Heidi turned 46 today...not Klum, she's not an alpina or a schnitzer but a 2002ti

[Oldtimerfahrer]

Hi,

I’m not sure that my ti will ever see the shores of the U.S., but I thought I’d share my experiences from afar, especially for the 15^th anniversary. Before that though, I should introduce myself. My name is Andrew, I grew up in New York and a few years after college I moved to Europe. I never owned an 02 in the US, not for want of trying but in New York it was already tough to find a good one in the late 1980’s when I started looking. My mechanic of choice “Werner”, a quite large German with a heavy accent, was never satisfied with the examples I found. Either beat engines and/or loud diffs (codeword “beater” for him) accompanied by crumbling arches and rockerpanels which he always gave a big “nein” to. At the time they were still thoroughly “used” cars, only the best were worth buying in his opinion, which were present but outside my price class. The yard behind his workshop reflected this “natural selection” process. I did eventually find a eurospec 1979 E12 528i instead (which he approved), with the full sport package, which I regret selling to this day. I look in FAQ once every few weeks, find it great that there is such an active community in the US. I find the content and the people really accessible. I used to be a member of the German 02 club, there are lots of nice people there as well but there are also quite a few who live in a different communication age…they want to be a part of a virtual community but only seem to want to meet the same friends. Guests or newcomers have a tough time, especially if they are foolish enough to use Google translator (which is always a mistake). Having patience with newbies is good, even if it means pointing them to the search function again and again…but back to the story.

Heidi was commissioned on February 8, 1971, so she’s a fairly late ti and has a lot of the faults that a ti would have, which narrowly missed becoming a racer. When I bought herit, she sported Nurburgring and Goodyear stickers on the back, was sitting on e21 rims with Pirelli cn36s on a lowered suspension, square taillights and had safety harnesses installed but no seats…and was also missing a few panels, had been partly repainted and had no drivetrain installed. There were boxes and boxes of loose and crated parts which I slowly got acquainted with, a bit of a puzzle. But she carried all the little things that identify a ti as a ti, so I bought it in a rush.

I bought her in 2000, she was last registered in 1983 and the registry slips dated back to 1978 when the original “brief” (title document) had no more empty spaces for entries and a new one was issued erasing its past. The last owner died in a motorcycle accident in 2000 and according to the widow the car was bought new by his father in Darmstadt in 1971. So what I bought was essentially a car with 127,000km (most likely) on the clock, that was registered for road use only for the first 7 years of its life. The Certificate from BMW confirms the vin number as a ti and that it was Colorado from the start, delivered to a BMW dealer near Darmstadt but no other information was available from BMW. It took me 6 years to get her back on the road, for a number of reasons. The running gag in the family was that we were holding a race against time: my daughter vs. the restauration of the BMW. Would my daughter, born in 2000, a few weeks before I bought the BMW, be riding a bike before the BMW was finished… or not. Well, she was an early biker. Now she occasionally does navigator duty and has a learner’s permit.

As I mentioned, when I bought her, there wasn’t much “right” other than it was mostly still original and rust-free. There are still a few things wrong with it like the snorkel (aaah)…yes, in 2002 when I was building, I did not pay much attention to this fact, because I was so excited to have a good nose, doors and floors. The nose was straight, so the nose panels stayed but it would be easy enough to “fix” the snorkelat some point. Rear panels with round cutouts had just appeared back on the market, so the round panel replaced a recently installed square panel. I bought in the package a “rebuilt” engine in a crate with ti pistons but topped with an E10 head and Weber 45DCOE9 carbs.  When I turned it by hand (not aware of the mismatch), imagine my disappointment…. I sourced a used 1970 casting 121 head from ebay, with a 300 degree BMW cam with uprated valvesprings. With the car came a Getrag gearbox from an E28 528e, most of a turbo suspension setup, a lightened flywheel but no clutch, a variety of driveshafts and other pieces… Seems like the owner had parted 3 or 4 ti’s in the course of time and this was the only one to survive. Along with the other parts,  I had four sets of ti intake manifolds, boxes of crusty solex phh’s, four manual advance distributors and water bypass tubes… I obtained a set of ’73 seats from a nearby collector (who had a silver 1970 ti, which he sold for peanuts in 2005) and I was nearly off. A 5 speed was sourced from an E21 318i from a local salvage yard, several broken diffs were fixed to produce one limited slip diff and one spare open diff. I put HD springs in with the sport F&S shocks in the front and adjustable Koni shocks in the rear. It has one dot spacers in the back and sits well on the 185/70 13 tires. Ideal for ripping along on dirt roads, or doing a slalom, not so great for the track.

Heidi still carries original chrome, trim, carpets, headliner, glass, Radio/speakers, instruments, folding keys, glovebox, toolset and “patina”. There is more patina on some parts than others, but very usable and seems to hang together as a package. My philosophy has been to modify it sensibly (ok, as fast as it goes without completely incurring ridiculous expense), but making only changes that can be simply reversed (no “cheeks”). Might have to think about a full restauration for her 50^th birthday.

The painting I did myself, which I will never do again even if isocyanate paints are no longer available. It was only a 90% result, not show quality, but good enough for my purposes. I did also paint the engine bay, trunk and body but the rest did not require refinishing. The end result isn’t really worthy of the car, but since it was never intended to be perfect…(see below) I can live with the result. It was first registered again in 2006, going through the German TUV with no issues and getting the historic vehicle certification (despite the many mechanical mods) at the first go. I told them that I had followed the Alpina A2 spec, provided them the mods (which were all true) and they merrily typed them into the papers along with the cosmic rims.

I built the car to participate in regularity rallies and where I currently live in Latvia, much of the stages are on gravel with relatively high average speeds and contain closed city stages for additional excitement. The club runs hillclimbs once a year, as well as two track days, so my ti gets occasional but heavy use. It has a few concessions to promote performance and longevity, a 123 programmable distributor, oil cooler, electrical fuel pump, a few extra lights up front to keep the nose down and a tripcounter. It has probably covered six thousand miles all told in the last 16 years, so the toyos dried out (horrible tire anyway) and the current Yokohamas are soft enough to get worn down before their expiration date. To run on gravel I have a set of narrower Michelin XAS tires. I find it amazing though, how nicely the XAS’s behave, how controlled and forgiving they are on asphalt. Though in terms of absolute grip the 185/70 13 Yokohama tires are much better. I can imagine what lower profile tires could do on the track but I’m not keen on modifying the fenders to make them fit.

Enough chatter, I hope that the pictures are pretty ok as posted. The sticklers for originality can assess what is not quite original even today. The best non-original aspect is the instrument cluster, I did a double-take the first time I saw it, but it has grown on me and is probably one of the few modifications that would be hard to reverse. Not my doing, but I like it. I added a few “action” shots, since stance can also be dynamic. I know what mine was like on shortened springs and I suspect that a few of the vehicles in the stance thread don’t drive as well as they look, but proper articulation on washboard is probably not a criteria for their suspension choices. Mine probably is not so lean and mean, but it does really well on back roads that are not as smooth as a mirror.

Enjoy the pictures and thanks Steve for making it possible…

Andrew

P.S. A few pictures and for the curious, yes it has 6 fuses, no it didn't have seatbelt mounts in the back, yes it has brackets for the air filter...and yes I still use the original folding keys.

In 2003 "in-process"

2004 or so as finished but not registered...

2

Just before getting a German registration, wearing E21 rims that she came with and impractical lowered springs....and lovely low mileage but 20 year old Pirelli CN36's

My interesting instrument cluster, that someone spent a lot of time covering in leather grain and hand painting the dials...only much later did I realize that I was supposed to have shiny dials and bezel, difficult to fix now but its kind of cool. Yes, the seats are later Recaros, a compromise to comfort. Thanks to FAQ, I have a clock that works, but its not installed yet...

 

A few beauty shots of sorts...at least this is how she looks in 2016

 

And a few action shots...doing what we do together...regularity rally on narrow tires

Hillclimb (ok, its a valley actually that you go down and then up out of). Oil pan protector came with the puzzle of parts, but really works.

Track day...yes, 185/70 tires do fill the arches and do a really good job despite what some might think.

[jgerock]

Wonderful story and car! Was and still is my favorite combination.

[zinz]

Fantastic... what a cool car.  Thanks for sharing.

 

Ed

[tisalover]

Bravo, what a beautiful car, and excellent vision you have.

 

Keep driving the wheels off of it, it is good for both of you. I agree with Jim that is the ultimate 2002 model and color combination.

Best regards, Peter

[TonyHavana]

Nice to see it being used as it should be. I agree with everyone above - the best version of 2002!

[jgerock]

When you can, please take a few pictures of the hazard switch and little console beneath the steering column and post here. I have not seen the close up details of these two items before.  Believe the one in the console is rear defroster switch??

[kbmb02]

(Nice car ... though, admittedly, I was looking for photos of Heidi Klum.) -KB

[zinz]

Do you mind sharing your 123Ignition curve ?

 

such a great car

 

Ed

[Oldtimerfahrer]

18 hours ago, jgerock said:

When you can, please take a few pictures of the hazard switch and little console beneath the steering column and post here. I have not seen the close up details of these two items before.  Believe the one in the console is rear defroster switch??

Hi Jim,

Sorry, the car is parked in by another project but if you remind me in a few weeks when its warmer I will push one out. I am happy to send you a picture. The hazard switch is standard, I believe if you look in the period owner's handbook there is a picture of it as well. It lights red I believe when flashing. The other is indeed a rear defroster switch, the housing is plastic and slips on in between the under dash panels requiring no drilling. It does not light up and is just a one-stage pull. I use it to activate/deactivate the driving lights / fog lights as its a legal requirement here to be able to turn them off. I never drive it in the winter, so the rear window defrost is an unused extra. Its quite practical to use this switch for the auxiliary lights, as I have the extra relays for the low/beam and high/beam mounted right below the steering column. These are running through the old harness to the headlamps and I pick up the trigger for the driving lights here as well. When either of the headlight circuits are powered, I can switch between fog and driving lights. Fog lamps are on the circuit for the low beam, drivng lamps on the high beam. If I want to use both at the same time I do have to swap a wire between the actual relays in the engine compartment. That's only done when there is a stage at night on closed roadways.

[Oldtimerfahrer]

18 hours ago, zinz said:

Do you mind sharing your 123Ignition curve ?

 

such a great car

 

Ed

Hi Ed,

Sorry, someone deleted my 123 software from my Laptop, so I don't have the curve saved and have to read it out of the distributor. Are you still maintaining the thread with the curves? 

I have the USB wired version. I set up 2, one with a 32 and the other with 34 maximum advance I believe, but I will check. I run it on 98 octane fuel and I will probably re-do the curve after I have the wideband sensor installed...might install a knock sensor as well if I am wiring anyway.

From the log file that was not deleted, the figures also show 32 at 3600, but the other numbers don't look right.

Andrew

Edited February 12, 2017 by Oldtimerfahrer
misspelling of knock

[02Anders]

Happy Birthday Heidi!!  
What a stunning MILF you've got yourself there...

[jp02ti]

I love it!  I'd be curious to know the VIN, and see what it looks like under the hood.  Jim, I have that same 4 way position, I can take a picture for you.  my rear defrost switch is directly to the left of the gauge cluster, I believe where a 4-way would go on a US 02?

 

Jon

[Jam3422]

Andrew:

 

My slightly younger sister turns 46 this week (2/16), also a colorado ti.  My vin is 1695464, I am curious how close your vin is to mine.  I plan to give her back her original solex phhs for her birthday.

 

Jim, I have the same hazard switch and the rear defrost switch on the console beneath the steering column.

[saaron]

Sweet cars.  Only other 02s I really would like to have are the ti and the Turbo.

 

Neither of those are happening.  I will just be happy with what I have.  Thanks for sharing the stories.  I enjoyed that.  

 

Scott

[Oldtimerfahrer]

6 hours ago, jp02ti said:

I love it!  I'd be curious to know the VIN, and see what it looks like under the hood.  Jim, I have that same 4 way position, I can take a picture for you.  my rear defrost switch is directly to the left of the gauge cluster, I believe where a 4-way would go on a US 02?

 

Jon

Hi,

I put other pictures in the 2002ti group, the VIN is 1695265.

Andrew