engine and drivetrain Lucky new owner of a 2002

[sega01]

Hey everyone,

I bought Trey's old 2002: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/t,353222

It's absolutely been a great car for me. I have an '87 E30 that's pretty clean, but had a bad spell of luck against it (but that's a whole other matter). I've probably put a good 1.5k miles on the 2002 with no issues at all, and more money spent on new badges than parts.

This one is a 1970 with an E21 radiator, 320i alternator, LSD, Getrag 240 5 speed, Weber 32/36 (originally electric choke, now back to manual thanks to a kit), and a very nice ANSA exhaust. It's had the air pump stripped and I can't find any canister or where the EVAP line goes exactly. I measured it once and it's getting 23MPG on 80% highway driving with 93 octane E10 fuel.

But anyways, on to the issues. It's alignment seems to pull quite a bit to the left, while the brakes go right (making for very exciting hard braking). The hood had the original latching mechanism removed, and was partially prepped for hood pins. I'd probably like to go back to the original mechanism, but would like to hear your thoughts on it as this is the only 2002 I've ever seen. The car definitely gets tossed around in the wind at 70mph on a windy day with the hood like that :-/. The odometer doesn't increment at all on the 7 digit or 3 and 1/10th digit increments. It will roll back with the resetting piece, however.

Recently, any gear that involves pushing the shifter forward results in a rather strange thunking sound. This *seemed* to happen after I replaced the shifter with one that fit the threads properly (so it wouldn't fly off) . The new shifter body broke away from the plastic threads, so I frequently try to push it back on now to get it to stick down properly. I'm not sure if maybe I've pushed too hard and offset something in the linkage mechanism (I'm not very knowledgeable about transmissions).

The biggest issue is leaking fuel (infamous, isn't it?). A full tank will both engulf the cabin with fuel smell and seems to leak out the top of the tank. The O-ring on the fuel tank level sender is good and doesn't seem like a likely point. I'm suspecting the main fuel line with it's myriad of connections to the clear plastic line, or the O-ring of the metal area it connects into. It's quite dirty and worn down looking. It seems to leak the most on hills and I occasionally (I've had it twice or three times) have issues (usually on hills) with what seems to be fuel starvation under WOT (backing off on the throttle seems to fix it for the moment).

Anyways, if you guys have any suggestions I'd really appreciate them. I bought a factory repair manual and should be able to track down most of these on my own, but I'd definitely appreciate some guidance. Let me know if any pictures or more description could help, though.

I do have to say, the 2002 is one heck of a car. Seems better than my E30 in every way, although the E30 shifted a bit nicer.

Also, how do you guys get the 2002 badge to mount properly? Would some sort of epoxy or silicone caulking work to keep the pins in place?

Thanks so much,

Teran

[c.d.iesel]

-you need a 4-wheel alignment readout to tell you if the

4 wheels are square, and within the nominal straight

ahead reading

-you need new front calipers, pads rotors, new brake hoses,

and rear brake shoes adjusted properly

(main problem is your front calipers , rusted

pad sliding surfaces and seized pistons)

+gear shifter platform rebuild

+replace all rubber gas hoses, the large filler neck

hose, inspect the full tank for leaking at the metal tank

seam around the middle, or from the sender unit/pick-up on top of the tank

+trans and motor mounts

[sega01]

-you need a 4-wheel alignment readout to tell you if the

4 wheels are square, and within the nominal straight

ahead reading

-you need new front calipers, pads rotors, new brake hoses,

and rear brake shoes adjusted properly

(main problem is your front calipers , rusted

pad sliding surfaces and seized pistons)

+gear shifter platform rebuild

+replace all rubber gas hoses, the large filler neck

hose, inspect the full tank for leaking at the metal tank

seam around the middle, or from the sender unit/pick-up on top of the tank

+trans and motor mounts

Ouch, that'll be fun. The motor mounts actually feel good to me, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to replace them. What do you think is causing the thunking with the shifter? I don't doubt possibly needing to rebuild it, but I'm just curious as to what might have changed with it.

I did find where the leak is (at least, most of it). The fuel level sender unit has a hose piece on top.. which is not attached to anything (nor do I see any extra hose pieces available). Even pushing on the tank and giving it a little pressure causes a lot of fuel to come right out. Where is that hose attachment piece supposed to go to? Can I just cap it off?

Is this completely stupid, or might it be feasible to completely take off the rear drums from the main brake circuit and only use them as a parking brake? Would that imbalance the braking much? I just like the simplicity of the thought.

Thanks again,

Teran

[landon]

Yes, you can cap off the fuel return line at the sending unit.