I have not found a repair.  My s
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Restoration

Get Your Ice Outta Here (and the tar too)

So this adventure started back when I first bought Conrad. I checked for rust everywhere, being sure to use a hammer to test the integrity of the metal everywhere on the body. For a car that (I think) lived it's entire life in Oregon before I brought it to Utah, the rust was surprisingly limited. I knew there was rust around the gas tank, and a little probing of the front valance revealed rust in the usual spot. The floors however, felt sold.   A year later, during a thorough cleaning
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Restoration

Flocking the Glovebox, not the Christmas Tree

Another small project down...restoring the glovebox.     I needed to restore the super crusty, ugly glovebox, and found several posts here on the FAQ and some additional info on YouTube to help with this flocking adventure.  Here is what I needed for this project:    - Acetone  - metal scraper  - gloves  - flocking fibers  - adhesive/paint  - flocking applicator  - large plastic tub  - 2 small cheap paintbrushes  - denatured alcohol
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Restoration

Starters, Distributors and Steering Boxes

Another couple of smaller, but very important projects are now complete.  I now have a good, rebuilt starter and a rebuilt steering box, and a refreshed (and hopefully good) Distributor.  Let's assess the parts I had...First, the starter was old, crusty, very large and very heavy.  The distributor...just needed to be cleaned (I hope).  The steering box, dirty, oily, obviously leaking (scroll down below).     Starter:   On a previous Tii that I did some work on, I replace
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Restoration

Oh the little things...

I have only been able to work a few minutes at a time here and there lately.  So, the little things have been getting done.  I really need a day or two (I mean full days) in order to tackle the few rust issues before the body can go to paint. Seems pointless to finish up smaller projects that can more easily be tackled while the car is with the painter, but that's all I have had time for...oh well.   Anyway, I finished up the heater box, refurbished the hood latch bar, freshened up the
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Restoration

Hardware and Other Parts, Fresh Back from Electroplating

I took several large boxes to the local plating shop last month and what I got back was shocking. I could kiss these parts, they are so beautiful. I think my wife is getting a little jealous.  Most advice I saw was to bead blast and polish prior to taking to the plater. When I called the shop they said to bring it the way it is and I would be happy with the result. So I loaded up the car with boxes of rusty, crusty, oldy, moldy, dirty, greasy bits and pieces... Pretty much every bare metal piece
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3
Restoration

Using a Non-Tii Engine Block in a Tii

I needed to solve the one problem with using the engine block from a '75 2002 (carbureted) in a '74 Tii (Mechanical Fuel Injection).    There are only 2 unique differences between the engine block of a 2002tii and a regular carbureted 2002.  First, the Tii specific block has a port next to the driver side engine mount for the oil return line from the Kugelfischer injection pump back to the engine block.  Second, the Tii engine block has a plug in place off the port for the water choke.
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2
Restoration

Engine Rebuild Now Completed!

The donor block and crank checked out great by the machine shop.  I had taken the cylinder head to the machine shop after stripping it of all of the moving parts except for the valves and springs.  They completed the valve job, installing new valves, valve springs, valve seals and guides.  They also shaved the head and block.  In the process, I had them media blast all of the engine components including the intake and throttle body parts.  They all look beautiful...fresh aluminum parts.  
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1
Restoration

Engine Rebuild Back on Track!

Well, after trying to determine how to attack the engine rebuild, I am now able to move forward.  In my last entry I detailed how horrible the Tii engine block and crank were.  I decided to start over with a standard bore block and standard grind crankshaft.  This way, if the engine ever needs to be bored or crank ground again in the future, I still have room to go.  I really didn't want my new rebuilt engine to start at max measurements.     As mentioned before, when I bought Conrad,
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Restoration

Tearing Down Conrad's Heart...the Tii Engine

Time to tear down the Tii engine that will become Conrad's heart.  By the looks of it, the Tii engine that lived inside Conrad from sometime in the 1980's had been sitting for quite some time.  Upon picking up Conrad from the previous caretaker, the Tii engine (not the original, as that was replaced by the dealer at some point) was sitting on the ground, rejected by an owner at some point in time.  No history.  No explanation.  No attempt at allowing the mechanical injection to live again...unti
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Restoration

Bringing Conrad Home

My friend and I took a road trip from central Utah to Bend Oregon to pick up Conrad, my 1974 2002tii.  His restoration was started by a prior owner and then put into my care.  After a long drive, he was loaded on the trailer, tubs of parts stuffed into the back of my Suburban, and we brought him home.  The tii engine was out of the car, so it had to be loaded into the back of the Suburban with all of the other parts.   Rain was forecasted for our drive home, so without windows we had t
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