What did you do to your 2002 today !

[Senna27]

While my car was in the body shop having the hood replaced (my mechanic was backing my car out of his shop with the hood open and his roller door was part way down and bent it beyond repair), I decided to replace the front and rear window gaskets. While the glass was out, I asked if there was anything they could do about the sun damage and cracks in the dash. I was pleasantly surprised to see what a nice job they did. Car's almost back together. Hope to get a few good drives in before the snow flies. 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by Senna27

[WRKO]

2 hours ago, Senna27 said:

While my car was in the body shop having the hood replaced (my mechanic was backing my car out of his shop with the hood open and his roller door was part way down and bent it beyond repair), I decided to replace the front and rear window gaskets. While the glass was out, I asked if there was anything they could do about the sun damage and cracks in the dash. I was pleasantly surprised to see what a nice job they did. Car's almost back together. Hope to get a few good drives in before the snow flies. 

 

 

I've not seen a dash repair turn out this nicely while in situ!  Did they give any details on their process?

 

[7502]

Anticipating the 7 month rainy season looming over the horizon I sprayed some 3M Cavity Wax into the into the front fender. I was surprised to notice the passenger side door switch was absent. Made it even easier to spray that side. After that I waxed the fenders and hood.

 

Now I have to consult a wiring diagram and see if passenger doors had switches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by 7502

['76mintgrün'02]

I spent some more time today cleaning the car after my return trip from Sioux Falls, S.D..  I left there at noon on Tuesday and arrived home at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday; splitting the trip with an overnight stop just east of Billings.  Day two was a fourteen hour run.

The car ran great, aside from the second-to-last tank of gas running leaner than the rest.  The AFR gauge was climbing up past 15 while accelerating gently and then it'd start running crappy, so I had to either let off, or push the pedal down far enough to bring in the secondary barrel.  That made for a lot of on/off gas pedal work that wasn't much fun; but the rest of the time it'd climb to 14 and then smoothly drop richer all on its own.  Cruising at 4200 rpm put it right at the secondary tip-in point.  I neglected to bring the little Allen wrench to adjust the custom-secondary-link, or I would have been tempted to pull over and set it .030" taller, to accommodate the crappy gasolean.  (I put the tool back in my timing light's box today). 

 

82mph put the tach at 4400rpm and I noticed some slight harmonix between there and 4600rpm, where it smoothed out and the exhaust note got quieter.  That would be around 86mph (accounting for the 10% speedo/odo discrepancy). 

 

 

I may not have been the fastest car on the freeway, but I'm sure my engine was spinning the fastest!  I was also in the oldest car... by far.

 

Yesterday, I washed the bugs off of the car and took all my crap out of it and then spent a little time cleaning under the hood and looking for any signs of problems. 

 

Today, I put the car up on stands and crawled underneath looking for any signs of problems, while repeatedly saying, "thank you for getting me home without any problems."   

 

I did find a surprise yesterday, when I looked down at the alternator's ground wire and noticed that the crimped-on eye-fitting had broken off and the contact was being made by the stiff wire holding it in place.

 

 

The L light never came on and I'd spent the last several hours of the drive with the headlights on.  I got lucky.  (I think this might have happened before the trip, since the L light had been slow to turn off at start up a number of times).

 

 

Today, I made a new wire that isn't as stiff and routed it in a way that doesn't put strain on the ends.

 

 

 

After that, I grabbed the fan blade and was able to turn it and slip the belt, so I tightened it until I could use the fan to turn the engine over.  I can still deflect the belt by 1/2" in the long run, so I don't think it's too tight.  This is the easiest way I've found to tighten the belt.

 

 

I indulged in treating all the hoses to some Back-to-Black today, while thanking them for getting me home without any problems.    They're the same hoses that were on the car when I bought it and they're still going strong.  I noticed that the top radiator hose has a little elephant on it.  I think it is also stamped BMW.  Did the original hoses have elephants on them?  (That's not an original hose clamp...).

 

 

I should have taken more photos along the way.  I'll take more next time.  It's pretty out there.

 

 

 

Tom

[its55]

Rear brakes fun continues! Got the RR adjusters freed up, cleaned up the area to prep for a little painting, fabbed another brake line and cleaned up the garage!  

[Son of Marty]

Tom that's the trademark of the Metzler rubber company it symbolizes it's long ties with south east Asia rubber plantations.

[Leucadian]

Installed @BLUNT wire loom and wire protectors today.  They work great along with the red sleeves

 

 

 

I think it needs some tidying up still, I have to figure out if I want to cinch the ends of the sleeves down at the ends.  

 

Makes my valve cover look pretty shabby....

[Stevenc22]

Picked up my seats from upholstery and repainted my air box. Still waiting on my kugelfischer to be rebuilt so stuck doing side projects. 

[Lorin]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:09 AM, '76mintgrün'02 said:

 

Tom

Tom, can I politely encourage you to step up your wiring terminal game to OE quality? 
 

OE type brass, double crimp terminals crimped with the correct crimpers are vastly superior to the type in your pictures both in durability and looks. 
 

 

With the right terminals and crimpers you will be able to create wiring that is  super high quality and identical to OE which is in line with the other work I see you do. 
 

Thank you for sharing your road trip !

 

-Lorin

[Zeke]

Lorin-

 

mind sharing your source for wiring needs, and type of crimper you recommend?

[ricsix]

I think Frank is finally ready to go get painted, although it seems I always find just one more place to sand before I say he’s completely done.

 

Also, my I put new brake rotors and calipers on my E3, waiting on a master cylinder now to continue progress. 

[Senna27]

On 9/23/2022 at 6:32 PM, WRKO said:

I've not seen a dash repair turn out this nicely while in situ!  Did they give any details on their process?

 

 

No. I showed up one say and it had what looked like epoxy smeared all over it. The next time stopped by it looked like new. It turned out far better than I ever expected. 

[JohnS]

On 9/23/2022 at 9:09 PM, '76mintgrün'02 said:

I indulged in treating all the hoses to some Back-to-Black today, while thanking them for getting me home without any problems.    They're the same hoses that were on the car when I bought it and they're still going strong.  I noticed that the top radiator hose has a little elephant on it.  I think it is also stamped BMW.  Did the original hoses have elephants on them?  (That's not an original hose clamp...).

 

 

 

 

EDIT:  Found an example in my parts stash.  Hose between thermostat and water pump.  BMW on the left, elephant on the right.  Not a very clear stamping on this one, but you get the idea.

Edited September 26, 2022 by JohnS

[BLUNT]

Ive never seen that elephant logo. Aftermarket clamp and aftermarket hose 

[JohnS]

I've had OEM BMW hoses that were stamped with the BMW logo and were made by Metzeler.  The little hose between the heater valve and the heater core was one of them.  Brings back memories of the 1962 VW bug that I had as a teenager.  The first new tires I ever bought for it were from Metzeler.

I see that Metzeler is now a subsidiary of Pirelli...

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by JohnS