engine and drivetrain Keep original engine on rebuild for 72 2002?

[beelm]

Advice?!? Option to rebuild original engine @ 100,000 miles on my 1972 2002 for $4000 or go with anonymous already rebuilt engine for half that cost? Thought it was good to keep the orig engine since it's low miles but it's more expensive. Any thought are appreciated! Thanks

[AndyS]

Keep it! Does it really need to be rebuilt?

[Gthielen]

If the original engine is going to be pulled by the rebuilder (as opposed to performing the overhaul in-car, or you are doing it yourself) there is no labor savings to rebuild the original. You should definitely KEEP the original for future originality concerns. If you are saving $2000 and money is an issue, I'd say using an engine from another car would be fine. The value premium for "numbers matching" "72 is not likely to equal $2000 unless your car is near concours condition or has very low mileage.

Best,

George Thielen

Dayton OH

74 inka

75 R90S

91 911 C2

03 330i ZHP

[beelm]

Hey thanks for your advice! That was my idea too... I have no idea if it needs to be rebuilt, the shop has it out of the car now. Any good questions for me to ask them on the rebuild? It is 40 years old (this month, happy birthday bimmer).

[beelm]

Thanks, my preference was to keep the original but didn't know if I was being over the top on purist stuff and spending $'s. My car and the engine have about 100,000 original miles and I've had the car since 1979. The car has some body rust (college in Illinois) and subpanel rust (really serious). The body work is after the engine and suspension work. Supposedly looking at @ $6-7,000 for engine and suspension and I'm not sure about the subpanel work yet, haven't got a quote. I have this at a shop.

[jerry]

used engines are fairly common and reasonably priced for the most part, at least on the west coast. put your money on saving the body, first. what you are left with, body-wise will help you decide how to spend on an engine. no need to spend big bucks on a half-baked shell. if you do use another engine, at least hold on to the engine block for the next caretaker of your car...

[TobyB]

I agree with George- at a minimum, keep the block,

as it's the only thing with a number on it. 'Numbers matching'

doesn't seem to mean much to us... yet... but it's easy

to grease up the original block, seal it in a bag and put it somewhere cool

and dry...

t

[beelm]

hey thanks for the good advice on saving the block and body. I'll wait to decide on whether to rebuild the orig engine (or swap) until i get some estimates on the body and subframe work. The rust on the body is just along the rocker panels and one rear hub rim. With suspension out and on a lift, its obvious the sub frame is pretty rusted out and will need to be replaced or fabricated. The rest of the body appears to be in good shape. Car will need to be repainted. I do have an estimate of the paint job and it is $5000 including $800 for a soda blast. I will shop around on that but am limited in this remote area of New Mexico.

[eastsidebimmer]

I now have a factory rebuilt engine in my 2002 and the matching numbers 68 spec unit sits on a wooden rolly-cart in a closet in the corner my shop. Someday, I may want to rebuild it, who knows. Very few crazy people (some of us) will open your hood and inspect your engine and vin stamps. 99% will simply admire your strut bar or carb choice!

[beelm]

I'm probably just pretty boring when it comes to making many changes to my bimmer, thus just putting the original engine back in. I was planning to use a new Weber though!! The engine rebuild appears to be the minor expense at $4k compared to suspension $2-$3 (why is that so expensive!?!) I have a feeling the sub frame work and paint are going to be really big bucks!

[FB73tii]

It sounds like you are getting ready to put big bucks into this car. What is your overall (multi-year) budget for the resto and what is the cars intended purpose? Be aware that rocker rust can turn out to be structural and cost many $thousand to fix. Wheel arch rust can go deep and require replacement panels, not just a quick fix or the rust will come back. Given that you are considering a $5000 paint job you will want all rust issues well taken care of. Just get another rear subframe, no reason to mess around here.

From your post, it looks like you will spend:

Engine $2000 - $4000+

Paint $5000+

Rust repair $2000 - $10,000 (depending on how bad it turns out to be)

Suspension $2,000 - 3,000+

Then once everything is nice and shiny you'll want all new chrome, new headliner, new interior, etc, etc. It is a slippery slope. Figure a few $thousand minimum. How about a new cam while your at it ? Do you really plan to put $12,000 - $18,000+ into this car? If that is the case, you may want to find a clean shell to start with.

That said, when I did a full resto on my 1973tii in 1994 (rocker rust repair, paint, chrome, headliner, interior) my friends thought I was crazy and most shops wanted $10,000+ to even look at the car. And this was without any engine or suspension work. I ended up doing much of the work myself at about half the cost, the car looked great and lasted me many years, and I got many compliments on it. For me, it was worth it.

So, not to say you should not go ahead with your plans, but do take some time to think the project all the way through to what you ultimately want to end up with.

Best of luck with your project,

Fred '74tii & '69

[beelm]

Hey thanks for the reality check! It is a slippery slope that is for sure... I thought I would start with the engine initially, then the suspension came up for drivability... The sub frame rust was a huge surprise last week and although I knew there was rocker panel rust I won't know how bad that is until it's uncovered more, hope it's not too bad. Chrome is in good shape, bumpers good, few dents in the chrome strips but not bad enough to worry about. The interior is in good shape and I wasn't planning to do anything really, split in drivers seat and usual dashboard crack. I would like to get window weather stripping replaced eventually. I am going to shop the body work and paint, the $5000 was the first estimate I got and included the soda blast which may be more expensive than necessary. Actually the original paint is in very good shape with the exception of the hood and soon to be torn up rocker panels. This is just to drive around occaisionally for fun and sentimental reasons. I could help do some of the work but don't have the technical nor set up for actual work. Becky

[O2guy]

Mine came with a spare engine that had some little issue. I kept it and received a good education on rebuilding...with a lot of help!! I wanted to keep the original motor just because the numbers match.