So I thought I would start a project blog on here as things are finally moving along with my project car so I can update regularly!

 

My Father and I bought a lovely 1975 BMW 1602 with an M42 engine, full Turbo body kit, Alpina wheels and steering wheel from Warrington. We went to see the car and paid the deposit in late January, intending on picking up the motor at the end of February.

 

 

The spec list as I bought her:

 

The car is originally a 1975 1602, the body has been stripped & bare metalled. New front wings, inner/outer sills, front floors, chassis legs, rear subframe mounts and footwell panels have been replaced. The nose and boot floor had been replaced at some point in its past. Bare metal treated with phosphoric, degreased, seam sealed and painted underneath/arches/boot in 2 part polyurethane & finished with poly stone chip. Engine bay primed the same and painted in black cellulose. This is now a rust free shell.

 

Front & rear subframes rebuilt using all new suspension rubbers, steering joints, wheel bearings. IE adjustable anti roll bars front & rear. Rear subframe has camber adjustment, E21 trailing arms/drive shafts/LSD/discs with new backing plates, Ground Control height adjustable springs & platforms, NOS Koni adjustable dampers. Up front it has Tii struts with Ground Control coilovers, adjustable Koni dampers, vented discs and reconditioned wide calipers as per turbo. Car rolls & steers.

 

M42 engine and 5 speed gearbox fitted, wiring complete, refurb'd heater box fitted, relays moved inside car, boot battery, turbo flares and spoiler pre-fitted, Prototipio steering wheel, Alpina replica 15" wheels and plenty of other stuff waiting to go back on.

 

We aimed for the end of February, but Storm Jorge scuppered our plans, so in the end we went up the week after. We hired a trailer and made the long journey from the southern tip of Essex to Warrington... what a nightmare! The Van kept playing up on the way up and dumping it's coolant, so we had to keep topping it up every 30 mins or so.

 

 

That was the least of our worries in the end...

 

We turned up and duly started loading the car into the trailer. Love those Brian James trailers!!

 

 

 

 

 

And so began the journey home from hell... Firstly we still had the coolant issue, which the guy we bought the car from kindly helped us with by topping up the bottles... about half an hour down the road, the lights went out on the trailer, which turned out to be a wiring issue to the battery we managed to fix by the roadside.

 

As we were going through the south side of Stoke-on-Trent, the gear selector on the van blew and we waited 6 hours in a garage we just managed to limp to before getting fed up and taking out chances with only reverse and 5th gear... we managed 50 miles before breaking down again (the clutch went) just off the A50 / M1 junction, and ended up getting towed to the Donnington Services.

 

We slept in the van and in the morning ended up going home like this...

 

 

After a very long and tiring journey home, the car was finally dropped off at the sprayers!

 

 

 

 

 

Note the look of grief on the sprayers face hahaha

 

 

 

 

The car has since been at the sprayers, with trips out to a fabricators I know to have a full custom stainless steel 2.5" exhaust system made up... and whilst there, the fabricator convinced me that the round rear light 2002's are much better looking, so a rear panel was sourced...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which we spent yesterday and today welding in, plus filling in the odd rust patch here and there.

 

Here's where I'm up to with the car now, with the new rear panel in and the lights and boot mocked up

 

 

 

 

 

 

The car has now been transported back to the sprayers this morning and should be primed and painted in the next few weeks.

 

The plans for the car is to supercharge the M42 engine, have some Image wheels made up, and go for the fast road / hillclimb feel. I've got two Cobra bucket seats, a half rollcage and some other bits and pieces to go in...

 

 

 

 

The car will be painted in Glasurit Avus Schwarz black, which I think will look great with an all black interior and tartan bucket seats.

 

Hopefully more updates in the next couple of days!

 

Thanks for reading.