Our Picks

Who else has a collection? Let's see 'em! I know mine's not very big, but when I do see something I buy it regardless of whether I need it or not. Like with most things on these cars you never know when something will not be available again and then skyrocket in value. I used to hoard car parts too but I finally let that go to fund this project. Who knows, maybe one day my great great grandchildren will be able to cash in on my $1 hot wheels.
 



 
As of now my residence only has a car port, no garage . So all my parts for the build are tucked away in a teeny tiny shed. Finally got around to cleaning things up a bit, it was hairy for a while there. It's kind of a bummer not being able to work on the car as a whole at home. I do have a pretty nice tool collection that doesn't get much use because of this, and a collection that needs displaying.
 

 
Not much to update on the car itself, although I did finish the turn signals. Being strapped for time doesn't allow me a whole lot of under-car time. Actually most of my spare time recently has been spent parting out a car, a regular side business I have to fund my project. Its the circle of life. My goal is to do at least 1 thing every day to get closer to being finished with the car, it could be just 5 minutes or it could be 5 hours. Now its got me curious; How much time have I spent on this car already? How many hours? Should've kept a data log or something it would have been interesting.
 
On a higher note, big things are coming! I contracted a man to come help me get some things done on the car finally. In the next month or so there should be some major progress happening! I'm excited that things are picking up again. This car is definitely being updated to a more current century. All LED lighting, and the only rubber on the car will be tires and seals/gaskets, everything poly baby!
 

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. 

Originally I was gonna make the valves and valve springs open and close. 
After a year in building this, I came to my senses and went for the look instead. 
Made some stylized spark nuts too.
The rocker arm shafts had to be made independently  to account for the variances in the head assembly. 
The valve springs I coiled around some PVC pipe and glued linear struts to hold them to shape. Works for this application. 
 
 

I have made good progress. The seam sealer has set up and finally mounted the E-brake.  I ended up going with a hydraulic brake for easier swap to discs in the future. 

All the old metal then got a good coating of implement paint flat black.  Everything instantly looked better.

Finally underneath all but the tunnel was coated.  It was quite the feeling to see the underside look this nice after 3+ years of rust repair.  This has been a journey I thought would never end.

Here’s to a special 2002sday! Thank you so much to Petrolicious I’m so very honored! Your distinguished film making is incredible! Kudo’s to the film maker! 😉
 
I’m grateful to Performance Technic for the use of their facility for the interview. And Thank you to 2002 Garage Werks for putting up with me as an ‘Attention to Detail’ customer! 😉 I appreciate all the hard work you helped put into TESORO. I’m forever grateful to all my friends who have supported me whether it was your positive feedback or helping me source parts for TESORO’s build.
 
This video was filmed in 3 days in the backroads of Marin. As a resident in Marin County,  there are some really nicely paved roads with incredible scenic views of the Pacific Ocean. The person who filmed this is a freelance videographer who also did some commercials for the last Super Bowl. His beautiful artistry is well portrayed in this video and I'm so lucky to have worked with him. 
 
The interview was about 2 hours of just casual banter of questions and answers and I really enjoyed this segment as it was very light hearted and I could be more myself without having to stand next to a "Car Enthusiast Celebrity" - (AKA Jay Leno... ) and be so nervous! 
 
Thanks to all for watching the video and following Tesoro and Derby's journey.
 
Here’s the link to the video:
 
 

Had quite the adventure! Vern's rear passenger wheel bearing wore out after well over 90K miles. Luckily I have several friends in the Cincinnati area who offered mechanical assistance, expertise and a new set of Tii wheel bearings from Larry Gray! The added bonus was I was able to see Lance White, Jason Gipson, Eric King and Scott Aaron. We were on the road again by 2pm.
 
We drove as far as Calvert City Kentucky. Woke up early and made tracks toward Paragould Arkansas to try and catch the caravan from Dayton Ohio. We caught up to them at a rest stop on route 412 arriving to a round of applause. We stopped for lunch in Mountain Home then continued on toward Eureka Springs. We stopped at the Arkansas Visitor's Center and had an impromptu '02 Fest when several cars behind our caravan stopped in as well. All 14 2002s drove into Eureka Springs in loose formation.

Today we dropped the engine, trans and front subframe.  
 
Progress.
 
also found out that I have a stall header!  Bonus

These are (and have been a while) on back order here in the US.  I snagged this from a German vendor, with shipping it was a bit more than the lowest price I have seen out there (but not a whole lot), Turner Motorsport has then listed at $250 but again back ordered.  I had thought about sending my old one that has dings/dents to Speedway Metal Finishing (I hear good things about them), but regardless of how good they get the metal, you still need to have the part anodized, really hard to make it look like new.  Will look great with the new plastic grilles I have as well.....

It's been a busy few weeks.  Lots of progress from headliner to rear suspension to wire harness.  Getting close to lifting the engine and gearbox into place.  
 
The gearbox has new gaskets and seals.  The input, output and gear selection seals were replaced.  When I got the car there was a fair bit of oil coming from the gearbox which turned out to be a worn gear selector seal.  
 
In the shift linkage, all the rubber bushings and blocks were replaced to give a nice solid and  precise shifter feel.  
A final coat of paint and fill with Redline MTL meant it was ready to be mated to engine.  

506 mile engine break in procedure is complete. Head retorqued, one valve was out of spec by 1/1000. Oil changed to 20/50. 
Tech rewired the wipers to be work correctly with the stalk switch and wiper speed works now. All the grill slats were reglued and the missing one replaced.
 
The only problems/issues I've encountered/fixed:
I had to retorque the all lug nuts as 3 had become loose on the driver side rear wheel, the rest of the wheels were fine.
First night drive, noticed tach lights are not working, and headlights need to be aimed.
 
VSR has taken a complete running tired 1973 Tii, from September 18, 2017 to April 19, 2018 completely rebuilt the car from the ground up to a complete running fresh new 1973 Tii.
The minor issues I've encountered speak volumes to the quality and attention to detail that VSR does. No rattles squeaks or clunks.
 
As token of appreciation I bought everyone who worked on Vern, a 1/43 scale White Box Verona Tii and gave Mario a 1/24 scale Anson Verona Tii with driving lights.
 
All I got was some stinking yellow tape and a 1984 Oktoberfest mug! Does anyone make Verona tape? LOL
 
Now Vern and I are off to the Mid America '02 Fest in Eureka Springs, Arkansas a 3600+ mile round trip. Hoping for better weather than last year's torrential flooding rain.
 
See you on the road!
Andrew & Vern
 
 
 
 
  
 

One of the many things I’m getting done before Brisbane.... I just swapped out my old rims for a new set of custom BBS RMs done by Ehrlich Wheel Works...
These new rims are basically identical.... but there’s something a little different.... can you tell what it is? 🧐😉

At this stage in the game, the complete head, block and crank are all at the machine shop just waiting for the rest of the parts to show up.  My machinist will be getting some custom piston rings made, as he has his own special recipe for increasing efficiency.  He also did not want to start cutting on anything, until he had pistons in hand, so he could be 100% sure of every measurement we are working with.  To that end, allow me to present a veritable smorgasbord of M10 engine internals.
 

 
The laundry list of parts includes a Cometic head gasket (.066” thick), ARP head studs, Glyco main bearings, and coated Calico bearings for the rods.  There’s also some super sexxxxxxxxxy, Pauter 4340 connecting rods (144mm), and a set of custom JE Pistons for the build.
 
 
The one part left to really think about is the camshaft.  I will be asking Elgin cams to give me a custom grind, tailored to the needs of this build.
                                                                                             

Wow I understand why upholstery cost so much, a few months back I broke done these seats & it took me about an hour. Putting them back together takes time and patience. But I love putting things back together & make it new again. Houndstooth Fabic and vinyl looks great with new cushion. Still more to come, bottom section with leg extension and head rest on deck

Since I’ll be out to sea for more or less the next 10 weeks, I took the opportunity this weekend to knock out a bunch of projects on the interior:
 
cleaned up the wiring under the dash
ran the new sensors sensors for the gauges 
more or less got the gauge wiring done
wired up the power and windows to the new switch panel
cleaned up under the back bench
cleaned up and required a bit of the aux fuse panel 
trimmed the trunk boards so they fit flush
fit the new rear light lenses to replace the cracked ones 
took out the passenger seat and replaced all of the bolts to the frame and bolts to the car
finished up the heater box rebuild (see previous post)
reconnected the amp and verified wires in place 
 
when I get back I still need to do a bunch:
source a constant hot for part of the gauges
repair and recover the dash
run wires for AFR
figure our why I no longer have switched power from the aux fuse box
rewire the left turn signal- worked briefly but no longer shows on the speedo gauge 
rebuild the heater valve and refit the heater box
refit the speaker pods and install speakers
install rear speakers in shelf
source and install third brake light 
finish center console
fire our wiring for brake warning idiot light 
 
at some point I’ll recover and refit the interior panels, get some seat covers for the recaros, and install the new rear seats 
 

The primer finally dried so I was able to seal everything up.  Michigan does not want to give up on winter yet.  I sealed all of the patches and plugged holes on the car.  I probably went over kill and sealed inside and out.  I want a nice non-fumey, dry car.....

Then I got cracking on the rear drums.  I picked up some backing plates off a 1980 320I, They are so much bigger than the stock drums.  At some point i will upgrade to discs.  Just hard to argue with a $200 near rear brake setup.

Here's to more productive weekends in the garage.
 

Wrapped up a full heater box rebuild to include making new bowden cables. 
 
Core was pressure tested and came back great. Replaced all the seals, installed a new plastic fan, fixed all the broken plastic, added a new valve bracket, re-riveted all the holes. 
 
Got to the end and had the square bit of the valve break off when I went to attach the new valve arm. 
 
Son. Of. A. B...

     This is where I am with the build. I probably should have started this blog a long while ago but I'll try and play catch up. Right now as I'm trying to save money for paint and body work I've been busy working on other aspects of the car. As it sits once the car is painted I'll probably be about 90% done with it, I would just have to slap everything together. If any of you have Instagram you may have seen some of these pictures already, so apologies in advance as there are many of them.

I was just taking the car off the stands when I noticed that the rear inside wheel was wet. The only thing, wheels cylinder. This spiraled into another round of parts.
 

cracking the drum reviled bad new.

Everything was contaminated.

even the cylinders are not even worth rebuilding.

So new parts ordered. drums shoes, wheels cylinders, and since I was there I decided to new new flex brake lines all around.

I also cleaned up the rotors.
 

installed/

rear brake flex tubing


im assuming the the old ones were originals.

Thanks it for now,
Cheers.

Vern is officially Vern again and for all intents and purposes he's done!

Some progress.  Interior removed.
 
FedEx brown front seats and the original saddle brown back seats and rear door cards removed. 
 
Fuel tank removed. Cleaned and painted the trunk and spare tire well with POR15. 
 
 
 

I'm in crunch mode to get this damn build done for the 2018 Bay Area Show & Swap on May 5th. 
 
Rocking it

The car has been listed for sale off and on for a few weeks.  I might still sell it but i have to say looking back at how far i've come, I might just have to see this through.  I have tried to take a different approach and just block off an hour or two a day to do a little.  I have not made huge progress, but I have moved forward.  I should be seam sealing tonight and paint the passenger side floor pan.  For the first time since i've owned this car the floors are solid enough a 10mm socket won't fall to the ground.  Low bar I know but considering how stalled I was just a month ago, big news.
  
In other news the Fiat 500 Abarth has now been kicked outside.  My garage is now in full on get stuff done mode.

Once the interior is painted it's on to glass.  Speaking of which I am thinking of just going with lexan for the quarter glass.  I might add a plexiglass extractor to keep the air flowing.  Anyone out there done something similar?

So this is a pretty small update, but there's a change in plans with my wheel selection. Originally I was planning on building up the OZ Vega faces that I had sitting around. Given the 2002 was already converted to 5x120, I figured this would work out great. While I was told that 30-hole RS parts will bolt up to these faces, I have some concerns about the "how". 

I feel like every cool monster that ever was has a good origin story (ie. King Kong, Godzilla, Ninja Turtles). This should be no different. Before I got into the build itself and what my future plans are for the car (Purists go home), I wanted to give a brief history mainly for posterity (but I thought y'all might get a kick out of it). I knew I wanted to start a blog but couldn't think of anywhere better to put it than here on the FAQ! Hopefully my daughter and future kids, and who knows maybe even grandkids, will see this one day. Sorry, it's picture heavy.

Finally got around to pulling out the cluster and replacing everything with a set of SpeedHut gauges. Plan is to also install a AFR pod to the left of the cluster in the cubby spot on the dash and run a set of wires down to the analog clock/switch panel for lighting control. 
 
Still need to work on wiring up everything, but that’ll involve buying a molex connector which I don’t have. 
 
Good news is all of this only took one blood sacrifice.