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Replacing some bits of trim that I'd lost in the long restoration...some available to buy and some NLA.<br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;"><br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;">Gear lever knob (actually covers the original manky wooden one - i can't get that off!)<br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;"><br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;">Hand brake lever grip<br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;"><br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;">Seat adjuster knob<br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;"><br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;">And a couple of wing top under hood panels to stop that hinged hood arm scratching my paint work!<br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;"><br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;">Now just need to stop the leaking heater valve, clutch master and diff... and i can enjoy some more open topped cruising!<br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;"><br style="color:#333333;font-size:13px;padding:0px;">Oh the joys of classic motoring!

Hi everyone!
 
I'm a newcomer here. Been searching the forums for a while now. I don't have an '02 yet, but I am trying to plan as much as I can out before diving into this venture. 
 
Here's some info. The car that I end up going with will end up being somewhat of a budget build. The car will not be a daily driver, but I would like it to be fairly reliable. And, I want it to have some excitement. I (probably) won't be racing it. I just want something that will be a fun ride and has some umph when I give it some gas. I currently drive a stock '12 WRX as my daily. Lastly, I want to keep things in the BMW family, so no S2000 engines.
 
I plan on doing the majority of the work myself. I built a 65 Mustang from the ground up a few years ago, so I have the tools and a decent amount of DIY knowledge. The only thing I plan on leaving to the pros is tuning the engine. And possibly the turbo stuff too. But, I would definitely like to learn how to do it. 
 
What direction should I take this hypothetical project? I've been reading a lot on the m20 swap, which is typically known as the most HP for your dollar. But, I'm also really intrigued by the turbo m10 builds. I really like the idea of keeping it a 4 banger. If I were to allot $2000ish for the engine, should I just go for the m20 swap? Or, would it be just as good to rebuild and turbo the m10? I'm open to all the ideas and suggestions as I am obviously new to this party. 

I finally amassed a few bucks in my car account a few weeks back so I logged in at WN. Within about a week a box showed up with a pair of front fenders, 2 rear outer wheelhouse arches, 2 lower quarter panel patches, and a “tow sheet”. 
 
Over the last few months I’ve been cutting pieces from the shell of the ‘69. Some areas I was able to drill out the spot welds. In other areas it was easier to slice through a sacrificial panel with a body saw or an angle grinder with a cut-off wheel.
I carved out a few hours today for “car time”.
I started by removing the remains of inner aprons from the rain tray. 
 
I have all 3 right outer wheel houses removed from the respective cars and laying on the floor in the garage. I wire wheeled the seam sealer and the undercoating from all 3 began to assess what remains of them.
 
The general idea is that the ‘68 will be a stock bodied car and the ‘73 will get a turbo aero kit. The replacement inner arches are miserable looking pieces. I guess I shouldn’t have expected much for $30 a piece. The stamping are pretty irregular. 
 
I spent a half hour or so massaging the rear half of the outer wheelhouse from the ‘68. It’s generally rust free metal that was only mildly mangled when the car was T-boned. 

 

 

My intention is to remove the tail end from the ‘68 panel and weld it to the ‘73 panel and make a few small patch pieces for the leading edge of the ‘73 panel and install the finished product on the ‘68. The arch from the ‘69 with get the straightened leading edge of ‘68 panel and another short clean section of the ‘68 panel the repair the trailing edge of that panel. The whole mess will then be installed on the ‘73. 
 
-‘73 wheel housing trouble spots

 

 
-‘69 panel
 

 
I know it’s a ton of work for panels that are only worth about $250 a copy but while I have neither time nor money, I have more time than money so this is the path I have chosen. Besides, if one or the other, or both turn out to be total abominations I can always log in at WN again and have some more shiny new metal at my door step. 

Drove Vern to the Spring Gathering in Newburyport MA. We had a good turnout. Will Turner's Turbo made a cameo visit. We had short drive to Plumb Island then a light lunch at River Walk Brewery.

I lost a few receipts but from those I have here are the results
Avg 189 miles per tank
Avg 8.96 gals per fill up
Avg $30.96
Avg 20.87 mpg
$464.47 spent on fuel 
not counting the tanks Edwin got (3 I think)
 

Various zinc plated hardware! 
Rebuilt brake booster
steerbox refresh kit
fire wall sound proofing
 
 

While the electrical system of the 2002 is no Lucas catastrophe, it's still 60's level technology and has its fair share of shortcomings.  I'll refrain from labeling it 'poorly designed,' but the headlight circuit is one of the primary 2002 electrical systems that has lots of 'room for improvement.'  Also, with the popularity of adding additional fog and/or driving lights to these cars, this makes for the perfect time to rewire and improve this whole system while adding such upgrades.

Registered ME Lobster Plate VERN 73 for another year, $98 well spent. Drove Rodney the M5 to VSR to put on the 2019 plate stickers and fit the Cocomat templates. Lisa the '02Princess won a set of Cocomats at The Foundation and gave me the certificate, decided to go Red/Natural.

Not really a 'pin' person, over the past few months collected these two, which I think are really cool.  Kugelfischer Einspritzpumpen and ALPINA 30 Jahre (year) pins.

In the past two weeks, the car has been hit twice. First, on sometime during the week of 5/14, someone rammed into the drivers-side rear quarter panel. I think that it happened on 5/17 between 3:20 and 4:45, when I noticed it, but I can't be sure that I didn't see it before. I am pretty sure that someone pulled out of the driveway across the street and hit it, but I checked my neighbors security footage form that time and it didn't record anything. It triggers based on motion, though, and I've thought that maybe someone in his family deleted the footage after hitting the car. 

Regardless, I was able to pull out the dent with a suction cup and some boiling water. There is still a very small dent where the initial impact happened, but I'm trying to keep a positive attitude since the car isn't in great shape anyway.
 
The frustrating thing is what happened 5/24, when I came back from the office to see that Mr. Toots' left taillight lens got obliterated. I strongly suspect the recycle truck, because the operator picks up the cans with a giant mechanical arm and a neighbor parked their recycling bin right next to my car the night before. I haven't gotten my hands on any footage yet, but my roommate claims that the truck came between 8:30 and 8:40 so I have a concise window. I'm interested to see how the recycling company responds to my complaint.

I've ordered replicas off of RockAuto ($131 for replicas vs. $270 for originals on pelican, will get back on quality). I'll bill the recycling company once I get them installed. The sucky thing is that somehow my brake light fuse got blown in this process, so I got pulled over and got a fix it ticket for my brake lights not working. I've fixed it and I think it will be about a $25 fine once everything is checked off. The real disappointment is that I was 4 months away from going 10 years since the last time I was pulled over! Fuck!

So I have removed the rear subframe and all that remains with the body of the car is the wiring, the dashboard and the heater blower motor thing.
 
 The goal will be to sand and degrease the undercarriage before coating the bottom with some POR15.
 
 I only found some minor surface rust.  Especially where the brake line tabs connect to the body. 
 
there was some rust in the forward floor panels that had been repaired before. Welding job clearly Needs some additional love.
 
here are the latest pics. 

This upgrade is to compliment a pre-existing Volvo/320i vented system (-or whatever it is you Tii fellas do..) that can be added to the front with relative ease.
In an effort to replicate the placement of the calipers in a rear conversion at the stock(ish) 3 and 9 O'clock positions as compared to the front calipers, I worked with Todd21 who had formulated a plan based on the work of others, combined with his own ideas

I installed the front Ireland Sway Bar a few weeks ago and that was hard!  Lots of things were tricky and I finally got it in.  Now I kept reading about what a pain the rear bar was.  Thanks to some tips I read here, it was smooth as butter...maybe an hour for the removal of the stock bar and the install on the new one.  The tips that helped immensely were to use zip ties to support the rear of the bar while getting the bolts in, and to use longer bolts as starter bolts to compress the bushing and then remove one at a time and replace the longer bolts with the mounting bolts.  
 
After that it was adjust the end links and bam...it was done!  I saw people using vise grips, C clamps and whatever they could to compress the bushing enough to get the mounting bolts in.  $2 bolts from Home Depot made it simple.
 
Thanks FAQers!!!  
 

After much debate, I am now making factory style console sides, both short and long. they are not a quick and easy part to make correctly, in both shape and finished look...most upholstery shops will typically "french seam" a part like this (where the factory uses a dielectric seam) and it can look great (or not so great, depending on the quality) I chose a single sewn seam that is internally bound/recessed. it looks stock-ish and with higher quality wood (MDF, not particle board like OE) and a higher quality matched-grain vinyl, they should stand the test of time.
 
All the right holes are pre-drilled prior to upholstery, (& then marked) and come with hardware/brackets. Now on the website sold as "complete" assemblies, with the gauge panel and cup holder/shift surround & leather shift boot. (everything pictured other than gauges/radio/flasher switch)

Well i got a phone call from the shop this morning, and it wasn't the call I was hoping for. The engine is done.....? No had a break in last night and among the things stolen was ...
 
My turbo 😭
 
keep your eyes and ears out for my precious, and while you are at it the machinist with my original block ....
 

Hey guys,
 
I've been a bit radio silent, I know. Started a new job recently and had a few other projects on deck that took priority (and the money, too...), so I haven't been able to do too much to the 1600. This is the one I bought from a friend in San Francisco around Thanksgiving. One thing I have been doing is driving it, though. Any chance I get. Despite the shift linkage being a sloppy disaster, it runs really well and the suspension and steering are tight as a drum. Hell, it brakes pretty well, too.
 
All that said, there's plenty to be done. Most of the window seals are harder than Chinese algebra, I want to go back to a mechanical fuel pump, I'd like to move to an alternator with an internal voltage regulator, tires are old enough to be in high school, hazard switch/relay is wonky, no power going to the HVAC blower, etc. And then there's the paint and interior... But hot damn, she still starts right up every time.
 
The car has been running well with the cooler plugs and 87 octane. Every once in a while I swear I can hear some pinging, but that damn electric fuel pump is so noisy, I just don't really know. I pull plugs here and there and they look good, so I'll be trying 93 premium soon to see if there's any difference.
 
I have yet to service the carb (rebuild kit is on its way), but it's happier with the new air filter and one of the air correction jets was loose, so I snugged that up. Found a loose fuse holder so now my tail lights are back. Lubed the front caliper pins and now my driver's caliper stopped making noise... You get the drift...
 
I did paint the wheels, hated them being painted in matching body color. Still planning on putting on 14" BMW steelies, but this will have to do for now (see pics below).
 
I even drive it when it's wet out, but since the door locks don't work (next project), I don't leave it parked much in the city.
 
All that said, this site has been a massive help when I've needed to research a problem (needed a new ballast resistor for the ignition coil last weekend and had no problems finding which value my coil required on this site), and I want to thank you guys, past and present, for all the great info.
 
Here are a few pics.
 
 

Neue Klasse und Kaffee - May 2018

Ok, a few picture from today's Swap and Show:
 
 

Not the most productive of weekends.  I pretty much just made some new interior panels.  the car when I bought it had been sitting in a field in Houston for a LONG time.  Most of the interior panels were covered in black mold.  So most of that went by the way side.  The goal for this car has been extremely lightweight.  With that said I still wanted a some what finished looking interior.  I had a roll of grey carpet left over from another project.  I then just went to the local home depot and got some 2.7 mm birch plywood.  I cut the panels to fit and covered with the carpet.  The fit turned out pretty good, and honestly hard to complain for about $20 in material and few hours labor.  
 
Next up is patching what was left of the dash pad.  I have now gone through 3 rounds of padded dash filler and sanding.  Hopefully when all is said and done the dash turns out looking decent.  These shorter duration projects that are visible are helping get some wind back in my sails.  It's been 3+ long years of working on this car.  I've never driven it, it has been incredibly hard not to lose all motivation.  It will be worth it when I get to drive it! That's what I keep telling myself at least.

steering wheel will get replaces at some point in the future. 
 

Passenger door crank screw is stripped out.  Any ideas how to salvage?

Seating position is moved way back.  Entry and exit are surprisingly not bad.  I will need to extend the shifter up about 6-9" but that should put it right off the steering wheel and keep my elbow high enough not to hit the park/drift brake.
 

Not much of an update but receiving a few parcels offsets the frustration of trying to deal with front control arm bushings. 

Well the car was at Le Trans from August until a few weeks ago. We drove from Miami to Le’s place. We did get to spend a few more days driving it around the area. Made more memories!
 
Now it’s time for paint. The car has all new suspension,cooling, 123 ignition, rebuilt rear end, rebuilt 5speed etc. Basically the car looks prettier underneath than it does on top. 
 
I was happy to see how dry the car is after removing all the glass and interior. Unfortunately I dropped one of the rear side widows removing it. 
 
I haven’t decided wether to use single stage or 2 stage paint. Sometimes I see old cars with 2 stage paint and they don’t look right to me, too shiny, too deep. 2 stage is probably better longer lasting paint so I haven’t ruled it out. 
 
Our car had tons of small dents but luckily they where mostly all asccesable from behind. Some we welded small rods too and used a body puller to pull them out. 
 
I want to detail the trunk. I am considering stripping all the paint with either chemical stripper or wet blasting. Then treating the surface with ospho, then primer and then paint I would like too protect the area for years to come. I am not crazy about the bumpy protective finish usually applied to the shock towers and trunk sides. I think it can look dirty, then again I’ve never seen what it looks like fresh.
 
The motor will be removed when I get back from the vintage. The plan is to detail and prime the engine compartment also. 
 
I hope to paint the engine compartment, trunk and engine compartment myself and leave the outside to the pros. 
 
Stay tuned for for a BIG update after the Vintage. 
 

 
Last weekend we travelled across the country to participate in the 2018 Classic Motorsports ‘The Mitty’ races held on the beautiful Road Atlanta circuit just north of Atlanta, Georgia. This is perhaps the biggest vintage race on the east coast with over 300 entries.

THREE WHOLE DAYS OF VINTAGE BMW MADNESS JUNE 1st -3rd!
BMW is the featured marque this year at the 
SPOKANE FESTIVAL OF SPEED.
3 days of vintage racing, BMW corral, BBQs, hand crafted FoS beer, and even a drive from the race track to downtown and back (about 20 min each way) in race cars through the city streets.
The drive isn’t that bad, the cars need to stretch there legs! Special hotel rates available, or camping ⛺️ at the track or at my house..... all are welcome!
For you vintage racers, we encourage all VARA racers and other SoCal racers bring their BMWs and race with us! SOVREN has approved this, no registration or tech issues!

Had not seen full “how to” for diff swap, so here you go.
Simple job. Well, simple on a car that gets its diff swapped a lot. No promises on a diff that has been in a car for 40 years…
What you need:
A diff
Two 17mm combo wrenches
17mm socket
19mm combo wrench
19mm socket
17mm socket
6mm hex socket (for 2002 cv joints)
8mm hex socket (if you have 320 cv joints)
Jack stands
Jack
First, get the car up on jackstands.
Remove muffler
Lock e-brake and put car in gear
Loosen the 4 nuts connecting drive shaft to diff (17mm). you will need to get at them from the right side of diff and will have to rotate the drive shaft and re-lock once.
Loosen the 24 hex bolts that hold the half shafts to the diff and wheel hubs. 6mm hex for 2002 cv joints, 8mm hex for 320i joints. You could get away with just doing the inner ones, but gives you more room to work if you just take them all the way out.
Creative use of a combo wrench applied to a short hex key if that is all you have.
Or use hex socket and drive
Halfshafts out. Good time to check cv joints and refresh if needed.
Now get a jack under the subframe to support it. without the diff attached, the subframe will sag. Not good for the mounts.
Remove hanger bracket. I just a tranny jack under the diff to support. Or you can have a buddy bench press it.
17mm combo wrenches on the bracket, 17mm socket on the nuts holding diff to bracket.
remove the 4 bolts holding the diff to the subframe. 19mm combo wrench on top, 19mm socket on bottom. impact gun is wonderfull thing here.
Lower back of diff first. When clear of tank, slide out.
If swapping in a 320 3.91, you will need to use the 2002 diff cover. Good time to check the innards and reseal the cover anyway.
Remove cover with 17mm socket and scrape the old gasket/goo off cover and diff.
Bmw specifies a paper gasket on the cover, but I have never used one in the dozens of diff covers I have sealed. Never had a leak. I use permatex ultra black sealant instead.
Apply a bead around diff
Replace cover gently. Screw bolts in until just snug by hand. You should see just a little ultra black ooze out. Let diff sit for an hour or two for goo to set.
Once goo has set, torque cover to 32ftlbs.
Get new crush seals for fill and drain plugs….these are on use items. Do not reuse.
Now is the good time to refill the diff with oil. I use redline 75w90 for street diffs. Redlilne lightweight shockproof oil for track diffs.
Assembly is reverse of the above process…..but when I put mine back together I will add detail to this.
the oils..

Seats
 
Another small update, but progress is progress so I'll take it. Wish I took more photos of the brackets specifically, but I suppose they aren't much to look at. I started off by restrapping the drivers side seat. Mk2 VW Recaros use a sling style support under the cushion to hold you up. My drivers seat sling had fallen apart, and was poorly repaired. I converted it over to this sling style support using the stock hardware. Let me be the first to say, holy shit this sucks to do. The actual metal bars it sits on are pretty flimsy, and these are obviously very strong elastic, so it kept bending the metal supports. Eventually I figured out that if you start at the bottom and slowly work your way up the hooks, it is a little bit more manageable. I only did this on the drivers side, because the passenger seat was in tact, and I really didn't feel like struggling with it again. 
 

Nice and firm, but a pain to install
 
So the interior is actually due for a lot of work. The previous owner had started converting over to a red/black color scheme. I think it would have looked pretty good finished, but it wasn't for me. I'm not sure who chose to do the rear and passenger seats in Brown/Green, but I think it looks horrible. The drivers seat is mismatched, and with the red carpet the whole setup is an eyesore.