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Got my tie rod ends, center link and ball joint in along with some clips for the moldings. Spring is here. Which means more mods to come. 

So i had a few days off so i started work on finishing the center console and the rest of the interior bits. i do need some help with how to fit my wing mirror as ive lost all the clips/bits from the mirror so need some other ideas.
 

got a door card all together 
 

got to finish the faceplate on it, smooth off where i have screwed it, paint it again, and then flock it before fitting.
 

nardi wheel without the wooden center, the horn is raised slighty so looking to get a flush one.
 
 
also gave it a quick wash and took some photos


paint looks great when its cleaned.
 
got the swage line trim fitted, wasnt exactly the most fun job as all the holes were full of paint, so i have to reem them out, nd then a light coating of paint on the inside to prevent any water going to the metal
 

 
quite happy with how it looks!
 
so next on the menu is the wing mirror, the drivers door interior bits, finish the center console and then maybe ill take it out for a spin
 
thanks for looking
 
 
 
 

     The reason for this build probably is a lot similar to some of yours. It started off as a "while I'm in there" moment, then snowballed into a full blown restoration.
Here's me happy as a clam before what has now been a 3 year ordeal:

Weather has been semi decent and there was a lull in paying work so I drug an air hose, a body saw, and a sawsall to the backyard. The '69 is doneski. I pulled the cracked windshield, removed the wiring harness, slipped off the firewall insulation and pulled the 3 piece dash. Once those items were safely stowed away I drilled the spot welds and removed the rain tray. I cut off both aprons, the drivers side frame rail, the lower windshield drip rail, and some rusty pant and shirt snagging bits n pieces.

 
When I first started removing rear panels from this car last year I felt kinda uneasy. As if I was doing something wrong. The more I cut off this car the better I felt about making that decision. The aprons were full of mouse nests. I'm unsure if the mouse nests caused the rust, or the rust allowed the mice in. Regardless, you could put your fist through the firewall from the interior through the cavity in the apron and either exit into the wheel well or hang a right and go into the engine compartment.

The front strut mount pads were convex and the outboard rear subframe pickup points hanging on by scraps of rust. The inner rockers, or at least what was left of them had detached themselves from the floor pan flanges. It was time.
 
The plan is to use the rain tray, rear parcel shelf, right outer wheel well, rear subframe and susp. for the '68. The frame rail, floor pan sections, nose, and possibly the roof skin will be used to save the '73. Another FAQ'er asked about the rear seat kick panel and a portion of the lower rear windshield metalwork. The '69 will live on in other cars.

 
I left the bulk of the right apron intact. The block matches the apron, and I have an IL junk title to match both. Not sure what to do with those items, but I think they should stay together.

With the dolly done, I've been working on pulling parts off of and out of the car in preparation for soda blasting and paint.   First, I drained and removed the gas tank.  I have a small marine gas pump and an extra 4 gallon gas can, which I completley filled 3 times (and dumped the gas into my truck).  So that was over 75 lbs in gas and another 15 lbs or so for the tank. 

Haven't posted in a while. Thought I'd provide a pic of the car as it sits now. Drove this junk up from Texas through New Mexico, Oklahoma, Missouri (Misery), Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, to PA. Handles beautifully, not too harsh considering the suspension spring rate. The Toyo HP's performed flawlessly when I hit a snow storm on the Penna Turnpike. You may notice I lost a wiper blade and arm, also on the turnpike. If anyone has a wiper arm with the airfoil please let me know. Waiting till spring to get the seats and door cards reupholstered, but otherwise I am super happy with the car. The thing is stupid fast.

Recently I got the car home.  I elected to postpone the final sand and polish until it's mostly assembled in case it gets a minor nick or scratch that needs to be fixed.  Everything turned out amazing.  

Back from the shop with a rear drum upgrade and new kicks.  Still not sold yet on the front stance.  May install coilovers to bring her down a bit.  Aw, what to do, what to do.  It never ends......

Picking up the car today - touch up work from the Restoration is complete, new strut mounts are in, steering box has new seals, doors have been worked to take the IE aluminum panels. More importantly the custom exhaust is installed. 

Got new photos today from the garage. The car is finally painted and looking good! 
 
Next step is going through all the parts we have and figure out what we still need. Its going to be a massive jig saw puzzle and is one of the many downsides of buying a restoration project that someone else has taken apart.

Engine is all plumbed, transmission is in, H&R springs are in and the rear seatbelt retractors have been installed.
 
Assembly is going well. Getting closer to completion every day.

If you have not had a chance to run the Shamrock Rally, you are missing out. A short, 100 to 200 mile, run through back roads of East Bay or South Bay is always scheduled for the Saturday of the St. Patrick's Day. This seems to fall on the third Saturday of the month. For second straight year, March Neue Klasse und Kaffee has been the starting point for Shamrock Rally. 

 
This weekend I spent some time working on the new set of wheels for the Roundie. I had originally built a set of BBS RSs for my E30, I ended up making them 15x8, which would have been too wide for this car. But if I put the stock lips back on it would have been perfect. However it's all a wash, because my 2002 has been swapped to 5x120, and my BBS RSs are 4x100. So I put the RSs back in storage. I figured it wasn't really worth the hassle going back to four lug, and I happened to have a set of wheel faces sitting on my shelf that I hadn't figured out a use for. 
 

Nice pic of the engine through the grills. Used to have the wrong Tii badge on the tail panel, a previous owner had put on a '74 Tii badge which is longer and has a curve on the back. That's also one of the roundels I've painted. This new on is correct. Interior is going together, still need the side rear seatbelt retractors installed. Love how everything is so nice and clean.

Well it was another good day. My new landlady allowed me to move into the house  two weeks early. Wasting little time I grabbed derby via AAA tow truck and proceeded to stow her away in the new garage.  Also a sneak peek of what the Grigio Medio looks like with a little clear. 
 
The  garage has a loft which will serve well as storage for my beloved BMW 1600 and 2002 parts !

What do you think?  Does it look like Derby paint code 056? 

We just put together this (kinda silly) little video to help customers install their kooglewerks air dams....hopefully it provides some useful information.
(on a side note: the air dam I install in the video is a new "slim" version, smaller than any previously offered!)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

For some reason,  dropping the rear subframe seemed a little more daunting than dropping the front.   Maybe it was because I haven't had to crawl under the back end of this car much so far.   I also did not have a complete plan for how I was going to do this and did not have a punchlist for completion like I did with the other items I've removed so far.    
 
And then there was something that has never happened before.  At the end, I got a prize!   If you hate long winded blogs, skip to the last couple of images to see what it was.   
 
I was unable to get the exhaust system apart and the driveshaft was still attached to the differential, so these two items were also present.  I removed them after the rear subframe was dropped.  

Doing some 'mock-up' work on my radiator/cooling system and dry sump oil system.  There is a method to the madness you see on the various car shows as far as basically building the car then tearing it apart, then painting and putting back together.  It definitely saves on drilling and cutting through fresh paint which is never a good thing....paint is over a year old now so maybe not so fresh.
I feel like i have the radiator and expansion tank just about right, maybe need to raise the expansion tank just a hair.  Biggest problem at the moment is that somewhere I need to mount a 1 liter catch can/bottle - with the oil cooler and hose running through the front of the nose, nowhere to mount it there....maybe in the wheel well (will need to confer with my expert fabricator friend on that one).
Dry sump plumbing/hose is working out well I think, I used one of the old oil coolers as a mock up.  According to Setrab, it needs to be a little bigger (the cardboard behind represents the dimension it would want to be).  The one hose I have in now is the inlet (pressure in), the scavenge/outlet is slightly smaller and would connect into the oil cooler on its way back to the tank in the trunk.  The oil cooler gets into the plane of the radiator some but now way to avoid (either side is the same way), + the bulkhead support/hood support blocks some of the cooler so I am thinking about whether I could remove some of the material (hole or holes) to allow air to connect with the cooler (another reason I am looking into a fiberglass or CF hood.

After going over the mechanical parts, my machinist found a non-repairable crack in the crank.  So after a few weeks of searching, I purchased a stock dimension 2 liter crank from 02 forum member pjp90.
 
I also picked up a set of forged steel rockers from KM Cams in Sweden.
 
More hard parts are on their way as well.
 

Beginning to sketch out some ideas for the center console project. 
 
I want a double DIN radio. At least I think I do. I’ve also got the E36 clock/cubby and have finally sourced an illuminated switch panel I can use with toggle switches. 
 
Fitment will be tight, but I think it’ll work.  

We ran the HMSA Spring event at Laguna Seca last weekend. I took my new M3 along with the might K2002.
 
The Car had a new engine for this season. It was built by Ivey Engines in Portland. The Tinney engine we had in the car for the last 4 seasons was due for a refresh so it has been shipped back to Terry.
 
The performance of the two engines seemed pretty similar. The only thing I noticed was the Ivey engine had a flatter torque curve, and a little bit wider power band.
 

Archive photos of competition BMWs.  Rallye, track, endurance racing, and hill climb cars of the early 1970s. 

Before I dropped my front subframe, I searched the site for articles that provided the details on how to do this.  There were a lot of bullet pointed lists, one or two chronicles and a few older articles that no longer had working images or links.   Althought the process is pretty straightforward, it is always helpful to have a little detail, so here is my attempt to provide it.  

This event will be bimmer heavy. We meet up downtown for coffee and car talk in the lot at the Oregon Electric Station. BYO-coffee or grab your favorite coffee beverage at Morning Glory (1/2 block west) or at Provisions in the 5th St Market (1 block east). We'll have some donuts on hand. At 10:30am we'll go for a drive out in the countryside (60-90 minutes). Please spread the word! EVERY FIRST SATURDAY! Everyone is welcome.