Project Rust Bucket -- My '75 02

[Dirt]

Hey folks. I've been reading all these amazing project blogs and I've learned a lot from them. I've been looking for a 2002 for a long time, but I've never had the money when something tempting came along.

A guy who knew a friend of a friend solved that problem for me. Through a rather insane chain of communication, I found out about a guy who was giving away this 1975 BMW 2002. The dude lives 3 miles from my house. I met the guy, he gave me the keys and title and I had it towed to my house.

My goal is to make an autocross/track day car out of it. I don't have a trailer at this point, so it needs to stay street legal.

There is definitely a lot of rust, but most of it is not structural, yet. The rear shock towers have been repaired. I will most likely repair them again. There's body rust under the side windows, in the middle of the doors and below the side molding on one side. At first glance, however, it is actually in remarkably good shape for a car this old that was given to me by a complete stranger.

The first big problem was the sunroof. The previous owner had tried to seal it up with duct tape, but that didn't work out so well. I will eventually weld the roof shut. I don't have time for that right now though. I spent part of the day cleaning off the duct tape, neutralizing the rust, and sealing up the sunroof. It isn't a glamorous project. It isn't cosmetically perfect. When finished, it will not leak and it definitely looks better than duct tape.

Rust dealt with for the time being.

Almost done. Tomorrow I'll put one coat of black sealant over the seal that I made so it doesn't stand out so much. It is a good temporary fix.

Here's a more complete write-up of what I did. As an added bonus, you'll see some photos of my cat that likes to ride around on my shoulders.

I tend to overdocument stuff. I'm also a little sarcastic some times. Reader beware.

Thanks to all of you who post in here for sharing your knowledge and advice. I've learned a lot and I know there's a lot more for me to learn.

Pete

[albawhore]

Peter,

Welcome to the sickness.

I am really not that far along, right now we are going backwards and doing what we wanted to do in the first place. I am going to pick up a camera tomorrow and get some pix up. I hope you have a heated garage, I used to live in Charlottesville and I know how winter can be back there.

Thanks for the kudos and maybe some day we will be able to burn some oil together.

My e-mail is spaarke at yahoo dot com if you ever need anything don't hesitate to call.

JB

[Dirt]

I've been working on cars year round with nothing more than a carport. I just have to make sure that I plan my projects well so I'm working on the right stuff at the right time. Things definitely slow down in the winter. Luckily this year it has been warm most of the time.

I look forward to following your progress.

Pete

PedroGringo at yahoo dot com

[Dirt]

New fuel lines under the hood. New fuel filter . New vacuum hoses. New ground cable. Took the carb off and scrubbed off 1/2" of accumulated crap. I managed to get it spaking clean. The water choke was a little clogged, so I cleaned that out too. Should flow a little better. We rolled it down the driveway in 4th gear a few times to move the internals and get stuff primed a little.

I'm many steps closer to starting it up.

The awesome part of this project so far has been the outreach from the FAQ welcoming committee. Casey helped me out with a manual and Terry stopped by today while we were wrenching. He brought me a t-shirt and hung out for a while to give me some pointers on the car.

Thanks guys!

PEte

[carnellm]

Looks like you got an extreme deal man! Nice looking car, especially for free.

And you are right, this place is great. I can't thank the people here enough.

[Dirt]

Good afternoon.

Well I didn't get much time to work on the Bummer* last week, but I did get an hour or so today. I stuck the battery in and hooked it up and got good news and bad news. The good news is that the gas gauge works!!!! The bad news is that it registerrs Full. That gas has been in there for at least two years. I was going to say that there's no telling what state it is in, but I'm wrong about that. It is going to be bad gas and I'm going to have to drain the tank. That means getting a few big gas cans and carting them to the waste disposal place this weekend. GGGGGGGGGggggggggrrrrrr.

I took the passagner seat out so that I could get to the back seat. The mechanisms on the front seat for folding forward is pretty much toast. I yanked the seat out and then gently took out the rear seats. Though dirty, the vinyl appears to be in perfect shape. I'll unhook that tomorrow and send it off to Greg on Friday when I get paid.

I also found an alternative ventilation port under the rear seat. The driver's side floor had been welded up and resealed. The passanger side was weak, rusted and had a 1"x2" hole in it. I'll weld that up when the time comes. For now it lets a nice breeze into the cabin.

I thought I'd see if the motor would turn over. No such luck. My guess is a bad starter or starter solenoid (sp). I didn't get a click at all when I turned the key. All of the interior lights dimmed like it was sucking amps. The battery is a brand new optima, so I'm relatively sure it isn't that.

I'll read my trusty manual tonight and see what's involved in changing out the starter and its solenoid.

The rest of the carpet comes out tomorrow to survey the additional foot ventilation that might be around under there. I'll document what I find when I have a little light to photograph.

On the good side, I did find a 1979 quarter under the back seat.

Thanks for reading.

Pete

Oh yeah... I forgot about the * remark above. I was writing an e-mail the other day and tried to type "Bimmer" and it accidentally came out "Bummer". I figured that was Freudian, so until the car runs, its new name is "The Bummer". I guess I shouldn't heap such bad karma (or carma) on the the little thing. I know it'll run when it is time for it to do so. Please don't mistake my derogitory names for my car for me not loving this thing to death.

[Dirt]

Looks like new floors are definitely going to be put into the Bummer.

Passanger side floor.

The car was parked leaning so that the passanger side was a little lower and the sunroof leaked and puddled water for a few years. Hopefully there's enough good metal to weld in a new floor. We'll see when I cut them out.

With the seats and carpet out.

It looks like some of the wiring was cut towards the back of the car. I can't tell if it is just stereo stuff or what. I'll chase it down soon.

Pete

[bugtustlebub]

It's looking good, Pete.

Thanks for letting us look around. I'm sort of skeered to begin poking around on my daily driver '74, but it's gotta be done.

Nice to see a nuther VA '02er!

Regards,

Randy Bryant

Elkton/ Massanutten/ Harrisonburg/ JMU, VA

[Dirt]

I'm fortunate that this isn't going to be a daily driver. That removes a lot of the fear about digging through stuff for me. I pretty much go for it and worry about the consequences later. My grand total spent on this project so far is still well under $50. That isn't going to last for too long though.

I'm getting a new starter at the end of the week. That will at least get the motor turning on battery power. It will let me move onto the next step in getting the motor running.

Thanks for your comments. Good luck with your project.

Pete

[Biscuit3]

Yeesh those North American bumpers are a joke! I say off with them! Either go without or go Euro! What was BMW thinking, even if it was part of the legal requirements of the times???

I just had a brief read of your progress. You are getting there! You'll look back at it sometime next year and see a big difference. Believe me, we all do! I think I might even review mine sometime soon, it definately keeps you motivated to do more!!!

[Dirt]

Us North Americans are definitely freaks. The bumpers look like they were an afterthought at best, the design work of an alcohlic opium addict with a bad hangover at worse. (No offense intended to alcoholic opium addicts with hangovers).

The bumpers are coming off. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with them. I was thinking of building a large catapult that I can use to get rid of spare parts that I don't need and no-one wants. They'd be great for calibrating the catipult. I need to be able to fling something the size of that bumper at least 200 meters. I'll let you know how that goes.

Most likely they'll end up at the junk yard.

Thanks for the ecouragement. Karl is looking great! I'm glad that the masking tape is gone now.

Pete

[Dirt]

Oh yeah... one more thing.

After a hard rain yesterday, I found that the windshield seal leaks. There was a small puddle on what was left of the floor under each leak. I'm going to get a good, waterproof cover for the Bummer this weekend. I don't care if it messes up the paint. I'd just like to keep some of the water out if I can.

Pete

[Biscuit3]

Hey! I may have been living in Sydney for the past 6 years, but us Virginians need to stick together. I always thought those kind of bumpers looked like something you'd find on a swing-set in a play ground, have you got kids? Nuts to the tire swing, the "2002 bumper swing" is in style now! Toss those bumpers out just like some of the other forgotten trademarks of the 70's such as the pinwheels and kalidoscopes!

[Dirt]

We used to have kids. They were catapulted more than 200 meters away in an early test of my new parts disposal device. They haven't found their way back yet.

I remember that you said you were from 'round these parts at one point in your life. I should have made my comments a bit more specific about North Americans. Many of the automotive regulations that we've got are freaking insane at best and moronic at worst.

Remember those sliding seatbelts from the late 80s and early 90s? Bwahahaha. I rest my case.

Pete

PS: I still think most North Americans are a little weird. Myself included.

[Biscuit3]

I still think most North Americans are a little weird. Myself included.

So this is my answer to my problems. Thanks for helping me out!