Hi all,

I'm slowly transferring from the old blog system to the new one. This will take some time, so, bear with me...

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Hi,

After 6 years in storage I've finally re-started my project; Gretchen, an SR20 powered 2002 Touring.

This is a full ground up restoration with a bit of a difference as I am not restoring to concours, rather, to my own personal taste. I'll use BMW parts wherever I can but if another manufacturers product is more appropriate then that's what I'll use. Obviously the engine is the biggest single change, what with it being a Nissan...

Basically the sky's the limit, but I'm trying to keep it real and within a reasonably generous budget. Even so, crazy ideas are being entertained and nothing is being ruled out at the moment.

I'll try and post as much detail as I can over the next weeks, months, years.., but for the time being I'll put up some pics of where I've been and where I'm up to.

I'm happy to take comments and constructive criticism, and I'm sure I'll ruffle a few feathers, so if you don't like the project, thanks and see you later, and if you do like the project feel free to chime in with suggestions.

Cheers,

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Here's the pre-purchase concept. I was only ever thinking subtle body mods and period wheels with mildly tuned M10 in those days. Quite reserved compared to where I'm going now...

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Here's a pic of her delivered to the strippers and then two more of Gretchen re-born.

Seeing her stripped was an amazing sight. If you've ever had a car dipped you know what I'm talking about, but it's hard to describe. It's like she just came out of the factory.

There are 2 processes. First a caustic solution to strip off everything but steel (and oddly plastic?) and then a second dip to stop and reverse rust.

I was worried she'd come out looking like swiss cheese, but I was pleasantly surprised, sort of...

Every accident repair she'd ever had was revealed, being:

- Front clip and left front of the engine bay including the left rail (replaced!)

- left rear quarter from the b pillar to mid way through the wheel arch (replaced!)

- right rear quarter badly roughed out

- rear panel roughed out

- boot floor patched 10 million times including the fuel tank support

- passengers foot well patched, maybe only 5 million times?

And every piece of rust I may have missed if I didn't have her dipped was revealed, which was pretty much everywhere.

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While I was procrastinating I pumped out another quick concept.

Picking colours is hard. Original 02 colours or something new??? I entertained the idea of Dakkar yellow for a while (the first rendering) and then this one in the more traditional silver with the ever popular Alpina rims.

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I had major confusion about colour, then I saw a modern 330 finished in BMW space grey. Nice!

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FAQ member redskinsjbs very kindly picked one of my favorite '02 Tourings and did these renderings for me. Options paralysis...

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Here's the front cut of the donor car. A PS13 180SX. I bought the whole front cut, including gearbox, to make the swap easier.

The best part about buying a front cut is the engine can be started to make sure it runs before purchase. The engine fired up 1st go, even though some of the plumbing was missing from the compressor outlet...

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And here's the same engine test fitted into Gretchen.

As you can see there's loads of room, which is understandable as the SR is a 2L 4 cylinder... The very svelte SR gearbox fits nicely in the 02 tunnel too.

The SR head has the opposite inlet and exhaust configuration to the single cam M10, which is actually better for a right-hand-drive car, but would probably be an issue for LHD. I'm sure some of you have noticed that the twin cam BMW race engine of the era is actually the opposite head configuration too..?

The only notable mods needed to make it fit are; conversion to rack and pinion steering, custom engine and gearbox mounts, change the position of the front sway bar mounts, and move the gear stick hole back about 100mm.