My 2002 Journey so far (Reso '76), WTF/Dtech/NorthBay/Koogle

[mic_crispy]

Its difficult to summarize 2 years of this process into a few paragraphs that someone could actually find useful or enjoyable to read.. but here it goes:

This purpose of this thread is really just give share my experience, things ive learned and just have someone listen as my wife is tired of hearing about it, ha. 

 

2 years ago I had the fantastic idea to buy a 2002 and start a resto-mod project.

I ended up purchasing a '76 which already had a M42/5Spd put in which at the time seemed like a huge headstart.. 

In reality, i would have been better served buying a shell, or perhaps as near stock as possible given what i wanted the result to be (a 7/10 drivers resto mod). 

I never intended this to be a consours example, just something very clean that i could drive a lot and possibly make some money further down the line when/if i decided to sell. 

 

The car initially went to my good friend Curtis at WTF Motorsports in Orlando FL with the intention of him building this out, but his workload became too much to dedicate the time to my build. He's a great guy, but has high demand on projects that honestly will make him more money in a shorter amount of time, so i totally understood. 

 

From there, as I was in the process of moving to DFW, I found a local shop that seemed to do some interesting builds: Dtech/Select Classics.

Now, I didn't know this at the time, but apparently this shop has a very negative view on this forum which i think is only partially justified. 

These guys did most of the body work (trim, some welding of holes, fenders, paint). They also installed most of the interior (Seats, Carpet, AC/Radio). 

There are things that they did well IMO, the bodywork is fine, and even the paint isn't terrible for a budget job... They seem to work with any budget really, for better or worse.

They didn't pull the motor, so you could still see the original green creeping up in all sorts of places, but that is mostly to me not wanting to pay the money to do a full engine out respray. 

I had the seats reupholstered there as well (Front/Rear) and i think they just did a bad job for the cost (2k), especially with the fronts. Money wasted. 

We also ended up replacing tons of exterior/interior trim (including the headliner) and they did a good job here.

We put in their AC kit in which proved to be pretty difficult with essentially no documentation out there on how to get modern AC in a M42 swapped 2002... 

The wiring on my car was an absolute disaster area and they seemed pretty lost in getting it fixed. I understand nothing is standard or documented here, but they really should have just given up or rewired the whole thing, as when it left their shop the amount of wires just floating around or barely attached was alarming. I spent alot of money that just ended up in some rework later. 

So while i have a bit of sympathy of the mess that was delivered to Dtech, i feel the finer touches just weren't there given the money spent. 

I think if you're working with a more/less stock or OG 2002, they will be just fine and can even do some neat things. 

 

From there, my travels took me out west, and I needed to finish this thing finished up, so i sent it over to NorthBay Bavarian(Rick) for a mechincal look over and KoogleWerks to finish the interior. 

I wanted NorthBay to take a strong look at the car from a mechanical / drivability perspective because you can just never be too sure. We found enough that needed fixing with the original swap (before i even got the car) to necessitate pulling the motor and really replacing every bit we could. Mounts, hoses, seals... and while it was out, we decided to paint the engine bay and rewire the car... so in retrospect, i should have just pulled the motor from the beginning as i really did things in reverse order. Live and learn .

Ricks work is top knotch and he now only knows what he is doing, but is the type of guy who will fix little things he see's along the way just because. Couldn't recommend them more. 

 

Over at KoogleWerks, i wanted him to tighten up the interior abit (new seats, glue carpet, make a custom console) and he has done just a fantastic job. 

Forrest is a true artisan and his deep passion for these cars shows. He's given me some great pointers and helped me tighten up some vision components here and there. 

 

All in all i pretty sure this thing is 80% new parts, lol. Afew things i know i want to fix in the near term would be lining up the flairs/front dam better, getting a very light tint and perhaps a different steering wheel. Also, while the coilovers, sways and most bushings are new, there's still other suspension components i think id like to upgrade from stock

. 

I have about two more weeks before i'm really out in about in this thing and im sure ill find 100 more things id like to fix then, but as of now, this is where my journey has taken me. 

 

 

Attached some pictures for the curious.. 

 

As delivered: 

 

Nearly 2 years later...

(And yes I know the hood isn't closed properly.. that is thankfully fixed now). 

 

 

 

Build Details: 

 

Motor/Drivetrain:

M42B18 (E30)

Getrag 240

Custom Short Throw Shifter

Kooglewerks Aluminum Hood Hinge/Prop Set

Kooglewerks Aluminum Skid Plate

New Fuel Lines, Hoses 

IE 5speed Transmission Weld-on Brackets

IE 5speed Rear Cross Member

Dtech AC Kit (w/ Denso Compressor)

 

Suspension:

CATUNED Coilovers

IE Swaybar Kit

E12-24 Trackrod

 

Brakes:

Stock Rebuilt + Braided Lines

 

Wheels:

BBS RS032 - 15x7.5 ET4.3

Falken RT660 - 205/50/15, 225/50/15

Black Lugs

 

Exterior:

E46 Titan Silver

Undercarriage Painted Black (Epoxy)

IE Turbo DAM

IE Turbo Flairs

New OEM Beltline Trim

New Tailights

New Headlights

New Tail Panel Trim

All New Rubber (Windows, Doors)

Euro Rear Bumper

Euro Turn Signals

New Emblems

New Front Grill Surrounds

Knee/Ankle Removed / welded

Side Markers removed / welded

Antenna Delete

OEM Chrome Gascap

 

Interior:

Recaro LX, Black w/ Yellow Stitching

IE Wood Steering Wheel + Hub

IE Anodized Shift Knob (Black)

IE Door Sill Plates

Kooglewerks Shift and E-Brake Boot

Kooglewerks Center Console

Kooglewerks Speaker Pods + Under Dash Panels

Custom Rear Speaker Location (Under Seats)

Custom Gauge Faceplate

Black Suede Headliner 

4 Channel AMP w/ Bluetooth (Headunit Delete)

New Front Door Cards

Rear Side Cards Reconditioned

Full Interior Carpet Kit (Salt/Pepper) - Dtech

Edited March 23, 2023 by mic_crispy
Updated

[Dudeland]

Such a great project.  Share more about the build.  Motor etc... 

 

Thank goodness you had your droid to help you out. 

 

 

 

 

[bergie33]

Those astromech droids are quite handy in the shop.

[Dudeland]

I think that is one of the droids I was looking for... 

 

 

 

 

[AceAndrew]

I like your trim choices.  The gauge cluster, early door panels, rear bumper, KW hood hinges, and wheels are a nice pop on the subtle grey paint color.

 

What driving trips are you planning?

[SydneyTii]

Nice looking car!

Where did you hide your battery?

[JsnPpp]

Looks great! I love the M42 and think it would be great fun in an 02.

 

Car will turn heads wherever it goes! 

 

Thanks for sharing the journey.

 

~Jason

[Joesprocket]

Inspiration as someone who is very much at the beginning of the resto journey. Car looks amazing. Thanks for sharing. 

[mic_crispy]

5 hours ago, Dudeland said:

Such a great project.  Share more about the build.  Motor etc... 

 

Thank goodness you had your droid to help you out. 

 

 

 

 

 

Its a M42 / Getrag 240(245?) from a early E30
Motor is basically stock, just with a custom header from Classic Daily, Exhaust and slightly different intake than OEM to fit. 

 

Total parts list here if you're curious, plus good exercise for me to do an inventory. 

 

1976 BMW 2002

Non-sunroof Car

Rust Free

 

Motor/Drivetrain:

M42B18 (E30)

Getrag 240

Custom Short Throw Shifter

Kooglewerks Aluminum Hood Hinge/Prop Set

Kooglewerks Aluminum Skid Plate

New Fuel Lines, Hoses 

IE 5speed Transmission Weld-on Brackets

IE 5speed Rear Cross Member

Dtech AC Kit (w/ Denso Compressor)

 

Suspension:

CATUNED Coilovers

IE Swaybar Kit

E12-24 Trackrod

 

Brakes:

Stock Rebuilt + Braided Lines

 

Wheels:

BBS RS032 - 15x7.5 ET4.3

Falken RT660 - 205/50/15, 225/50/15

Black Lugs

 

Exterior:

E46 Titan Silver

Undercarriage Painted Black (Epoxy)

IE Turbo DAM

IE Turbo Flairs

New OEM Beltline Trim

New Tailights

New Headlights

New Tail Panel Trim

All New Rubber (Windows, Doors)

Euro Rear Bumper

Euro Turn Signals

New Emblems

New Front Grill Surrounds

Knee/Ankle Removed / welded

Side Markers removed / welded

Antenna Delete

OEM Chrome Gascap

 

Interior:

Recaro LX, Black w/ Yellow Stitching

IE Wood Steering Wheel + Hub

IE Anodized Shift Knob (Black)

IE Door Sill Plates

Kooglewerks Shift and E-Brake Boot

Kooglewerks Center Console

Kooglewerks Speaker Pods + Under Dash Panels

Custom Rear Speaker Location (Under Seats)

Custom Gauge Faceplate

Black Suede Headliner 

4 Channel AMP w/ Bluetooth (Headunit Delete)

New Front Door Cards

Rear Side Cards Reconditioned

Full Interior Carpet Kit (Salt/Pepper) - Dtech

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by mic_crispy

[mic_crispy]

3 hours ago, SydneyTii said:

Nice looking car!

Where did you hide your battery?

 

In the trunk.

[mic_crispy]

4 hours ago, AceAndrew said:

I like your trim choices.  The gauge cluster, early door panels, rear bumper, KW hood hinges, and wheels are a nice pop on the subtle grey paint color.

 

What driving trips are you planning?

 

Thank you! As of now, just puttering around town...

 

[Mike Self]

There are chips (still) available for that M42 that will add 10-15 hp, and move the torque band onset down about 1k rpm.  I have one in my 318is, and compared to a stock M42, there's a real noticeable difference.  Might be worth looking into, especially since you probably still have a 3.64 diff, while the diff in a 318is was 4.11.

 

mike

[mic_crispy]

18 minutes ago, Mike Self said:

There are chips (still) available for that M42 that will add 10-15 hp, and move the torque band onset down about 1k rpm.  I have one in my 318is, and compared to a stock M42, there's a real noticeable difference.  Might be worth looking into, especially since you probably still have a 3.64 diff, while the diff in a 318is was 4.11.

 

mike

 

That's good to know! Did you have any specific in mind? 

[JsnPpp]

9 hours ago, mic_crispy said:

 

That's good to know! Did you have any specific in mind? 

 

There are several - MarcD's, SSSQuid, Turner and likely more! I really want one but just haven't yet.

I've heard positives about all of them and most likely will go with SSSquid's based on some dialog on rev3limited M42 channel. I honestly don't think you can go wrong though. Feels like they run $200-300.

[mic_crispy]

29 minutes ago, JsnPpp said:

 

There are several - MarcD's, SSSQuid, Turner and likely more! I really want one but just haven't yet.

I've heard positives about all of them and most likely will go with SSSquid's based on some dialog on rev3limited M42 channel. I honestly don't think you can go wrong though. Feels like they run $200-300.

 

This is great to know! Ill be adding this for sure.