2002 Touring '74 from Belgium, full restoration project (Lots of pictures)

[D.martijn]

Thank you, @2002haus!

[Colin]

Great welds!

[D.martijn]

Thanks for the comment, @Colin !

[D.martijn]

Today I continued on the repair of the rear shock tower of the 02 because I didn't want to get the neighbors angry on a nice sunny Sunday and I didn't have time on Monday..
I first thought I might be able to reuse the original piece that I cut out and replace some of the rotten bits, I decided this would be too much of a hassle so I tried to form the repair section from a flat piece of 0,85mm sheet metal.

For the little step down section I was able to use some flat jaw welding vice grips to form it. To make the curve I bended the piece by hand and some hits with the hammer & dolly.
Still too big but getting there..




After trimming the exes off, some more forming and drilling the holes for plug welding


Had to ground some more off, ready to weld. These are some handy little clamps


Fully welded and cleaned off.


Detail of the step down, pretty close to the original shape. (Looks like it doesn't show up that good on photo)


Checking the underside for penetration, seems to be good


Jig fully removed and zinc primer added


Only thing that"s left is grinding all the welds down, welding a bead on the middle support and 4 beads on the side of the inner piece.

[D.martijn]

Yesterday I received a new book in the mail. Very nice quality and at a first glance some great information about the 02s.


Today I had a look at the Hofmeister Kinks of our Touring, it was pretty clear that these will have to be replaced/patched up.


First layer of metal removed, exposed some more rust


Second layer removed, looks like there is something missing 

Last piece removed, I still have to remove the flat piece too.
This will now get sandblasted before I put new metal in.


As for now, I sprayed some zinc primer on it to protect it a little bit till it gets sandblasted.


We were able to save this piece from the cut up shell, this is in much better shape than our kink


Here is a shot of all the layers, I thought some people might find this interesting 

Other side, not as bad from the inside


Forget what I said earlier..


Everything removed except the flat piece. Same deal for this side, the replacement piece we got is in much better shape.

 

[D.martijn]

Today I went through all the parts that we want sandblasted by the guy that will sandblast our shell.
Still need to disassemble a few things further and remove some of the rubber bushes of the suspension bits.
There was a discount on the suspension bushes from WallothNesch I of course placed an order, great timing!

After sorting that stuff out, I had a look at the lower right side corner of the front a pillar. It was starting to get pretty thin on the seam where the window rubber sits over.
I first cut the required patch out of the panel that came from the cut up shell we got.
Then I marked the outline of that piece onto the corner and cut most of the rotted bit out.

Here you can see the rusted lip still in place.


Then drilled out the spot welds and test fitted the patch. Still a bit of grinding left to make it fit.
Now that this piece is out it'll make it much easier to sandblast the inside




 

[D.martijn]

Our order form Walloth Nesch arrived this week, mostly rubber suspension bushes, some hardware and the rubber protection tube since it all was on discount


We also got 3liters of epoxy primer so we can paint our shell when the sandblaster comes on Thursday
He will also sandblast the suspension parts so I gave the local powder coating place a call, all set 


 

[D.martijn]

Yet an other update!

Yesterday evening we set our big party tent up in the backyard. This will serve as a blasting booth.
Hopefully it'll keep most of the dust inside 

Today I still had to disassemble the steering column, luckily I found the right instructions in the BMW Shop Manual.
The shaft will get galvanised and the column blasted and painted black.


I also removed the rest of the old A pillars and the flat piece of sheet metal on the C pillar.


Also get everything that needs to get blasted ready and masked the surfaces that don't need to be blasted.
Struts, shafts, suspension bits..


Exhaust manifold, pedal box, brakes and some sheet metal parts..


Real trailing arms


Front & rear subframe, rear springs, brake parts & sway bar..


Front nose panel

[2002haus]

This is one of many cool parties to attend.  Thank you for the long distance invitation. 

 

What should we bring?  What is the dress code? 

 

 

[D.martijn]

@2002haus Hahaha, Thanks for the great comment, it put a smile on my face!

 

It was actually a pretty hot party at 95°F outside temp, even hotter inside! 

Dust mask is advised, a broom optional.

 

___

 

And here it is, the long awaited sandblast update!

Most nooks and crannies got sandblasted. We didn't sandblast the big flat panels to avoid warpage.
When blasted I went over the whole car with compressed air to remove all of the sand and rubbed the car down with white spirit to remove the last bit of dust.
Then I sprayed Brunox on the places where there was some pitted rust. Finally everything for a coat of epoxy primer.
First time ever using a spray gun, painting the car went pretty good. I first started with the bottom of the floor to get the hang of it.

I'll just post pictures now 

[D.martijn]

Today I welded the new replacement A pillar corner on our car.

I started with cleaning up the epoxy primer on the edge where I'm going to weld. I also coated the inside again with some Brunox then some zinc primer.

Making sure the piece fits, these handy little magnets make it much easier.

Tacking the piece in place, had to do some fiddeling on the right side as the weld shrunk the metal pretty hard on that side.

Hard to get this on picture but both edges are nice and flush

Ground all the tacks flat. 

Ground the spot welds too

Wasn't happy with the little flange so I filled it up and ground it smooth again, looks much better now.

I pulled the flange from the firewall where it meets the tunnel when we sandblasted the car since there was some slight rust forming in there. I now hammered it flat again and gave it a coat of zinc primer.

I also got started on the other A pillar. I have to fabricate some new metal on the backside of the corner since it's rotted there too. Pretty hard shape to make so I'll have to make it from 2 pieces. 
 

[D.martijn]

Another day, another A pillar!

Today I got started with the left A pillar.
I first had to patch the backside of the pillar since it was rotted pretty bad. I gave the whole inner section a liberal amount of Brunox too.
Pretty hard to bend such a patch from a single sheet of 1.2 thick metal so I decided to make it from 2 smaller pieces.

 

Fully welded

 

Ground smooth, still have to clean it up some more.
I think this will be pretty easy when I receive my pneumatic angle die grinder and power file.

 

Cleaned up the epoxy on the side and coated the inside with zinc spray

 

Here you can see the upper patch panel. I also welded it from the inside (like it came from the factory)

 

Replacement panel welded in. I had to make a small patch panel too because my replacement panel was just too short.

 

Welds ground flat. It looks pretty good, although I had a hard time fitting the panel on this side.

 

Also coated the backside with some zinc primer.

 

Edited August 30, 2016 by D.martijn

[D.martijn]

This time I got started with the left C pillar.
A few posts ago I showed some pictures of the rotted bits I removed. Time for some fresh metal!

 

I started with carefully taking the replacement pillar apart.
I was able to save the reinforcement pieces

 

I sandblasted both pieces and gave them a coat of zinc primer

To repair the C pillar, I have to repair the panel where the trim rivets onto. This was a simple 90deg bend.
Great having a crude sheet metal brake on each corner of our car thanks to the tilting jig  :thumbs: 

 

Next was making another 90deg piece, this one needed a stepdown on one side.

 

Bended stepdown piece in place, both pieces will be plug welded together

 

After making sure the 2 smaller pieces would fit, I tried fitting the reinforcement piece of the pillar.
Luckily it was easy to line it up thanks to the hole for the rear seat belts and another hole.

 

When I was sure it would fit, I welded the little pieces in place and grounded the welds carefully smooth, making sure that I didn't touch the edge.

 

 

I then cleaned up the epoxy primer off of the sheet metal for the reinforcement piece. As I was grinding, a screwdriver fell from the roof right on to my can of zinc primer. What a coincidence that the point hit the rim of the can. The can lost all it's pressure.. 
As it was an almost full can, I took an old jar and poured the zinc primer into it. I'll apply the primer from now on with a brush..

 

Gave both the top and underside a coat of zinc primer. The brush actually made applying the primer on the underside very easy.

 

It took some time but also the reinforcement piece fitted nicely. it too got a coat of zinc primer.

 

Welded in, had a hard time welding the plug welds, not sure why.

 

Everything got grounded flat.

 

And finally a good coat of zinc primer.

 

Tomorrow I'll finish the pillar by welding in the smaller reinforcement piece and then the top plate.
 

[D.martijn]

Today I finished the C pillar, well almost.
Only thing that I have to do is welding a new lip to the flange of the quarter panel. But before that I'll have to sand the welds flush with the powerfile I ordered that still hasn't arrived yet.. :dry: 

I started with welding the smaller reinforcement piece. I also plug welded it on one spot to make sure I wouldn't shift.
Normally it's only spot welded against the metal sheet I'll install next.

 

By making a template of the c pillar before taking it all apart, I was able to easily form the metal sheet that goes over the small reinforcement piece I just welded in.

This time my plug welds were pretty good, got some good penetration on the other side too.
This piece is plug welded to the piece I just welded in.

 

 

I then welded some beads at the sides (like factory) and gave it a final coat of zinc spray.

 

I also welded everything to the 90deg bended piece I installed yesterday. The welds still need to be ground flat. Also coated this in zinc primer

 

Quite the difference!

Edited September 2, 2016 by D.martijn

[D.martijn]

Finally received the pneumatic tools I've ordered
Feels great in the hand and has some nice weight to it for only 30-40€. I also bought several sanding discs etc.

 

Angle die grinder and powerfile 

 

Tested out the powerfile by sanding down the welds on the C pillar I replaced and cleaned it up some further with the angle die grinder.

 

I also started disassembling the replacement C pillar for the other side. This one had some more rust and might need a bit of patching.