Judging by your e30 and e36 your going to turn this 2002 into something dope.

Goodluck

Welcome!  If you haven't already, pick up a copy of the "02 restoration guide".  Given that both your previous projects have varied quite a bit I think you'll enjoy the 2002.  

That avatar looks familiar (bf?).

Awesome, thanks for that tip! I had been wondering what the go-to manual was, it certainly isn't Bentley like my other two.

I use the same avatar and username on Bimmerforums and R3vlimited, maybe there?

Had my first day to start going through the car

Since the center console was in poor shape, I went ahead and stripped it down Terminator style. Already love it and it's nowhere near finished

Finished sanding and buffing the center console piece, painting it flat black right now.

Got a known good m10 block with e12 head on the way (complete minus the oil pump and oil pan which I will swap over from my current engine). Should make its way to me in the next week or two.

***Never mind that, Bryce strikes again.

Also on their way soon are a set of euro Hella H4 headlights, and a full set of seat belts.

Sanded and painted

Updates here:

Got the trunk open, and turns out I have a fourth 15" MSW wheel in there that matches the other 3 on the car. There's only a couple small sections of rust that have gone through the bottom, but it's all in easy areas, nothing in the corners or towers, very glad for that.

I've also been removing all the belt trim, cleaning the underlying areas, and covering the holes with vinyl (to seal the holes from rusting any further than they already have). I love how the car looks without all the tarnished trim, it makes the car look less busy. The horrible add-on reflectors are all being taken off as well.

New headlights are all set, working on refreshing the buckets for them. Only two of the small screws are seized, they're the little ones for the retaining ring so they need to be extracted. Paint and clear is on the way for the tails as well.

Steering wheel, adapter hub are in and look perfect for the car and horn contact ring is on the way. (It was totally missing.)

Finally found a pair of euro turn signals for the front end at a good price, got those on the way. It's a little thing, but one I am the really excited about

Sanded and painted the headlight buckets black to keep rust away, and found one of the nylon bushings that keeps the headlight alignment is cracked in half and needs to be replaced. That one might be tough... The studs and little screws were also toast, so I drilled and ground out the mounting studs, and will upgrade the screws on the trim rings.

Started scraping tar out, and it seems like I always pick the hottest time of the year to do it on each car... It was fine this weekend, but this week it's already going to be 98-103*

ugh

So... I still have a ton of black non-slip epoxy paint left over from doing the floors on my e36, and I will need to repaint the floors on the roundie to seal it against rust anyways. After a lot of image searching, I figured I would order some more of the same paint in white, and do a painted black & white checkered floor. I think it will look really cool and unique, excited to start on that.

Still have more tar to scrape, then a bunch of wire brushing and sanding which I will tackle again this weekend. But so far the interior floor looks great, nothing but minor surface rust, no holes or anything like that.

Got the dash out, need to decide how I will refresh that. It's in decent shape but is faded and has the usual cracks all over. While I am in there I will redo the heater core so we won't have to worry about that for a while.
 

Headlights & buckets are all refurbished and installed, also installed the euro turn signals up front, really love them

IMG_9208 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

IMG_9212 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

I loved the threads you posted on BimmerFourms about your E30 And your E36! This thing is going to be beyond amazing... Look forward to the end result!

Thanks man! I'm excited for this one too.

If anyone has ever wondered what the inside of a 2002 dash looks like... this is it. Stripped down terminator style to match the center console.

e10 2002 dash core - Terminator style dash by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

In other news, I have spent over 2 months waiting for an M10 I bought through classifieds here, and have finally gotten a refund through Paypal. I am relieved that mess is over and I can stop wasting time. Thought about an M20 swap again, but I really like the idea of keeping a 4 cylinder base.

A local guy about 40 minutes away has a full e30 M42 swap available since he's going S14, so I am hoping that route works better.

Still no engine, so I bought some more goodies. More on the way too

IMG_9564 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

IMG_9579 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

IMG_9580 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

IMG_9582 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

IMG_9583 by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

Rounded up a bunch of roundie tails (hahaha just noticed the play on words), so I will be piecing the best ones together and doing the full LED retrofit. Centers and red sections will be repainted with Testors transparent Candy Apple, then doing a UV clear over the whole lens. If the other lenses are good enough, I will do some spare sets as well. Can't wait to see how they come out, should be fantastic.

Almost finished with the "Terminator" dash:

Top section - mostly stripped
e10 2002 dash core - Terminator style dash by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

Top & Bottom, completely stripped, sanded and smoothed.
e10 2002 dash core - Terminator style dash by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

Painted, just need to paint the bottom as well (to seal from rust) and clear the whole thing.
e10 2002 dash core - Terminator style dash - Painted by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

Tail light lenses sanded, painted all red, and cleared. Inner diffusers and reflectors removed to allow more light to pass

Freshly painted & cleared tail light lenses by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

LED panel lights retrofit

LED panel lights retrofit by Spyke e36/e30, on Flickr

Got new gaskets for the tails too, so now they can go back on the car.

M42 arranged to be picked up next week, scored it for under $200 and already got the trans from a local buddy for $80. M42 > 2002 swap mounts and exhaust manifold ordered up from Jakeb as well.

Looks like things will finally start moving again, excited!

BMP Aluminum M42 flywheel by Spyke e36, on Flickr

IMG_0149 by Spyke e36, on Flickr

IMG_0150 by Spyke e36, on Flickr

IMG_0152 by Spyke e36, on Flickr

IMG_0153 by Spyke e36, on Flickr

IMG_0162 by Spyke e36, on Flickr

IMG_0164 by Spyke e36, on Flickr

IMG_0161 by Spyke e36, on Flickr

IMG_0158 by Spyke e36, on Flickr

IMG_0168 by Spyke e36, on Flickr

IMG_0165 by Spyke e36, on Flickr