What did you do to your 2002 today !

[QtheGenius]

4 minutes ago, Mike G said:

I’d be interested in pics showing beam pattern once you get both going

I can show you one beam now! but it's late, and I've had some rum, so probably this weekend.

['76mintgrün'02]

I addressed my alternator today too.  Not the one in the car, but the one it replaced two years ago.  It had been cutting out above 3k rpm.  It put out over 50 amps, according to the guy at Blanchard Electric in Bremerton, but his machine didn't spin it fast enough to see it fail.  He guessed maybe it was the diode plate and ordered one for me, plus brushes and bearings.  I learned today that his business is no longer open, which is a bummer.

 

It turned out to be a simple fix.  The springs on the brushes were rusty and one of them was stuck.  I just cleaned up the springs and it moves like it should.

 

 

This was a good job for the impact driver.  Those three screws were good and stuck, but it busted them loose.

 

 

The little Bluebird battery terminal puller got the smaller bearing off.  It felt wiggly when I shook it, so it's good that I had new ones.

 

 

I shined the copper rings up on the lathe.  It's easy to see which one was doing most of the work.

 

 

This socket + sand paper matches the OD of the contact rings, so I used it to dress up the brushes.  They're still about as long as the new ones so I just left them.

 

 

The manual tells you to hold the brushes back out of the way when you reassemble it, but not how to go about it.  Bamboo skewers to the rescue again.  Slipping them in behind the brush wire did the trick.  Pull them out and they click into place.

 

  

 

The old diode plate is much heavier duty looking, so I left that too.  (Newer isn't always better).

 

 

I checked the alignment on the one I took out and it looked good, so I moved the rubber bushings over to this one.

 

 

It was really nice to start the car and see 13.8 on the volt meter.  It goes up to 14 when I rev it and no longer cuts out.  I have not opened up the alternator I removed.  It wasn't making any juice and the L light barely lit up with the key on.  It shines nice and bright again now.

 

I scrubbed the dead bugs off the car to celebrate. Tomorrow, I'd like to rub in a bunch of Meguiars #7 and a coat of wax.  

 

[Steve A. Caceres]

I ordered a bunch of parts from AutohausAZ. Prepping for it's first fire since 1995. 

 

71 2002 Touring. 

[BarneyT]

Back from two weeks in Spain 🇪🇸, rolled another 125 miles on Ceylon gold tii today,  up to 2100 miles since refresh trying to get another 400 on it before I change the oil before heading to MidAmerican fest…Cow Creek was flowing today!

[Dugan27]

4 hours ago, BarneyT said:

Back from two weeks in Spain 🇪🇸, rolled another 125 miles on Ceylon gold tii today,  up to 2100 miles since refresh trying to get another 400 on it before I change the oil before heading to MidAmerican fest…Cow Creek was flowing today!

 

 

 

 

Hey, how do you like those headlight mounting brackets? I think I just bought a pair....I messed around with them a bit but haven't installed them permanently. 

[Dugan27]

Cut and stitched up a leather brake handle cover. And a bit of the direction I'm heading with the floormats, etc. 

 

Please keep in mind I have never cut and sewn leather before in my life. Burnishing was so so. 

Edited May 25, 2023 by Dugan27

['76mintgrün'02]

Today I gave my paint a drink of number seven.  It's like rubbing lotion into chapped paint.  

 

 

Then I applied a coat of Mother's cleaner wax.  That was more than enough rubbing for one day. 

 

The touring seat is back in storage.  It's comfortable, but I prefer the all-tan interior.

 

  

 

I added support to the driver's seat bottom with a couple coil springs from my stash. (from my great-aunt Mildred's box-spring)

 

  

 

They took the slack out of the vinyl and made the seat much more comfortable. I added the bigger of the two springs and made some clips out of sheet metal and a coat hanger to keep them in place.

 

    

 

There's still a little horse hair in there, hanging out with the gunny sacks, cardboard and carpet scraps.  The carpet is from before my time. 

 

 

Applying the #7 and wax under the hood is especially fun because that's where most of the original paint lives.  It's in way better shape than the rest of the car.  I gave a little extra attention to the back corner, because it's my favorite.

 

    

 

I rechecked the dwell when I got home and it's still set at 60, above 1600 rpm, but drops to 58 at idle for some strange reason.  That gives me two more degrees of advance at idle, putting it at 13.  The upper rpm range is unchanged.  I'd like to solve the mystery, but it might be a nice feature to have. 

 

I'd love to take the distributor and carburetor off, to disassemble, clean and lube them; but I'll try to resist those temptations for now.

 

I repacked the front wheel bearings before the 3k drive and they were a little loose when I got home; so, I tightened the driver's side one full notch in the nut and the passenger's side by half a notch.  

 

At one of my gas stops on the way home, I found my gas cap still sitting on the rear bumper from the last fill up, 200 miles earlier.  I felt lucky and foolish at the same time.

 

[sczapiga]

Yesterday and today I worked on the skid plate for my front end. I had the 6160 1/4” plate left over from a friends rally car that has been scrapped. I was lucky enough to be able to use the brake already there and not need to bend the plate anymore. 

 

The slots marked we’re going to be for clearance around the stock tow loops but I had another thing in mind after seeing the Team O’Neil Fiestas and their tow loops last week. 
 

My attempt to recreate using the freshly acquired tow loops😉

 

I popped a couple holes in my plated crossmember and plug welded some nut plates (couldn’t get the welder in there). Then I used some 2” square stock to make shoes for the front that welded into the front of the subframe and grabbed a couple different planes. Welded nuts on everything so it takes about 30 seconds to take off and another 30 to install.  I’m happy with the turnout even though the front mounts look a bit crude, it should hold up to most rocks and dirt road crowns. 

Photo with the tow loop installed coming tomorrow. I mounted it centered under the kicked up portion in the front. 

Edited May 25, 2023 by sczapiga
Typo

[BarneyT]

10 hours ago, Dugan27 said:

Hey, how do you like those headlight mounting brackets? I think I just bought a pair....I messed around with them a bit but haven't installed them permanently. 

They work well for me, I have used on several cars with no problems…

[Pdxguy]

12 hours ago, Dugan27 said:

Cut and stitched up a leather brake handle cover. And a bit of the direction I'm heading with the floormats, etc. 

 

Please keep in mind I have never cut and sewn leather before in my life. Burnishing was so so. 

Looks great!

[sczapiga]

2 hours ago, Pdxguy said:

Looks great!

I second that👍🏼 Leather work isn’t easy to make it clean and tidy. That looks pretty pro to me👌🏼You can burnish/give it some color with a fast polish with some mink oil and a rag. 

[sczapiga]

Couple photos with the tow loop installed. I could use the light bar since it’s thick wall DOM but I’d rather keep the rope away from the lights😬

[Dugan27]

4 hours ago, Pdxguy said:

Looks great!

I tried to burnish it a bit with what I hand on hand for my Dremel; results were so so. I have some fancy (#8) wax I'll throw on the edges at some point. 

[sczapiga]

1 minute ago, Dugan27 said:

I tried to burnish it a bit with what I hand on hand for my Dremel; results were so so. I have some fancy (#8) wax I'll throw on the edges at some point. 

Right on, yeah I used to use a spindle shaped wood tool and dampen the edge. Some fast rubbing makes everything happy 😆 

[dlacey]

The Thai BMW group & friends are on their way south to Retrohavoc in Kuala Lumpur (KL) this weekend, they trailered the cars down from Bangkok to Hat Yai and then drove ~6 hours to Penang island for an overnight stop. We met last night in George Town for Beer & Noodles:

 

 

Today we drive south together about 400km to KL.. weather expected ~35c with scattered intense thunderstorms... should be fun!