What did you do to your 2002 today !

[HLBlanton]

I did the best thing you can possibly do with a 2002. I got it!  

 

That is, I am in SoCal, and the car ('73tii) was being upgraded a bit at a shop in San Francisco, and today, it was delivered to my doorstep. Oh, happy days......

 

I'm curious - I've switched over to a 9.4 compression, super light flywheel, 123 ignitions, 5 speed out of a 3 series,  and a bunch of other stuff, including more aggressive suspension. My first couple of test runs showed a 0-60, averaging 7.6 seconds. Does this seem about right? I've not tuned the 123 up yet or bumped my octane up to about 93.

 

The fun part of the drag runs was I had my wife in the car, and she couldn't believe how high I was letting it rev.  At 60mph I spinning about 6200 RPM. Sweet sound and feel, but she thought it was nuts.

 

I'm looking forward to trying again without the wife and also removing about 75 pounds of spares I have in the trunk.

 

HLY

[Leucadian]

@HLBlanton welcome to the club!  Post some pics of your car when you get a chance.

 

can’t speak to timed 0-60 runs, but I would never expect blistering times from our cars, even modified.

 

go toss it into some corners and report back!  😉

[Lucky 7]

11 hours ago, QtheGenius said:

I did this in my restoration.  Get a larger stainless steel pan, like something you'd see in a commercial kitchen or buffet, throw in a bunch of dry ice, but smash it with a hammer so it's almost snow.  Dump in Isopropyl Alcohol, and mix it slushy.  Use a hand trial to apply it to the old tar.  Just let it sit for 10-15 minutes and you'll hear it start popping like popcorn.  Then use s steel scrapper to easily remove the old tar.  I was able to remove everything in less than 2 hours.

Dry ice is the way.  I just dumped 20-30 pounds in there and the tar pooped off in sheets. 
 

It’s worth mentioning that 30 lbs of dry ice makes a hell of a lot of CO2, so open the garage doors.  I very nearly blacked out when I did this, had to run outside gasping. I felt real stupid after that. 

[0257]

Took the new muffler to one of my favorite shops in town, Lowe’s Automotive, to see if he could solve for my loose chrome tip sliding around on the pipe end.  Mike said he didn’t have the tools, but there was a guy named Bill at a shop around the corner who did strictly muffler work and would have the tools to expand the pipe to catch the tip.  Sure enough, there I was greeted by Bill.  While I’m often mildly frustrated trying to find support for my ‘02 habit here,  this was Sarasota at its best — Bill is a 77-year old who owned the shop for decades, sold it to a younger guy who runs a general repair business out of it, but apparently the deal was that Bill keeps his equipment there in case there’s muffler business and comes and goes as he pleases.  He is as old school as they get, and as Bohemian as you please, with a shock of white hair and fat silver earrings, torn overalls and the kinds of tools and skills that contemporary shops couldn’t make any money from.  Even after a couple of knees and a stroke comes in every day.  He hucked my muffler up over his shoulder and placed the pipe and tip over the business end of his pipe expander, a piece of kit about the size of a Cummins big-rig drive train, tapped the lever a few times and handed it back.  I remarked on how impressive the expander was; his reply “this is the third one of these I’ve wore out.”

 

Sitting as we do on the train lines and interstate from Chicago, I like to say that Sarasota is where the Midwest comes to die.  One of the highest average ages in the world, and certainly a lot of folks who are just in the Waiting Room.  But if you look around enough, you find an abundance of people with skills and energies that probably can’t be replicated in many other much bigger communities.  As I edge toward their age, I find myself increasingly gratified to make their acquaintance.

[its55]

31 minutes ago, 0257 said:

Took the new muffler to one of my favorite shops in town, Lowe’s Automotive, to see if he could solve for my loose chrome tip sliding around on the pipe end.  Mike said he didn’t have the tools, but there was a guy named Bill at a shop around the corner who did strictly muffler work and would have the tools to expand the pipe to catch the tip.  Sure enough, there I was greeted by Bill.  While I’m often mildly frustrated trying to find support for my ‘02 habit here,  this was Sarasota at its best — Bill is a 77-year old who owned the shop for decades, sold it to a younger guy who runs a general repair business out of it, but apparently the deal was that Bill keeps his equipment there in case there’s muffler business and comes and goes as he pleases.  He is as old school as they get, and as Bohemian as you please, with a shock of white hair and fat silver earrings, torn overalls and the kinds of tools and skills that contemporary shops couldn’t make any money from.  Even after a couple of knees and a stroke comes in every day.  He hucked my muffler up over his shoulder and placed the pipe and tip over the business end of his pipe expander, a piece of kit about the size of a Cummins big-rig drive train, tapped the lever a few times and handed it back.  I remarked on how impressive the expander was; his reply “this is the third one of these I’ve wore out.”

 

Sitting as we do on the train lines and interstate from Chicago, I like to say that Sarasota is where the Midwest comes to die.  One of the highest average ages in the world, and certainly a lot of folks who are just in the Waiting Room.  But if you look around enough, you find an abundance of people with skills and energies that probably can’t be replicated in many other much bigger communities.  As I edge toward their age, I find myself increasingly gratified to make their acquaintance.

got an expander at harbor freight for about $10, works great!  Good tip about the tip!

Edited January 31 by its55

[0257]

1 hour ago, its55 said:

got an expander at harbor freight for about $10, works great!  Good tip about the tip!

Forgot to mention that I couldn’t get Bill to charge me!😆

[kbmb02]

Converted my engine test stand to heat cycle an M10 dry sump engine (aka, bucket sumo).

 

 

 

[tarheelbob]

On 1/28/2024 at 5:45 PM, MurphinDC said:

Picked up the head and short block so assembly has begun.  Very pleased with the work Abacus Racing did.  Look for many questions as I begin the assembly.

 

 

Abacus is top notch. I'll be setting a date with them once I'm rolling again for a complete timing and tune of the hot-rodded little engine in mine, complete with a dyno pull! They have done me solid for years.

[Mark92131]

Now that my open exhaust issue is resolved, a rainy day in CA is perfect for working in the garage.  So let's get tuning.  Last time I was able to get the engine to fire, so today I wanted to see if it would actually run.  Went back through the Megasquirt II (MicroSquirt) tuning documentation, made a few tweaks based on the writeup from @AustrianVespaGuy.  Started the data log, turned the key, began cranking, timing light flashing and it fired...  and died.  Tried it again, fired and kept going.  It actually started around 2000 RPM and slowly settled down to about 1500 RPM.  I checked the static timing (which was suppose to be fixed at 10 degrees BTDC) and it was more like 20).  Let it idle about 5 minutes until the coolant temp was around 180, shut it down and sent the data log to @AustrianVespaGuy who reminded me that I needed to fix the timing at 10 degrees on initial startup and not use the table.

 

Made the changes and restarted the car.  Things were going smoothly, rock steady idle, static timing needed adjustment, but the motor sounded very happy, and then things went sideways in a hurry...

 

Coolant was pooling under the car, but from where?  Basically everywhere!  The heater core blew a seam and coolant was flowing into the pedal box.  But wait, why is oil leaking from the front driver's side?  Because the oil filter gasket is leaking!  Wait what's this?  A small pool of MTL dripping on the floor from the Guibo?  Is the rear seal on the 5 speed bad?  I was told it was replaced (5 years ago)?

 

So it looks like I'll be pulling things apart before I get back to the fun stuff.   So much promise, dashed so quickly.

 

Mark92131

[Howardpowered]

started replacing some beat console sides that must have suffered more than a few radio installs

 

but since i was in there... pulled the heater box

 

 

 

so ill be off to radiator shop to get the core cleaned while im waiting for box and valve rebuild parts.

 

[D.martijn]

I've pretty much finalized the CAD work for the new rear crossmember for the Touring.

If everything works out (regarding price) I should be able to reproduce this panel for other people as well

Although not a very common repair, I'm sure it will at least help a few people.

 

After doing some more research regarding the rear cross member distances (according to the BMW chassis diagram) and getting some measurements from other 2002's I'm pretty close on know where to weld those mounting brackets. 

 

In the end I also decided to measure the subframe assembly with the diff and rear hanger on the welding table.

There is of course tons of room front to back to adjust the placement of the diff. Side to side needs to be pretty spot on though.

 

I've also made a rather crude die to press the ribs, although I do plan to polish it a little bit more.

should be able to use this to press both mounting brackets for the Touring (long and short version)

[ECL]

I have kept my '76 in storage, for the most part, since I acquired her this past September; worth noting that she's in storage despite having room in my garage, b/c I am going to surprise my kids and fiancee with her in the spring. 😂

 

I have been searching high and low for someone who could repair some minor body damage, strip her down to bare metal and repaint her.  Lots of shops are swamped with insurance claims and won't take my restoration project on.

 

Well, like I teach my kids, if you don't A-S-K, you don't G-E-T.

I was talking to my trusted mechanic the other day (he's my go to wrench for things I can't tackle with my daily driver) - turns our he and his cousin co-own a body shop in Pawtucket, RI.  Who knew???

 

I met with his cousin and he's gonna bring my baby back to all her metallic Fjord blue glory for about $5K, which I think is pretty reasonable (to reduce cost, I will remove all belt trim, lights, etc., so all he'll have to do is tape her up and get to work).

 

I am SO psyched!

 

For anyone in Southern New England looking for a shop to respray your baby, PM me.

[its55]

4 hours ago, ECL said:

I have kept my '76 in storage, for the most part, since I acquired her this past September; worth noting that she's in storage despite having room in my garage, b/c I am going to surprise my kids and fiancee with her in the spring. 😂

 

I have been searching high and low for someone who could repair some minor body damage, strip her down to bare metal and repaint her.  Lots of shops are swamped with insurance claims and won't take my restoration project on.

 

Well, like I teach my kids, if you don't A-S-K, you don't G-E-T.

I was talking to my trusted mechanic the other day (he's my go to wrench for things I can't tackle with my daily driver) - turns our he and his cousin co-own a body shop in Pawtucket, RI.  Who knew???

 

I met with his cousin and he's gonna bring my baby back to all her metallic Fjord blue glory for about $5K, which I think is pretty reasonable (to reduce cost, I will remove all belt trim, lights, etc., so all he'll have to do is tape her up and get to work).

 

I am SO psyched!

 

For anyone in Southern New England looking for a shop to respray your baby, PM me.

 

$5k is really cheap from what ive heard!  

[kbmb02]

Did a quick test of the new ring end gap filing tool. -KB

 

 

 

[stephers]

Nice, that beats the hell out of a file in a vise and holding onto the ring for dear life worried that you might crack it         Nice tool

 

Thanks, Rick