Greek project

[Guest Anonymous]

Hi all,

And greetings from Greece (it’s a small but lately famous country in Europe :-). I m Philip – a very recent 1602 owner.

After a long time I finally managed to find the best value for money car for my project. It was not a very easy job where I leave since most of 1602 / 2002 have already been “junked” and the few that remain have owners that believe the more rust the car has the more money its worth :-)

So about a week ago I picked up this 1602 bellow. Its a 1966 model with 3 previous owners and unknown kms on the clock. It has the original 1600 cc engine but at some point some po converted it to an injection and installed a 5 speed gear box.

Also to my disappointment they have changed the back lights to squares (it was a popular conversion back in the day to make the car look more modern). The frond is also converted with a twin headlight . Originally I dint like it but I am starting to change my mind and I think ill keep the twin headlights.

What I plan to do:

Strip the car to bare metal and fix any rust, wholes etc

Repaint to a colour that still has to be decided

Fit an M42 engine and gear box from E30

Upgrade brakes rims etc

The car will be my daily driver for the summer so I want it to be as easy to use as possible. Hence I think the M42 engine is a good choice. I ll also be looking into some power steering solution if its not a very difficult task. Has anyone here tried a power steering conversion and if yes what was the donor car?

I would also appreciate any input on the colour... Basically just tell me what colour you would paint your car if it wasn’t the colour is now :-) They don’t have to be original 2002 colours.... From the official colours i like the Fjord blue.

The photos are still the photos the po had on the advert as after I bought the car I had to leave and I should be back in about 2 weeks when i plan to begin the project. Until then research and more browsing on other people’s projects.

[Guest Anonymous]

second take at the photos

any suggestions about photo uploading are more than welcome :-)

[Collinster742002]

Love the headlight conversion! Definitely at some point in the bodywork try to convert it back to a round-tail 2002. They're so much cooler.

Looks like a cool project, I'm definitely gonna be watching this

[M3M3]

looking good!

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[M3M3]

hint....got to image shack pic you want to post. click on the "embed this image" link on lower right. click on forum script. hit control-c. got to your post. hit control-v. hit return. voila! pics in your post!

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[filip1602]

Ok I think I found a suitable donor car with an M42 engine and a decent set of recaros for sale. Probably next week I ll go to buy it (500 km away

But the main question is about rims and suspension. On the same trip to buy the donor car I ll have the chance to get some wheels so I d like to hear opinions about a good set up.

This is what I am aiming for : Improved handling and driving quality (would also like to lower the car as much as possible without affecting the previous 2 too much)

At the moment I have 13s and I get tire rubbing when cornering hard ( my bad suspension is also to blame for this a well)

Shall I go for 14s or 15s? Of course I like 15s more and (16s even more) but I really want the best compromise in order to maintain good driving experience.

I know allot of you have tried many different set ups so your experience and advise is really appreciated. Its always better not to reinvent the wheel ;-)

Thanks

[williamggruff]

I suspect you're getting rubbing with your 13's due to the offset of the wheels, not the suspension.

[filip1602]

I thought the same but then got a bit confused because it only does it when cornering...

[filip1602]

Any opinions on the best compromise between looks and driving experience would be really highly appreciated to help me choose a good set up of wheels / suspension.

Thanks