Start of restoration

[MoKadir]

Just wanting to start documenting the process of my restoration project aswell as on my Instagram, spanner_monkey_mo (go follow for more content). And hopefully get help from the community along the way when I inevitably don't know what I'm doing. 

 

Little background on myself. I'm an engineer working in the merchant navy so working on this in between time away at sea. This is my first time working on a car so have very little clue what I'm doing however I'm pretty good at taking things apart and putting them back together so I'll stick with doing that for now.

 

Plan for the build is a restomod. Want to keep the original look of the vehicle (I'm keeping the chrome bumpers and trim) As you can see I've already added some e30 basket weaves. Some other planned mods are:

- IE wildwood brake kit 

- H&R sway bar kit 

- KW suspension 

- Will do a full rebuild of the engine as it hasn't ran in approx 30 years 

 

I'll keep updating this thread as and when I can. Hopefully you guys can help a fellow 02 enthusiast with this project. 

 

Mo

 

[2002iii]

Welcome to the best resource you can find for everything 02.

 

Looks like a nice fixer upper, looks like you're going to need a fender, hood and grills. Sounds like you have a good plan in mind for it. I would try changing all the fluids in the engine and turning it over by hand. The m10 engine is a very strong design, it might not need a full rebuild.

 

What's the story with the other cars in the background?

[tzei]

If the nose panel doesn't want to behave i belive Jaymic might have part.

Roof antenna is going to go right?

 

Love the wheels.

[bergie33]

For those body panels (and likely many other parts you need), Walloth & Nesch are your friends.

['76mintgrün'02]

Welcome.

 

I like the grey interior and it looks to be in good condition.  Low back seats make me a little nervous, but I like those too.  That carpet might even be salvageable, if you're careful.  I don't see any cracks in the dash.  The early chrome trimmed dashes are cool, the way they tie into the door panels.  Looks like a worthy project!

Tom

[MoKadir]

1 hour ago, 2002iii said:

Welcome to the best resource you can find for everything 02.

 

Looks like a nice fixer upper, looks like you're going to need a fender, hood and grills. Sounds like you have a good plan in mind for it. I would try changing all the fluids in the engine and turning it over by hand. The m10 engine is a very strong design, it might not need a full rebuild.

 

What's the story with the other cars in the background?

Yeah I have actually owned the car for a few months already and managed to source all the replacement panels along with stockpiling other parts ready for a full steam ahead rebuild. 

Honestly the engine rebuild is more out of my own curiosity rather than out of necessity, I work on big marine diesel engines on a day to day basis and always wanted to see how much of that knowledge transfers over to a car engine.

So the car is at a workshop which specialises in old restorations and those are other customer projects/donor cars.

[MoKadir]

1 hour ago, tzei said:

If the nose panel doesn't want to behave i belive Jaymic might have part.

Roof antenna is going to go right?

 

Love the wheels.

Yeah I managed to source some new old stock nearside and centre grills however the offside one which has been crashed into so far I've only got a used piece that needs to be re-chromed. However I may wait for koogleworks new centre grilles so that the whole front matches

[tzei]

Nice.

Do not throw away door seals. They might be better than new ones.

[MoKadir]

13 minutes ago, '76mintgrün'02 said:

Welcome.

 

I like the grey interior and it looks to be in good condition.  Low back seats make me a little nervous, but I like those too.  That carpet might even be salvageable, if you're careful.  I don't see any cracks in the dash.  The early chrome trimmed dashes are cool, the way they tie into the door panels.  Looks like a worthy project!

Tom

Hey Tom, 

Yeah the interior is in pretty great condition. The car was crashed and then stored in a garage for the last 30 years, so has no sun damage and very minimal rust apart from the foot wells. 

However I am torn between what I plan on doing with the car. Currently the car is painted with a roller and brush and I will be taking it down to bare metal to do proper metal repair and a paint job. The car was originally Caribe Blue but I'm not the biggest fan of this colour from the bits that are left original and not been painted over. I am leaning towards a complete colour change to a shade of British Racing Green.

And yes I am planning on changing those low back seats to something from the recaro classic line.

[MoKadir]

16 minutes ago, tzei said:

Nice.

Do not throw away door seals. They might be better than new ones.

Yeah I am very cautious of this. Personally I cant seem to find anywhere that has them in stock and from what I have read the reproduction ones from URO aren't the best quality. So if there is a lead to some OEM or a good quality set of repro seals then please let me know

[2002iii]

22 minutes ago, MoKadir said:

Hey Tom, 

Yeah the interior is in pretty great condition. The car was crashed and then stored in a garage for the last 30 years, so has no sun damage and very minimal rust apart from the foot wells. 

However I am torn between what I plan on doing with the car. Currently the car is painted with a roller and brush and I will be taking it down to bare metal to do proper metal repair and a paint job. The car was originally Caribe Blue but I'm not the biggest fan of this colour from the bits that are left original and not been painted over. I am leaning towards a complete colour change to a shade of British Racing Green.

And yes I am planning on changing those low back seats to something from the recaro classic line.

Caribe is a nice color and originality is nice. If you must have green look at agave green.

[JQ02]

Welcome @MoKadir !  Seems like you're well on your way!

I started down this path a couple months ago on my '76. I'll keep an eye out for any questions you may have.

Best of luck on your adventure!

[0257]

Welcome, nice roundie that reminds me of my first 02, which was only a bit less banged up when I used it as my daily driver back in the early 80s.  If you can handle big boat diesels, an 02 will be a snack.  Just don’t overtorque!😬

 

And don’t worry about getting help and advice here on the FAQ.  Most of what you’ll need to know is already written, and judicious web searching will reveal most of that.  

 

And when you ask us what time it is, be prepared to learn how to build the watch.  😁

[Joesprocket]

Love seeing another early example rescued from the brink. Check out the technical article section where you’ll find a digital version of shop manual. I’m a sucker for the low backs. Keep’m close just in case. Welcome to a fantastic community.

[Mike Self]

Welcome to the 02 fraternity/sorority.  Don't be shy about asking questions--there's a whole lotta expertise--and friendly folks--on the FAQ, and our OZ and Brit cousins have the specialized knowledge about RHD versions that we Statesiders lack.

 

That hood (bonnet) may be repairable since it appears the only damage is to that right front corner.  A good panel beater should be able to pull that out and make it nice again.  And it appears that the bonnet isn't original--looks like either Granada or Inka (orange) paint underneath the Riviera blue.  And that grey interior is rarely seen in the US.  

 

Cheers, and again, welcome

 

mike