Sold SOLD!!!!!

[RoccoGilroy]

Price: $14700

Location: Aptos CA 95003

Description:

I bought this 1968 BMW 1600 in March of 2021 during Covid. I have always loved working on 2002’s this is my second resurrection project and I know these cars intimately. I found this car in Placerville CA and jumped at the opportunity to start from scratch with a solid platform. It was already a heavily modified car when I got it so I had no qualms about continuing to modify it to my taste. I’ve done A LOT in 3 years… I would confidently get in the car and drive it anywhere. Near or far. 

 

I think it’s lazy to say “Too much to list” so here we go…

 

Brakes: 

 

-New cunifer brake hard lines from IE were run and the old steal lines were scrapped. 

 

-Rebuilt pedal box using IE aluminum bushings and bearing rebuild kit from IE. Stripped and painted POR15 black

 

-New clutch master FAG 

 

-New clutch fluid reservoir willwood 

 

-New IE brake booster pivot bearing IE

 

-New 320i brake master cylinder ATE 

 

-Remanufactured IE standard brake booster (NOT a “good used one”) from IE 

 

-New Stainless steel brake lines front and back

 

-New rotors Zimmerman coated nice ones 

 

-New wheel bearings front and back FAG 

 

-Rebuilt 320i front brake calipers 

 

-New 320i/Turbo 250mm drum brake 

 

-New Turbo Ebrake cables 

 

I figured if these brakes could stop a 320i well enough then they would be a huge improvement over the stock little 1600 set up. I was right, it stops amazingly well.   

 

Suspension:

 

-The car came to me with Bilstein HD’s front and back and some nice Suspension Techniques lowering springs. They performed very well and I saw no need to replace them. 

 

EVERYTHING else is new… 

 

-I completely removed both the front and rear subframes and rebuilt everything tip to tail. The struts were painted in high quality POR 15 black spray paint after being stripped. 

 

-The rear subframe and control arms were stripped and painted with POR 15 Grey. (Black is boring) 

 

-The front subframe was worked on quite a bit. I removed the existing lower subframe support plate and installed the longer/ thicker  plate that IE sells for cars with heavy engine swaps. I also welded up the dreaded cracks on the drivers side motor mount and also welded in the reinforcement plate for it as well. The front subframe is pretty much bulletproof… if you ever want to swap in a larger motor you’re all set. 

 

-New urethane bushings front and rear IE 

 

-New urethane subframe mount bushings IE

 

-New urethane diff mount bushings IE

 

-New urethane motor mounts IE

 

-New IE front and rear 22mm 19mm sway bars 

 

-New Moog tie rods 

 

-New Moog center link 

 

-New Moog Ball joints 

 

-New idler arm bushings  

 

-Front strut brace

 

It’s unbelievably satisfying to drive a brand new and upgraded suspension. It’s tight and handles incredibly well. 

 

Engine/ Cooling 

 

I found a great street/rally hot rod motor with roughly 40k miles on it that a good friend had just pulled to do an s14 swap. 

 

-OEM BMW factory rebuilt block with flat top pistons. It should be bulletproof for another 100k miles. 

 

-Fully built e12 head that’s clean enough to eat 

 

-Schrick 292 cam 

 

-HD rockers 

 

-123 Bluetooth electronic distributor. (You can program your own advance curves while you’re driving. It’s state of the art. With the upgraded shaft. It also has an immobilizer feature that allows you to keep the car from being started when you walk away with a click of your phone on the 123 app. Leave your keys in it and the doors unlocked with the windows down. Nobody can steal it!

 

-New 8mm spark plug wires from IE 

 

-New NGK spark plugs 

 

-New IE low pressure electric fuel pump

 

-New O-ring for the fuel sending unit 

 

-New electronic 3 second fuel primer. Also kills the motor in the event of a crash. Huge safety feature. It’s excellent for when you start the car after having sat for a while. The 3 second primer eliminates the need to crank and crank the motor after a long sit. It fires right up every time!!! 

 

-New IE Windage tray 

 

-New oil pan gaskets from IE

 

-New rear main seal for piece of mind… 

 

-New Pierce Manifolds Cannon 2 barrel intake manifold  

-New Weber 38/38 from Pierce Manifolds 

 

-Custom upgraded throttle shaft with Heim joints. No more flimsy clips… 

 

-New high torch light weight starter motor 

 

-New upgraded alternator with new urethane bushings

 

-New Ireland engineering high capacity aluminum radiator 

 

-New IE 14” pusher fan 

 

-New GRAF water pump with metal impeller 

 

-New Blue IE silicon coolant hoses everywhere 

 

-New Tii water diverter so it doesn’t run through the manifold. 

 

-320i water neck divider with extra provisions for temp gauges 

 

The car is ready and set up for side drafts in the event that you ever want to go that direction. I’ll even throw in a set of sidedraft manifolds with the sale. All you need to convert is some side drafts of YOUR choosing (Weber, Del Orto, Mikuni, etc) and some throttle linkage. Everything else is there and ready to go.  

 

Exhaust:

 

-New Blunt Tech Stainless Steel spaghetti header (it’s is a stunning piece) 

 

-New Ansa Sport Resonator 

 

-New Ansa Sport Muffler 

 

-Custom IN TRUNK gas filler system. (Like Koogleworks) No more spilling gas on your paint or feet!

 

Sounds awesome!!! 

 

Drive train: 

 

-Excellent condition 245 Getrag 5 speed with new seals   

 

-Shortened drive shaft with NEW Febi center support bearing 

 

-New Febi 8 bolt flex disc Gino

 

-New IE shortened shift tower with double sheer shift selector and all new connection pieces 

 

-New Z3 short shifter

 

-Rebuilt OPEN 3.91 differential to match the 5 speed  

 

Clutch: 

 

This is the “Special Sauce!!”

 

-New JB Racing 228mm Aluminum Flywheel 

 

-New old stock Sachs NLA E30 M3 SPORT pressure plate. Noticeably heavier clutch feel… I guarantee you it will never slip.

 

-New Sachs Tii clutch disc 

 

-New (proper) e21 323i through out bearing 

 

-New IE brass clutch pivot point 

 

-New Clutch Release fork 

 

-New FAG clutch master 

 

-New IE Stainless Steel clutch line 

 

-New FAG Slave Cylinder

 

Wheels:

 

-Rota RB’s with good tires. Spacers were added to fill out the flairs… 

 

-Longer wheel studs from IE. if you ever choose to swap the wheels you won’t have to worry about having enough stud length to lock em in…

 

HVAC:

 

-I rebuilt the heater box with a proper kit from a company in San Francisco.

 

-I rebuilt the heater control valve as well.

 

-Fan motor was cleaned and tested before assembly

 

-Everything functions as it should. 

 

Gauges:

 

-I sourced Speedhut GPS speedometer and tachometer and fitted them to the existing cluster. It is extremely accurate and has never let me down. Even when I’m in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, the speedo always works. ZERO regrets about ditching the mechanical set up. 

 

-Stock fuel level, dummy lights and temp gauge are still active in the cluster. The temp gauge likes to flutter around but I have a spare I was going to swap in and will be included. I just use the 123 distributor app to watch the temperature. 

 

-Haven’t gotten around to adding a secondary vdo temp gauge but the sending unit is already installed on the distributor housing and the wires have been run through the firewall… all you have to do is buy a VDO temp gauge and plug it in. 

 

Interior:

 

-It’s pretty much a blank slate. I haven’t gotten to it yet. It was next on the list. 

 

-Front seats are period full leather Jaguar XJS seats. They were leather, they looked very nice (IMO), and they fit with almost zero effort using the existing 1600 sliders. Red/Maroon colored. I was going to vinyl die them black but hadn’t decided yet. If you don’t like them you can probably sell them for $1000. They’re that nice. 

 

-E24 full (Buffalo) leather rear bucket seats in tan (again planed to vinyl die). They still need some tweaking to get them to sit right but they’re there. Happy to discuss what I think needs to be done to make them fit like they should. Or sell them for $500…

 

-New ESTY carpet kit in slate grey with black piping. Uninstalled…

 

-New KillMat enough to do the interior twice. Uninstalled…

 

-New lap belts for the front

 

-New BMW oem dip switch

 

Body Interior:

 

-Stripped out the tar on the floor pans and painted it with POR15. 

 

-Discovered a rust hole about the size of a baseball on the drivers side floor pan in the bottom left corner. Doesn’t go into the rocker or the frame rail. It should be a pretty easy patch. Other than that the pans were solid. 

 

Body Exterior:

 

-The car has metal fender flares that are, from what I have heard from others, very well done. Gives the car a unique look. 

 

-Front spoiler is molded into the body. It has a little damage but should be able to patch it up with some fiberglass. 

 

-Overall, the body is in decent condition. No major bumps but has some imperfections. Come look at it and you be the judge. 

 

-Rockers might need a little patch at some point. I don’t think a complete swap is necessary. At least not any time soon. 

 

-The car was originally Polaris (silver) but was sprayed this blue color you see today somewhere in its life before me. It’s not in great shape but from 20 feet it gets plenty of attention. 

 

 

Why am I selling it? 

 

I happened upon a 1 owner well sorted 02 in my neighborhood that I couldn’t pass up. My 1 car garage means my 1600 has to go to make room for the new car. 

 

This is where my story ends and yours begins. Pick up where I left off and make it your own. It’s a hell of a start!!! Contact me with any questions. Happy to take more pics but if you can see it in person you’ll have a much better understanding. I’m happy to discuss anything and everything I know about the car and what’s been done. Thank you everyone!

 

Rocco

Edited February 22 by RoccoGilroy

[2002iii]

I can vouch for this car being solid and the seller being a stand up guy.

 

The car has been greatly improved under the ownership of Rocco. I wouldn't hesitate to drive this car as a daily driver. It starts right up and is a blast to drive and gets you plenty of thumbs up.

[Masterbuilder46]

Seems like a great deal.  Id love to take the engine/transmission off your hands, thats a perfect spec.  Best of luck 

[Zak]

That's a lot of bang for the buck. Hopefully somebody here will grab it. You've done all the work and mods already.

Nice car and scenery. That's a beautiful part of the state.

[RoccoGilroy]

Thank you for the kind words Zak! Everyone has had very kind things to say both here and on FB which I am grateful for. Hopefully someone sees the value in the work I’ve done and it finds a loving home. 

[Shagnasty P. Snaggletooth]

It's tough. When you put a lot of yourself in your car, you put yourself in a sort of niche. You have a cool car, but your pool of potential buyers gets smaller, because everyone doesn't have the same view of what they consider cool. Stock cars are easy to valuate. Modified cars are "I'm down with that, but damn, what's up with that?" It might take a bit longer, but you'll find that person that says "You did everything just like I would have done!" and that's rad.

[Flunder]

Man Rocco your car is pretty nice!

 

Huge amount of quality parts and labor already done to a solid EARLY car offered at a bargain price.

Blue over a red leather gut is just perfect!

So for an easy high impact fix you should just dye the E24 rear seats to match the fronts and then install the charcoal Esty carpet kit.

Those front seats look OEM quality, because, well, they are!

Add some overriders on the front bumper to give the car an integrated look to work better with your rear bumper.

If the next owner wants to emphasize the early car attitude then just widen a set of stock steel rims to 6 or maybe 6 1/2 x 13 and put poverty caps on ‘em.

High potential early car with the drivetrain and suspension everybody wants!

 

Edited February 4 by Flunder

[RoccoGilroy]

Man I really appreciate all the love guys. Having a hard time finding the right guy… I know it’s only been a week and I have to be patient. Ive been driving it a bunch and it makes me sad every time. I’m going to miss it so much… 😭 

 

I forgot that I put H4 headlights in it! I was driving around at night thinking, “man these headlights are better than I remember them being!” 
 

I also got around to connecting a vacuum hose to the 123 distributor so that I could run a curve with the map setting. Was having a difficult time finding a place to get vacuum on the cannon manifold. But I found it and with the help of some Amazon brass and vacuum hose she’s all set! Runs even better on the new curve… which makes me wanna cry even more… 😭😭

 

Here’s a cold start video and the engine running and raving off that cold start. Just for fun… 

[minimember]

Sold?

[RoccoGilroy]

Yes indeed. Sold yesterday. Sorry I forgot to mark it. I’ll do that now

[E21kc]

Congrats. Someone got a good Bmw. Now we need some updates on your new car…