Bimmerfest 2010 and Ceylon update (nt)

[ceylove]

First, I gotta say, I love Ceylon as a color for these cars! I get asked all the time, or told, "Hey, that was never a BMW color, isn't it a bit Cadillac Pimpy Gold?" Yes, it was a correct color, mostly in Europe but it's on the BMW 2002 color chart.

Well, we got the car back from Ansite restorations 2-days before the Bimmerfest. Jim Ansite, amazing mechanic, fabricator, motor builder, etc saved the worst for last-fabricating custom seat brackets for the Recaro's that would allow full movement. These seats are narrower than the stock ones and to make it worse the 4-locating holes in the seat bottoms where the brackets would be attached were not square. That and mounting the rear bumper, a Euro chrome conversion for my 76' squarie. Jim replaced all the suspension, brakes, driveline, rebuilt the motor and re-did the 5-speed conversion someone else had screwed up. No comment on that!

I bought it with a "good used motor" that was the worst smoker I've ever seen, but only after I did the first oil change. Must have loosened up! Jim was going to just try a fresh valve job but after we did that the leak down test still showed 78% leakage so we knew the motor needed to be rebuilt.

1.5 hours is all he took to pull the motor (I was there watching in amazement!) mount it to his stand and strip it to the block, crank and pistons, wrapped up in bags and sent me off to the machine shop. Where's all the drama on a motor rebuild? Hour and a half!, Machine shop cleaned everything, checked tolerances, did their thing on the crank, bores, etc and I had it back in 3 days, bottom end assembled, new bearings, seals, etc.

Jim specifically asked the machine shop NOT to paint the block. That's where he gets into the details. He wire brushed it, in every nook and cranny to bare metal before painting the block and pan so I can enjoy the look of a nicely painted motor for more than a week of driving.

We still have to do some welding and repair on trunk lock, someone (I'm being very nice here ) drilled out the lock and none of us noticed the hole was larger than it should have been until after painting. And the front bumper needs to be installed, valance cut, then some touch up paint, etc.

I need a larger brake master cylinder. We went larger on the brakes but not the master and the pedal travel is too long.

Some of the goodies we put in:

292 Schrick, -new valves, dual springs, keepers, guides, seals, etc all new

IE-SS header to tail pipe (complete with a full day's cutting, re-welding, bending, etc to get it to fit.

tii struts

new wheel bearings all around

E-12 brakes with vented discs

250mm Turbo drums w/19mm cylinders

Bilstein HD's all around

H&R lowering springs

New urathane bushings everywhere Ft & rear

big sways F/R that came apple green, re-powder-coated matt black

new tii alloys, lug nuts

Vredestein tires

NOS tii dash clock

replaced dash with like new used dash

new carpet

dynamatt on firewall, tunnel, floors, all of interior

New chromed Euro bumpers front and rear, body holes filled during painting

5-speed

Leather/black/white/Ceylon gold-hounds tooth Recaro period sport seats

w/lumbar & 2 stage heaters, controls hidden

350 mm Petri sport steering wheel

new rubber on door seals, windshields, etc

new front windshield

Motor still bedding in, only 500 miles on it, still plenty to do but I love driving this car the 300+ mile round trip from Palm Springs to LA a couple days a week. It loves to hum along at 80+.

thanks for all of the support on this project.

I've gotten the best parts at the best prices and super tech support on the FAQ.

[Lebowski]

Man, I love that color. I bet it looks even better in person. Your interior is nicer than some apartments I've lived in. My interior looks like the Unibomber's shack in comparison.

Love the plaid seat inserts? Is that an original Porsche fabric?

Kudos, nice work!

[RogueDriver]

It was nice to meet you and the wife and young one at Bimmerfest. Car looks great. Its nice to see your efforts have paid off. Cruising at 80 on the freeway sounds great. Its inspiring me to go with the 5 speed plan.

Jeff

[tony2002]

I've got to say, your car is amazing! Any chance you can snap off a few more pics of your interior? from one Ceylon to another?

-tony

[Gordon]

Ceylon rocks, your 02 looks awesome. I had a former 73 Bavaria that was ceylon gold. It was an original CA blue plate car that I picked in OC. I bought that car and drove it home for $400, complete with 14" Alpina 5 lug wheels. PO pulled the 3L M30 and slushbox and dropped in the drivetrain from a 79 E24 (3.3L M30 and 4 speed) and converted it to EFI. The sellers wife hated the car and he just wanted to get rid of it. I still regret getting rid of that one but it needed a repaint and some minor bodywork. Ceylon in a large car such as in a E3 or E9 looks stunning to say the least. John Barlow on this list now owns the ceylon Bav but I've got the Alpina's on my current E3.

G-Man

[ceylove]

Thanks all for the feedback. It's been a fun project. I'll post a couple more interior & seat bracket fabrication pics and a motor pic that didn't get on before.

BTW-on the 5 speed, not sure what rear ratio I have, but @ 3500rpm it's going 74mph, @ 4500 95mph. We checked the speedo against a new car and the 2002's actually conservative by 5mph! You can really feel the cam come on over 4000, a gentle push in the back and it rushes off to 90, 95.

[ceylove]

(nt)

[Davo]

My Ceylon 73 tii is a beater, but some day I hope to get around to it. I love the car, it is the best car I have every had and I have had plenty. The car is plenty tough the engine was worn out 10 years ago when I got it, but the car has never let me down, after a nuclear attack the cockroaches and that car will be the only things still runnning around.