What did you do to your 2002 today !

[John76]

15 minutes ago, Conserv said:

(first photo is February 1977; second photo is March-ish 1978)

Wow...that is brutal!  East coast salt ate your fog lights, one bracket, AND your front license plate in just one year!! 

John

PS: My original muffler/resonator lasted 41 years and 138k miles.... always on the "Left Coast".

['76mintgrün'02]

25 minutes ago, Conserv said:

Looks like your car acquired and lost a bumper-mounted trailer hitch! ?

 

It's not lost.  It's in the parts stash.  I might make one that mounts the same way, but has a socket for a removable tongue/ball.  I kept bashing my shin on it, so I took it off early on.

 

14 minutes ago, John76 said:

did you curl the edges after the snip? 

 

The stamp in the panel has a nice rounded edge and I just snipped close to the bend and then used a drum sander to grind it back the rest of the way.

 

 

I saved the cut-out and am tempted to make a little piece to fill in the center mount notch.  I'm trying to prioritize though and that needs to go low on the list.  This socket is a good match for the radius and I'd use it to bend a lip over on the patch and fit that up to the panel.  Not today though.

 

 

 

[Conserv]

2 hours ago, John76 said:

… East coast salt ate your fog lights, one bracket, AND your front license plate in just one year!!…

 

Yeah, brutal, John! I might have helped the salt along by running into the rear bumper of a pickup truck… ?

 

In that second photo, the car was just back from the body shop. I was holding off mounting the fog lights until a new right guard was fabricated by a metal shop. And Pennsylvania did not require a front plate, so I believe the license plate holder, damaged in the accident, disappeared for 35 years. Damn salt!   
 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

[Geoff Raynak]

On 8/22/2022 at 8:37 PM, AceAndrew said:

  The booster is a PITA... based off of my initial dimensions, I thought there'd be no issue.  Not so much.  Stacks won't clear, nor will the bottom mount cable linkage bracket.  Problems for tomorrow.

 

this build is amazing ... without a doubt ... 

but is there a reason to keep the vacuum booster?

 

we have had substantial success with the bosch ibooster ... 

Lars has a great set of pages dedicate to them: https://www.evcreate.nl/installing-the-ibooster/

 

 

it just takes a keyed 12V and acts as a servomechanical booster.

it can live right where the vacuum booster lives ... but is much narrower

you can get left or right hardline exits depending on what you need and how hard you search

 

i also think Lars is working on solutions for you to keep your own master cylinder

i don't remember the bore/stroke ratios of the OEM tesla version ... but in our 280SL build ... the brakes were phenomenal

 

wish i had this system in my car ... 

 

[AceAndrew]

@Geoff Raynak   Frankly I’d love nothing more than to find a better fitting alternative to the stock booster (without resorting to manual brakes).

 

I will %100 look into this…. after I get the car running as is.  Thank you for bringing it up.

[Geoff Raynak]

there are a few e30 folks running this too ... 

 

 

but can't agree more ... if (motor space constraints) > (booster space constraints) ... then this is the way

[PapaG]

Another trip to my body shop. Primer/block work is well underway. Should be done within the next few weeks. Very excited to bring her home and start putting it all back together.

[John76]

6 hours ago, Conserv said:

In that second photo, the car was just back from the body shop.

I like the air dam ... or is that the snowplow option?

[jp5Touring]

Redoing the old stereo in the 71  Malaga 02

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by jp5Touring

[Howardpowered]

1 hour ago, jp5Touring said:

Redoing the old stereo in the 71  Malaga 02

 

ha..me too; wasnt in my plan b/c i’m not a big stereo guy. however, i’m experiencing a cascade of dependencies stemming from decision to swap out the rear bench seat for e24 buckets.  im at the point now where i trade a/b class amps with smaller d class so they can remain under the buckets. probably will still be glad to have the buckets, but that choice does significantly reduce the volume where many like to relo the battery.  

['76mintgrün'02]

I reinstalled my stereo today too, along with the console.  The 90s CD player is just filling the hole though.  I did not reinstall the rats nest of wiring, since I don't have decent speakers to connect it to.

 

I reinstalled the rear seat after a month or two of driving around in an empty shell of a car.  It sure seems to take up a lot of space, but it's nice to have a car that feels complete again. 

 

 

The previous owner had installed speakers under the seat, but they were garbage by the time I got the car, so I removed them.  The speaker faces are glued to the carpet by their rusted-out screws.     The bulkhead had rust around the oval speaker holes, so I cut out bigger rectangular holes, back when I removed the whole bulkhead to chase rust that'd run underneath it and paint the floor.

 

 

The bulkhead is held in with three little sheet metal screws and this time I used closed cell foam and double stick tape to keep the bottom in place.  To keep the carpet in place, I made some little stainless clips.  

 

 

They're a quick and dirty solution that's good enough for now.  Someday I'll repair or remake that bulkhead.

 

 

That faded old carpet is still hanging in there. 

 

 

Today I picked up some padding to put in the footwells.  I'll use the two original foam/rubber/foam pieces as patterns for new pads and just pull up the door thresholds and pinch welt on the A pillar to insert them.  The one piece carpet fits better on top of the pads and I like the vibration dampening under foot.

 

While under the car changing the transmission's oil, I noticed the underside of my steering box was a little wet, so I pulled the plug to check the oil level and was relieved to see it up near the top.  I added a little oil and put the plug back in.  I think it was Einspritz that said it is important to keep them topped-off with oil.

 

I noticed a cool little detail inside the plug.  That's a clever way to keep it in place.

 

 

 

I drove the car around 80 miles today and stopped at three auto parts stores hoping to find a five-quart jug of 20-50 VR-1, but struck out.  I have one jug on hand and will use it to replace the oil I drained when I got home.  I think I'll change the oil in the reer differential tomorrow and bleed the brakes/clutch.

 

Maybe we need a new thread, "What are you going to do to your 2002 tomorrow !"

Tom

[Leucadian]

In honor of my new Dual DCOE setup...

 

 

New plates!

[eviction_party]

 

went on a mountain bike ride

[dlhoovler]

I got the radiator back in the car on Monday - it had sprung a leak in mid-July, and I finally located an old-school radiator shop that could solder up the top tank. He said the rest of it checked out just fine - no need for a recore. I gladly paid $110 rather than those gold-plated new radiators. 

 

While the system was drained, I replaced the cobbled-together hose between the head and heater valve with the proper piece. 

 

I also wrestled with the speedometer cable to get it rerouted so it doesn't hang so low under the car - I've been fearful since I installed the 5-speed that I would snag a dead skunk one day. But it had been that way since 2004 without issue, so maybe it wasn't a problem. It was a pain getting it out of the transmission, but now it's done. 

 

Last night I took the car to a local car show at the town fair (neglected to take any photos, sorry!). I had today off, so I bled the brakes, realigned the exhaust to fix the rattle against the subframe, checked various fluids and swapped the 13" setup out for my 2000CS wheels. The 14" Sumitomos on them need to be replaced - their date codes are 2013 and '14 - but they're still better than the "Epic Tour" chinesium on the 13" Opel wheels. Those cheapos were an epic FAIL, as I'd feared. 

 

Now to drive it!

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by dlhoovler

[zinz]

26 minutes ago, dlhoovler said:

Now to drive it!

Dave... your car is my all time favorite. Glad you’re out enjoying it and avoided snagging any skunks along the way. ?

 

Ed Z