'75 2002 Slowly going to be restored

[MikeR]

In 1998 I bought my first BMW, a '97 318is. I joined the CCA and went to an event where I got to see my first 2002s. That was all it took. I knew I would have one someday. At the time, I was an apartment dweller and didnt think it would be a good idea. Fast forward almost 9 years, I now have a house and a (somewhat) suitable garage. I started looking about 2 months ago. There were a few for sale, but when I went to see/drive the first one, thats all I needed.

About 3/4 of the way home with the car, an awful noise and vibration started from under the middle of the car. As I pulled off to the side of the road to take a look, I hear a loud thunk, a rattle then nothing. I look out the rearview mirror just in time to see something bounce out. I still have no idea what it was and I didnt take a picture. Noise stopped though and it wasnt any harder to shift.

In retrospect, I should have dug into the 4 inches of maintence records/receipts before pulling out my checkbook. Somewhere near the middle of the stack was a receipt from about a month before I bought the car. The mechanics comments gave me a bit of a case of buyers remorse.

To summarize: Car running poorly (HOT). Carb problems, recommend rebuild. New fuel filter already filling with rust. Suspect inside of fuel tank is rusting. Fan blade has contacted radiator and radiator has been damaged. Motor mounts are weak. Turn signals inop. Muffler not properly mounted (help up by zip ties) Engine oil very low (only found 1 1/2 quarts) and was very thick. Massive engine oil leaks from front timing cover area. Tach Inop. Oil dipstick has no marks.

I knew before buying that there was a problem with the transmission. I used it as a bargaining point. The only thing that I do not feel comfortable working on is the transmission. I took it to a local shop that had done the original transmission conversion on the car (albeit 8 years ago). New shift plate. New lower left control arm (it was bent). In and out of gears like butta.

The car is running...poorly. I have the replacement gaskets for the timing cover, oil pan and valve cover. I'm all ready (I think) to replace those and do a valve job. Next weekend I think.

I have made my way thru the stack of paper work. The ad for the car said that they had records back to '86. Looking closer, they actually go back to the original owner in 1975. Engine was replaced with a Metric Mechanics 2200 in '89. Transmission replaced with a 320i transmission in '96. Seats replaced in '96. Painted (grr) in '88. It looks like the 3rd owner was a BMW mechanic from the bay area that moved up to the Seattle area. I'd really like to talk to the 4th owner to find out why he put an Accord spoiler on the trunk lid.

Early records list the color as 'Grey'. The current color isnt awful, but I think I need to dig a little to find what the original color actually is (I'm hoping Polaris) and paint it.

I've now looked it over from bumper to bumper about 8 times now. There are a few little rust spots. None bad. The floor under the passenger has been "fixed" and looks ok for now.

At this point I need to sit down and put together a list of what needs to be fixed and prioritize. I'd appreciate any words of wisdom or advice.

And now for pictures!

[MikeR]

(nt)

[MikeR]

I poked around the car again today after reassembling the center console. How many screws are supposed to hold on the center console side panels? It seems that I have more than should be there.

Adding to the list of problems.

None of the heater/fan controls appear to do anyhting. Visually confirmed that the blower is not blowing. Last time I drove it, I put it on 'heat' and felt a minute increase in temperature.

One of the POs had drilled holes in the muffler. I wonder if the muffler mounting kit that bavauto sells would fix this? I patched the holes and the exhaust noise is much more pleasant to my ears now.

After doing some searching on this site, I have been able to identify a bang noise that occurs under my seat(ish) while accelerating. The center pipe is banging either on the driveshaft or the undercarriage.

I degreased the engine today in hopes of finding where the oil leakes are coming from.

There are 3 non-factory switches added by a PO. One is for the foglamps (figured that out today). In the pile of receipts, there is an electric choke. Although, flipping either of the other 2 switches in either direction when first starting the engine does nothing. Which still leaves 1 switch unidentified without any clues (ok, except tracing the wires). I flipped them a few times and watched to see if any of my neighbors garage doors opened. Nope.

While sorting thru the tub of stuff in the trunk that came with the car, I found a brand new water pump. Which begs the question....why?

Also in the tub, were 2 rear side window locks. I promptly used the driver side one since the window did not appear to be well latched and the freeway noise was getting to me. Score.

It's so hard to find good help these days.....

[H_Krix]

From an electrical standpoint, you seem to have your work cut out for you.

Other guys will probably chime in about mechanical issues they can see, but i'll stick to what I know.

First, that red box on your battery tray is an MSD ignition. http://www.msdignition.com/1ignitions.htm You'll have to flip it over to see what model # it is, since the decal on the top side seems all but gone. Since it isnt connected to anything, I'm guessing it went bad, or the fuse blew and nobody knew how to fix it, so they tossed the points and condenser back in.

From looking in your engine bay, someone has done a real shade-tree job of the wiring in your '02. I can't tell what that nest of stuff is in front of the MSD box, but it isn't factory. You also seem to have a wire grounded on the oil filter housing. Also, that black plastic split loom is not factory, so someone at some time (for whatever reason) decided to re-wrap the wires. That makes me shiver a little...

My advice would be to get into the harness and yank out anything that isn't factory, whether it is functional or not. You never know when someone may have wired the driving lights into any switched power outlet they could find, and clipped something else (heater blower motor perhaps?) in the process.

I like your sense of humour about it though. Keep that up, its gonna come in handy!

[MikeR]

Thanks for the insight. The MSD is a 6A, PN 6200. Reading thru the information/propoganda on the website, it would appear that this is a good thing if it works.

So the question is: Should I bother seeing if it is functional or can be salvaged? Or yank it and can it?

As for all of the other wiring issues, the challenge for me is that I need to try to keep the car in a running state as much as possible. A few days here or there probably won't be a big deal. Summer is coming and I can bicycle the few miles to the vanpool pickup when it's nicer. Looking at the rats nest under the dash makes me think that it will take a while to get it properly wired.

By the way, I went to pull my instrument cluster yesterday and one of the first steps is to remove the 2 screws above the cluster. There arent any there. Does anyone have a better guide to cluster removal than my Chiltons?

[albawhore]

Up above the steering column at the back of the cluster there are 2 knurled nuts. Take those babies off and disconnect the speedo cable while you are in the comprimising position required to get the knurled nuts off. The cluster should pull out. Look in the FAQ's for speedo/odmeter repair and cluster grounding.

Good Luck

JB

[Arshloch]

I have seen that car advertised for awhile and wondered why it would not sell, while having the MM motor and the 5 speed. See, that is the PO syndrome with this car.

[MikeR]

After watching the hockey game last night, I wandered out into the garage without much of an agenda but with the intent of investigating wiring. Not having a tach annoys me for some reason.

Krix: I think that bundle of wires at the front and grounded on the oil filter are aftermarket fog lamps.

At the firewall on the drivers side, I found a wire that was not connected to anything. I gently pulled it so I could get a better look. This exposed another cable end that was not connected. Pulled again. A cable end wrapped in black tape......and under that....duct tape. I kept pulling and investigating further. Pictures below. I Think this could be part of the original wiring harness.

[kcdonahue]

It’s been a while since I had my 75 2002 but I'm pretty sure the blue wire harness was for the emissions crap. You may want to search the forum for past posts regarding smog removal.

Good Luck,

Casey

[H_Krix]

It’s been a while since I had my 75 2002 but I'm pretty sure the blue wire harness was for the emissions crap. You may want to search the forum for past posts regarding smog removal.

I'm pretty sure you're right. I dont see a charcoal canister in your engine bay, so it looks like someone de-smogged it at one point in time or another. check around the carb for blocked-off hoses, and a wire running from the + side of your coil to a wire in the fusebox. (I forget which at the moment)

There's an FAQ about it, look there. It should answer your questions.

[MikeR]

I've been wondering why the car is so awful when it's cold. I thought it was just a problem with the carb so I ordered the Weber book and a rebuild kit. After reading thru the book a few times, I wandered out to the garage and took off the air cleaner. This is when I noticed something I hand't noticed before. My electric choke is being held in place by 1 screw instead of 3.

I say in place because while it was attached to the carb, the spring was not actually "choking". After finding 2 screws identical to the 1 and reattched. An amazingly enough, the engine starts right up cold and keeps running.

Still having the surging problem. 2 vacuum lines on the carb. Passenger side. Both capped. I removed the caps and inspected them. There is some cracking when I squeeze them. Could be my leak. I've been meaning to try running the line from the carb to the dizzy to see if I can tell a difference.

I've been trying to prioritize what needs to be done. Mechanical first. Looks second.

I started with the basics. Plugs, points and wires. Then I decided I do a valve job. Easier than I thought it would be. Valves were tighter than I think they should have been. I don't know how long they have been that way but it concerns me.

Next on the agenda: Oil pan gasket, oil change, filter, timing chain gasket, fan blade, coolant flush, inspect water pump (replace if necessary), figure out how the electric fan is wired, rebuild the carb...

When starting the engine, there is alot of lateral movement. One of the notes on the paperwork is something about weak motormounts. I wonder if the bangin noise I get at 3k RPM and during startup is related to how much the engine is allowed to move?

When all that is done, replace the exhaust from front to back.

Hopefully I won't find anything else wrong along the way.

After scraping some paint off the engine compartment, it turns out the car was originally sienna brown. Don't know that I will get it repainted that color.

Still a little overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done and the fact that I havn't done work like this in 15 years and had my father there every minute but dealing with it.

[Jim_75Sahara]

Very impressive. No way could I get sentimental about the Siennabraun orig. paint. It's ugly - go with any color you like. Personally, I'd use a rarer 02 color for the sake of variety. When you're done you'll practically have a new car. Good luck.

[MikeR]

It's been a while since I've been able to spend any amount of time in the garage. Since it came to my attention that I am sitting on 6 weeks of vacation and my tolerance for work BS has reached it's end, this week seemed like a great time to take a week off.

My XR700 and new blue coil have been sitting waiting for me for a couple of days. The coil was super easy to install. The XR700 was a slightly different story. Installing the module was easy enough. I thought I was at TDC. Nope. It took about 30 minutes of trial and error. Advance/retard.

When I did get it started though, it ran so much better. It actually idles under 1000 rpms. Fairly smooth. Still a little bit of surging but not nearly as bad as before.

As part of my wiring, I decided to tackle the rats nest up front. Still a few random wires. They are part of the aftermarket foglamps and electric fan (which doesnt work).

But the car is now about 5 pounds lighter.

After stepping back and admiring my work, I noticed one more thing I need to take care and one that has me concerned.

First thing is the dipstick. I'm fairly certain that I am missing a piece. Also, can anyone tell me what the tube to the right of the dipstick is/was?

The second thing is the driver side motor mount. The hollow bit has me nervous. I probably need to crawl under and look at the passenger side soon.

And in the "Is this normal?" category:

[HarryPR]

It’s been a while since I had my 75 2002 but I'm pretty sure the blue wire harness was for the emissions crap. You may want to search the forum for past posts regarding smog removal.

I'm pretty sure you're right. I dont see a charcoal canister in your engine bay, so it looks like someone de-smogged it at one point in time or another. check around the carb for blocked-off hoses, and a wire running from the + side of your coil to a wire in the fusebox. (I forget which at the moment)

There's an FAQ about it, look there. It should answer your questions.

You'll find the FAQ on the blue wires as part of the Weber Downdraft Installation Guide here :

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/content/view/18/32/

HTH,

[oz_tom]

With the 'is this normal' question - it looks like the return line has ben blocked off which is fine. I think it will come in handy if you go efi.