gastephens

I am a Wright fan and a BMW fan but never put the Max Hoffman house together with the Max Hoffman BMW importer. Doh! Cool clock too!

Unfortunately I am not racing there this year but Calvin and I had already planned to be there with our '02s on Saturday. I cannot make Sunday. Any chance of meeting up Sat? Glenn

A couple more pictures.

I had to remove my console to install an ipod adapter into my Blaupunkt Frankfurt stereo radio (highly recommended) and decided to take some pictures of my plastic repairs from some time back to share. Unless otherwise noted, the metal was heavy sheet metal from scraps I had lying around. The plastic on these old things is very brittle and mine came with numerous corners broken off and a break in the thinnest section along the top side above the a/c vent. To fix the side holes, I riveted metal above and below the hole with the hole in the center. To fix the bottom foot, I used a piece of plumbers strap, bent it to match the angle of the mount, and bolted it into the console. To fix the top corner, I riveted a piece of metal on one side and drilled the appropriate size hole in the right spot. The edge surrounding the A/C vent was the hardest. First I got some superglue that came with a special adhesion promoter for plastics (ace hardware). You apply the adhesion promoter to both sides first. Then the superglue works great. That will hold it together so it looks good but since this area is stressed you need to provide some strength behind it. The idea is to tie the internal plastic boss over to the right angle mounting support. First I roughed up the plastic with sand paper and cleaned with alcohol. Next I cut a bit of sheet metal from an old stereo housing and bent it into a long V shape that fits over the plastic boss on the back of the console. Then I mixed up some quick set 2-part epoxy (ace hardware) and covered the area. Set the metal into the epoxy and cover it up with epoxy as well. When it sets up, it is really strong.

Get Rob Seigal's wife to identify them. She is an arachnid and insect expert. I don't care if they eat tin worms, I would be tenting that car.

I have owned this car for 10 years. It has never handled as well as I thought it should but it had stock suspension and rear camber was not really noticable. I had it aligned but never measured camber before. After installing new ST springs it became obvious. I have changed control arm, bushings, subfame mounts, and no change. Ride height and stance is perfect. Yes all my measurements were with the supension settled. Control arm bolts were tightenedx properly with some preload on the tires.

Doh. Of course you are right. That's why they call it a brain fart. Thanks. I think building a car with no adjustability was dumb but FWD cars are still done that way. It seems extreme to weld on a camber adjuster to bring it back within spec. Since is is only one side a spring spacer would throw off ride height and balance. I could bend the control arm, I'm good at that!

Good stuff if you are building a race car or very hi-po motor, otherwise overkill.

You could have an oil leak that is getting vaporized on the exhaust or it could certainly be coming in through holes in the trunk or bad seal.

I need the wisdom of the '02 collective mind. I searched the forum and faqs but never saw this proposed. I have too much camber on the right rear. It measures -3.0 vs. -2.2 for the left. Ride height and stance is fine on all 4 corners and everything is right and tight. So I got this brain fart. Stick with me through the geometry. Most suspensions are triangles because that is the strongest structure. The bottom of the triangle is the lower control arm, the side is the rear subframe and body, and the hypoteneuse is the rear strut. The axle is attached in line with the control arm so the wheel is always perpendicular to the bottom of the triangle. If I can change the angle between the control arm and the strut it should change the camber. One way to do this is to lengthen the long side of the triangle which is the strut. Soooooo, if I put a thick washer on top of the strut under the rear strut tower will that change my camber? If so, what might be the side effects (wheels falling off, terrible handling, global warming?) TIA

No I wouldn't but I hope you do.

Congrats. That will be a hit in NC. Hope you've got a recent tetanus!

I say now that you know where the water is going, buy some cheap seat covers and throw it on Craig's List for $2300. Take the first decent offer and move on. You should tell the potential buyers there is a water leak in the heater core. You don't have to tell them it is a nightmare to replace.

I got this one on your recomendation. It works ok but sits a little crooked due to the angle of the floor. I keep a foam koozie in it to adapt for various cup sizes. Still not sure if it is worth the cost but it is best thing I found until I invent something totally fabulous.

Give me a 2L turbo, lose 400 lbs of fancy seats and electronic crap and I will pay $28K.

That's pretty frickin cool. Is it tough being a celebrity?

Wouldn't it be cool if you could buy a base 4 cyl 1 series today for under $20k?

I have noticed a huge disparity between what people on this board quote for values and the real world market, as least where I live. A car is worth what someone will pay. Those on this board are highly knowledgeable about repairs and what a car needs to meet their level of acceptability. They also know that 2002s are not all that rare and there will be another one along tomorrow. The general population does not. There is also a collector bias against the big bumper cars. Some people would not even consider them, especially the west coasters. Yes they are less attractive when compared to a roundie but the average person does not know the difference if the two are not side by side. In this case, I would not pay more than $1k for the car because I can add up the $10k worth of work it needs before I would drive it. I am seeing the negative. If you find someone less informed that sees a chance to get a cool old car that just needs some seat covers, you might get $3k. We get them here all the time. Hell, at one time, we were them. While a good salesman could sell that car for close to $3k, it would not be ethical to do so. The water loss is a huge deal and IMO you are morally obligated to disclose it and explain the consequences to any buyer. That is why you should get to the bottom of it. A new head gasket or block sounds expensive, even to a newb.

It goes against my philosophy but front control arms with brand new bushings are very reasonable. See you in NC.

Inventor. entrepreneur and racecar driver. I created the Traqmate vehicle and driver performance measurement system. I worked as a corporate hack for many years before taking a big chance on a new venture and changing my life. Since then I realized life is too short to do stuff you don't care about. traqmate

I would love to see some pictures of your Kissel and Packard. I grew up riding in the rumble seat of a '25 Packard roadster (no I am not THAT old). One of my parents' antique car friends had a KisselKar. It had some sort of crazy horn that played a tune. All the kids loved it.

+1 on the bad ground. Another possibility. If you have high intensity bulbs and do not have an extra relay installed, you might be burning up your light switch.

I think 12oz is not enough to fill and bleed so I would guess 20oz capacity or so. One of the large containers (32 oz) will do a complete flush and bleed with some left over. Wearever DOT3, $6.50 at Advance Auto Parts.

How about: Non-smoking car When applied to driver, excludes non-tobacco products. When applied to car, this means "Does not smoke when fully warmed up on a cool day when driving at a fixed 35 mph in 2nd gear." Classic Translation: Old. Actually, anything more than 5 years old. Includes such "classics" as the hard-to-find '84 Mustang and the incomparable '82 Cadillac Cimarron. Mint condition Translation: This car is in the same condition as the lost Tic Tac you are likely to find under the seat. Full restoration Translation: "I replaced everything I could source from Pep Boys and remove with a Swiss army knife." Completely Original Except for the replacement wheels, seats, steering wheel, engine block, instruments, and 3 coats of paint. Survivor Translation: Not worthy of restoration. Rust Free No rust is actually protruding through the paint, at least on the top side of the car. I would have looked underneath but it is kind of icky down there.

Headliner goes in first and wraps over the lip. If both need doing might as well do them in the proper order.