What did you do to your 2002 today !

[SydneyTii]

On 4/29/2024 at 6:47 PM, 72pdx02 said:

I’m going to sell it to fund another project,

You can sell me the wheels first😁…… they’d need shipping to Aus though😉

[Pablo M]

Shakedown run!

First long drive, and working well,  since I bought it 18 months ago. 

Finally figured out my hard cold starting issue. It was…uh, user error. I forgot there was a manual button to activate the cold start valve.  Once I tried starting with that it started right up even cold. 🤫

 

So I took it out into the canyons. Went on the freeway, up Pacific Coast Highway, across Mulholland, back PCH, about 65 miles in total. 

(IYKYK)

 

A few observations: 

-Steering feels very light at center, with a little play, but more effort turning, or away from center.
May be due the offset roll center spacers I installed under the struts for neg camber. May be it needs an alignment. Except for the outer tie rods, which don’t have any discernible play, the other suspension parts, center link, bushings, big sway bar, are all new. 
-Oil leak. I know it’s leaking from back of engine/trans mating joint. I assume that’s the rear main seal. On hard turns I get a whiff of burnt oil. Also shifting at high rpm (between 5-6k rpm). Probably leaking on the exhaust. 
-Huge knocking noise when turning is gone. Thought it might be diff.  I now suspect the noise was the old janky exhaust. New IE exhaust seems to have fixed it. 
-Suspension feels good! Bilstein B8 and H&R/IEstage2 springs feel nice and taut. All new bushings front and back help too. 

-Trip-ometer does not work. Didn’t turn at all. 
-Odometer works too much. Logged about 350 miles when I only did 65. I’ll have to research that. 

-Feels very peppy! 4-speed isn’t so bad. I do have a 5-speed to swap in but that can wait. I need a driveshaft anyway.
-I had 3 people make comments. Two gave me thumbs up, one Tesla driver chased me down to ask me questions at a light.  He had a 69 in the past and loved seeing mine out. 

-So fun to drive! 
 

 

Edited May 4 by Pablo M

[bergie33]

Finally got one of my Recaro seats recovered.  I bought these seats for about $300 from a wrecking yard in Minnesota.  They were in bad shape.  I still have to weld some new (rust free) metal on the passenger seat back frame.

 

I got the Seat covers from Lseat.com.  Seat covers are genuine leather outers and suede inners (no sweaty back and butt for me).  The quality is very good.  Install was pretty straight forward, but I wouldn't say it was easy.  There was a lot of tugging, heating, pulling, stretching, etc. I think some of my challenges were due to the very early production of these seats. They were from a 1977 320i.

 

I am very happy with the way it turned out.  Unfortunately the passenger seat needs welding, otherwise I would have started with that one, leaving the driver seat for last.  Still, I'm happy with it.

 

 

[NickVyse]

They're not PERFECT, but $350 for the covers they look bloody brilliant, great job. I've seen professionally done recaros not look as good as those. Are they biege or lark? Might have to see if they'll ship across the pond.

[bergie33]

11 minutes ago, NickVyse said:

They're not PERFECT, but $350 for the covers they look bloody brilliant, great job. I've seen professionally done recaros not look as good as those. Are they biege or lark? Might have to see if they'll ship across the pond.

 

They are Beige.  I wiped down my original door panel from my 74 tii (sand beige) and put it next to the seats.  It's a decent match, but not exact.  The seats are definitely a little darker.  I bought a whole hide from lseat.com for the door panels.  They need to be redone anyway, so I figured matching leather would be best.

 

 

[JamesRamsay]

Having condemned my original E21 head due to the water jacket holes being too corroded, I tore into my spare E30 1.8 engine today and was delighted to find that it's all but pristine! A 1982 engine with unknown mileage, and this thing is beautiful on the inside. Original crosshatch on the cylinders, nice clean valvetrain, head bolts popped satisfyingly on the way out. We're in business, lads.

[d.hitchcock]

While at MidAmerica 02 Fest, I noticed how fantastic everyone's door gaps looked. Well, everyone's except MINE! Sorry, no "before" shot to show you how bad they looked.

Yesterday, in a fit of "Why the hell not?", I adjusted my doors. Finally. I'm pretty darn happy with the improvement. Never again will some kind soul cry out, "Your door isn't closed all the way!"

 

[darrinm1]

After traveling back from Mid-America I realized my drivers seat was done. I decided to take it apart and redo the foam pads. I’ll see how it goes using a sheet of high density 2” foam. A little welding and a bit of paint. It should be good. 

[BarneyT]

back from Mid American 02 fest and after moving the cars around…
I Noticed a new oil pattern under the automatic slightly different from the normal oil pattern… Looks like like my oil sender gave up. I’m gonna clean it up and see what the deal is.

 

 

[JQ02]

50 minutes ago, BarneyT said:

back from Mid American 02 fest and after moving the cars around…
I Noticed a new oil pattern under the automatic slightly different from the normal oil pattern… Looks like like my oil sender gave up. I’m gonna clean it up and see what the deal is.

 

Glad you made it home! So nice you have a lift.

When my mechanical oil sender went, it was less about a pattern and more about the cabin filled with blue smoke. Luckily the guy who sold and helped me rebuild my first 2002 told me to always keep an electric sender in the car in case of emergency(!) I fixed it in a parking lot on my way to my 3rd date with my now wife on Valentine's Day.

[d.hitchcock]

Cleaned up my valve cover and oil fill cap ... inspired by what I saw at 02 Fest.

 

[jimk]

Sender body is made of soft material.  Use a box end wrench or a deep socket or an oil sender socket made specifically for installing senders.  An open end wrench distorts the body and is the cause of seal leak.

Edited May 6 by jimk

[JQ02]

9 hours ago, d.hitchcock said:

Cleaned up my valve cover and oil fill cap ... inspired by what I saw at 02 Fest.

Seems like a bunch of folks are tackling ToDos post-Fest - either by inspiration or necessity of the drive. It's prolly going to take everything I've got to get there next year. I'm a little worried about how much I'll feel the need to do when I return  

But that's what it's all about, I guess.

[Leucadian]

I spent a few nights in Port Townsend, WA and spotted these 2 yard dwellers (same yard):

 

 

 

The Golf looks like it might be still in working order, but the other (Polaris?) looks like it's been there a while.

 

Anyone here?

Edited May 6 by Leucadian

[Mark92131]

I keep looking for projects that help me procrastinate on starting the interior re-install, (headliner, carpet, glass, etc.).  So I wasn't happy with the throttle cable bracket I fabricated for the S14 ITB's.  It originally was secured by the 2 top bolts on the brake booster bracket, but performance suffered from a long cable and slight mis-alignment.  So I decided to make another one.  I found a picture on-line of one bracket that is no longer in production, but offered a better mounting solution.  The massive adapters for air horns on the S14 use the 6 stock studs for the air cleaner assembly.  I planned to use the 3 on the #3 & #4 ITB bank to secure my new bracket.

 

I mocked up the bracket in cardboard, took measurements off the cardboard piece and created a CAD drawing in LibreCAD (free download).  It took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to add a bend line to the CAD drawing, so I could get the tab holding the cable to sit at the right angle.  I didn't have a protractor handy, so I printed one off the internet and cut it out, so I could come up with the correct angle for the tab, (approx. 30 degrees).

 

When I was happy with the CAD drawing, I saved the DXF file and uploaded it to SendCutSend.  What a cool site!  It created a 3D image from my 2D drawing.  I selected 1.9mm thick mild steel for the material and used the bending service.  I used the site software tool to bend the top of the piece from the bend line up 30 degrees, and that bend was reflected in the 3D rendering.  Dropped it in the cart and checked out, $30 on Paypal.  Should be here by Saturday!

 

Mark92131