New Project. Rusty bottom questions.

[NorCal'72]

Hey there all.  So this little '72 is heading my way, but I need some opinions to help me gauge whether this amount of rust can even be fixed, and ideas on how.  I'll have more pictures in a week or so when it arrives.  Any referrals to NorCal metal wizards would be appreciated too.  Believe it or not, the engine runs great, the tank was redone, and the rest of the body appears to be in decent shape likely due to a repaint years ago that may have offered some newer protection on the top, but clearly not on the bottom. Rear wheel wells are in good shape, but spare well is swiss cheese.  It's a wonderful '72 roundie that I'd love to wrench on to get to a driver level fun car I can enjoy for a few years, with longer term full restoration dreams, but clearly this rust needs to be addressed first. 

[Mike G]

You need a new drivers side frame rail and they are hard to find. The passenger side looks bent but it could be the light. Probably new front floor pans. Possibly lower a pillar/firewall patches. I’d budget around $5g for what we can see if you have a professional do it. If you can weld or want to learn and have a space to work on it you can do this yourself. 

[Conserv]

Three photos are not really sufficient to evaluate the car as a whole.  If the rust shown in these two photos plus the spare tire well was the only rust on the car, rust would not kill this car! But, to manage your expectations, the readily-apparent rust is often the tip of the iceberg.... 

 

When you get the car, start probing with a screwdriver, pull out the rear seat, lift the carpet, etc. The sooner you have a clear picture of the car’s condition as a whole, the better decisions you can make as to the car’s treatment and future.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by Conserv

[TobyB]

Yah, that much rust in those areas means you get to poke everything with Steve's 

sharp stick.  Hard.  Repeatedly.

 

That aluminum/ stainless panel is a bit scary just by being there.

 

This is going to be heresy, but you can always take it to a 'rural' body shop,

get it up on a lift with 'em, and ask them to make it structurally sound,

not perfect.  Ask them to leave it unpainted, and then you can assess it afterwards,

and if it's OK, seal it up yourself, or if they did particularly good work, take it

back and have them do it.

 

There is a point where the car's not worth fixing right, and there's a point well after that 

where it's not worth spending money on.  In that gap, 'daily driver' repairs are

worth the relatively limited expenditure to make a safe, fun car you can enjoy.

 

t

flame suit on

[Mike Self]

The rusty rear end of the driver's frame rail--especially if it's worse on the drivers side vs pax side--is often due to a leaking M/C--the drippings run down the frame rail and rust it out.  That happened to my '69 many years ago, and I simply replaced the last 18" of frame rail (thanks, Terry Sayther, for the part) and all has been well ever since.  And Steve and Toby are both correct--we need more pictures to better evaluate--inner and outer rocker panels, rear wheel arches inside the trunk, front floors, under the back seat (rear subframe attachment points),  etc--i.e. all the classic structural rust spots on an '02. 

 

Things like the spare tire well, outer rockers, outer rear wheel opening lips, etc aren't really structural and aren't that difficult to replace, but the structural stuff...that's a different story.

 

Almost anything is salvageable if you have the time and money, and most of us would encourage saving yet another '02, but you need to decide how much time and money you want to devote, and how much skill you have if you want to do it (or part of it) yourself.

 

mike

[pato2002]

If you decide to start replacing panels, RD have good panels at a fair price:

 

http://www.restoration-design.com/store/category/BMW

[tech71]

That frame rail scares me. No way is the car structurally sound until the frame rail and rusty pan are replaced. Really nothing left there to try to repair.

Edited September 5, 2019 by tech71

[NorCal'72]

Thank you ALL for your input, insights, and shared love of keeping these on the road.  As I mentioned, once it shows up, I'll add more to the gallery and reach out again for more guidance and to share what my plans are.  Pato2002, that site looks like it's going be making some money off of me, thanks for the link!  

 

 

[xr4tic]

The frame rail is a common rust point on '02s, so that doesn't look so bad.

 

Mine was pretty bad as well and the PO did a bad patch job on the floorpan.

 

I fixed it all myself (with lots of questions asked to the FAQ)

 

If the shock towers are good and the rockers are good, then I think you have a very saveable car.

 

I bought all my panels from W&N, same stuff as RD except cheaper (no VAT) and shipping was very quick.

Edited September 6, 2019 by xr4tic

[Mike A]

+1 on all the above. Just a guess but given the condition exemplified by your pix I suspect there is plenty more to deal with and at some point a cost / reward conversation with your closest advisors is in order . But if you are a junky like most of us here, like getting your hands dirty, not intimidated by what will be a long and difficult process , willing to invest a substantial amount of money regardless of how much you DIY, then have at it. Given the condition, To do it right,  that car needs to be stripped and dipped...otherwise, like a majority of all these projects they become just half-baked junk being passed on from one over-matched owner to another.

The problem with the run-of-the-mill vanilla 02s ,unlike say a 356 or early 911, is that the value of a completed car can be very much outweighed by the cost to get it there , as is this one . If that doesn’t bother you are of the faith and commended. 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Mike A