engine and drivetrain Hello! An Race Car in Seattle :)

[spets]

Hi guys, just wanted to say hi.. A buddy of mine has a little 1971 BMW 2002 that I decided to join in to help fix it up and get it track ready. It is set up for SCCA ITB, but I'm going to start with track days and maybe autocross first before dumping money into going wheel to wheel. This is my first time with an old, carbureted car so it's going to be a learning experience for me.

Maybe one of you guys knows the previous owner and has some history on this beauty?

Here's what I know.. it's an older 6 fuse 1971 BMW. Stripped interior, has cage, 6 point harness, urethane engine mounts, adjustable swaybars with urethane mounts, 4 speed tranny, 4.1 open diff. It has a 32/36 on it, engine appears to be stock. An electric fan is mounted to the front of the rad. No heater core, no cold choke. Panasport wheels wrapped with brand new Toyo RA-1s. Tires are tough to find in 13"!

It has single bulb (euro?) turn signals. I picked up a relay from autozone and using the FAQs here wired up the turn signals to work. I also replaced all of the gauge cluster bulbs, and bought new (correct) fuses. The PO had 25 Amp fuses in this thing!

Here are a few of my questions so far:

1) It takes 5 pumps of the gas pedal before cranking for the car to fire up. Once it starts and warms up, it runs fine but idles at 500 rpms. I'll play with the idle screw and see if I can't get it idling at 700 or so? Can I do anything about the 5 pumps thing?

2) there is no throttle pedal stop. Is this part of the pedal box or can this piece be required separately?

3) The shifter, well, it's like stirring a cereal bowl full of lugnuts. I took apart the shifter and replaced the ball cups and regreased it. However it is still feeling loose. It sounds like I need to drop the driveshaft sometime and take apart the linkage that goes into the tranny? I checked the allen bolts, they were tight. I also checked the bolts on the diagonal brace and that was tight as well, so I think I've done all I can without dropping the driveshaft. Can I just unbolt the front portion, or do I need to drop the whole thing? I picked up the shifter rebuild kit from rogerstiii so I got lots of new parts that I don't know where they go.

4) How can I correct the speedometer? Currently when the speedo shows 75mph, my car is going 60 according to the GPS. Is this an easy fix?

I think that's it for my immediate questions.. Here's a few pictures!

(and yes, I added a separate catchcan for the oil so it doesn't mix with the coolant anymore. Don't know what the PO was thinking...)

[LimeySteve]

Looks good you'll have fun with that Beauty.On the shifter do a search on here in the FAQ's you'll see a rebuild section. my car had similar issues , it was the rubber insulated mounts that are cross bolted , bad rubber = floppy shifter.

Cheers

Steve

[MicahDolen]

I was stocking you last night on 405 and I90. I was trying to take a pic. I was in my wife's car. I have a 70 1600 that has been on jacks for the last 2 weeks getting a 5 speed. I have extra parts from my old 4 speed to make your shifter feel better. Send me an email micahdolen@comcast.net I am in North Bend.

[roadhog0]

Hey there! I'm out in the Issaquah area when I'm home from school. So if ya need parts I have a lot of stock stuff! But to answer your questions;

1. 5 pumps is normal, mine takes 4. It's a carburetor and you are priming it with the accelerator pump. Idle speed can be adjusted with the screw towards the firewall.

2. The pedal is the throttle pedal stop, when it hits the floor the pedal stops

3. Shifter slop means a couple things in my eyes. One you have loose bolts down there or two you need new shift tower bushings because they're rubber and they do wear out over time. They arent too hard to replace and while you're at it it's a good time to do transmission seals, guibo, and center bearing if you need them.

4. Speedometer off is a typical thing in these cars and probably means your diff was changed. Also if you're running a non stock tire size that doesnt help. If it really matters to ya you can send the speedometer to a place in Cali (David "Chamonix72" on the FAQ) know what the company is and they will calibrate and rebuild it for you.

I wish you luck with your new project and if you got any questions let me know, I'd be glad to help!!

[spets]

Thanks guys!

Ok, so the priming is normal. I am new to carbureted cars so I wasn't sure what to expect!

Ah ok, so there's no extra stop on the pedal? my buddy said it was missing a throttle stop so I wasn't sure. I should probably take a picture...

I ordered a new guibo in prep for dropping the front of the driveshaft in case the current one cracks. There's no vibration or anything while driving so I think the center bearing is OK so I'll leave it alone for now. I also ordered a selector shaft seal because the whole area under the shifter tunnel is wet with fluid. The rest of the car is pretty good about leaks though, no drips on my garage. I should have all the parts I need to rebuild the shifter linkage, I just need to get access to it

So no easy way to fix the Speedo. It doesn't bother me much, it's a race car, not worth the hassle and $$ to send it in and get it recalibrated. With modern cars you can add an electronic doo-hickey to recalibrate the speedometer, but I guess with a cable speedo you're out of luck.

Thanks for the answers fellas!

[MarkDavis]

On question 2 the stop is built into the pedal. If you look on the back side of the pedal there is a boxed in slide area that the linkage from the pedal box fit into so it can only slide so far and then it stops

Mark

[Napes]

I think having to pump the gas pedal 5 times before the car will start indicates a slightly out-of-adjustment carb.

My wife starts her '76, with a 32/36, with one depresion (and a quick release) of the pedal to set the choke and the car starts right up, even when it cold out (it was 28º yesterday morning, even though we're is warm Southern Arizona - warmed to 70º in the afternoon). My '75, with a 38/38 and higher compression, starts the same. On warm days we don't even do the one-depression of the gas pedal - just turn the key and it starts immediately.

Bob Napier

[bob02]

Looks like you have a late model speedo(74 thru 76) in the car now. I'd find the current diff ratio, then get the correct speedo. Looks like a fun car!

bob

[roadhog0]

Thanks guys!

Ok, so the priming is normal. I am new to carbureted cars so I wasn't sure what to expect!

Ah ok, so there's no extra stop on the pedal? my buddy said it was missing a throttle stop so I wasn't sure. I should probably take a picture...

I ordered a new guibo in prep for dropping the front of the driveshaft in case the current one cracks. There's no vibration or anything while driving so I think the center bearing is OK so I'll leave it alone for now. I also ordered a selector shaft seal because the whole area under the shifter tunnel is wet with fluid. The rest of the car is pretty good about leaks though, no drips on my garage. I should have all the parts I need to rebuild the shifter linkage, I just need to get access to it

So no easy way to fix the Speedo. It doesn't bother me much, it's a race car, not worth the hassle and $$ to send it in and get it recalibrated. With modern cars you can add an electronic doo-hickey to recalibrate the speedometer, but I guess with a cable speedo you're out of luck.

Thanks for the answers fellas!

Get an output shaft seal as well. They tend to leak a fair amount.

On the selector shaft seal remove the old one, don't tape it in over the new ones.

[TobyB]

Yeah, that car's been around for quite a while.

I met with a former owner (Ben?) about 5 years ago,

and he wasn't sure what he was going to do with it.

You probably have a 4.11 diff and a 3.64 speedo.

Might be a 3.91... it's pretty common. I wouldn't worry

about it too much at first as you'll want to get it sorted

otherwise- you can have the speedo recalibrated, but it's

serious money (2 13" RA1's worth)

If I remember right, it's SOVREN legal- there are a bunch of

people who run in SOVREN, and they're nice. Loaded, many of them,

so you won't be remotely competitve, but nice. And a few

(Mark Goodsoe, Mike Deilke, among others) are running cars

very similar to this. So you'd have people to play with, and compare notes with. Oh, and race against!

Conference (ICSCC.com) would also be happy to have you in group 2

or 5- but there aren't many 2002s racing there, currently.

hth

t

[spets]

Thanks for the feedback! Good to know there are other leagues I can run with once I get to that point. I'm trying to avoid throwing all of my income into this thing.

Next question: There is an AFR sensor in the car (narrowband unfortunately, I think). The row of lights on the readout go lean on throttle tip-in, then it stabilizes. If I mash the pedal the car hesitates and then goes fine.

The hesitation probably isn't normal. Is this something that the accelerator pump controls? If so, is it adjustable? How does one adjust it? The car has no cold choke so the only other adjusters available (I think) is idle speed and idle mixture.

[bluebmw]

Yeah, that car's been around for quite a while.

I met with a former owner (Ben?) about 5 years ago,

and he wasn't sure what he was going to do with it.

I met Ben a few years back at a dinner party, it's a small world.

[Rigmaster]

No heater core, no cold choke.

1) It takes 5 pumps of the gas pedal before cranking for the car to fire up. Once it starts and warms up, it runs fine but idles at 500 rpms. I'll play with the idle screw and see if I can't get it idling at 700 or so? Can I do anything about the 5 pumps thing?

Sweet looking car.

On #1, I think you may have answered your own question- without a choke it's gonna take some pumping of the gas pedal to get it to run and keep running.

I've got a '71 ITB 2002 also, not quite as pretty as yours, and mine does the same thing when starting cold. It also has no choke plate in the carb.

[M3M3]

yikes. just judging by what is visible in one pic, first thing i would do is fix the dangerous and poorly designed roll cage. the front hoop actually curves forward to the wheel well rather than go straight down to the floor. makes me wonder what other scary features are in the cage elsewhere. you need to have someone who knows cages look that over closely.

[TobyB]

oh, lookeee there...

that's not Ben's car, then- it had something that looked a lot like an

Autopower cage in it.

As Marshall so accurately points out, it doesn't meet SCCA specs.

Too many bends.

Unsafe? Well... I'd add a downtube and not worry.

BUT

The rules also say the side hoops must be one piece of tubing. So

it'd be a good idea to find SOVREN tech or the ICSCC steward

(Michael Conatore, this year) and get them to look at it. Carefully.

It might be salvageable. But get an authorized opinion BEFORE any money goes into it.

Good catch, Marshall.

t