EcoAuto

Yep, the rust bubbles are at the bottom corner of the door where the outer skin meets the inner door. I suspect this is a common weak spot since water collects in this corner.

Part of the problem is living in a town with a captive audience, few paint shops, fewer vintage cars, and more demand than supply as damaging hail storms have become an annual Summer occurrence these last few years. The next town with a body shop is over a mountain pass 30 miles away. Might find a better deal there. I'd like to find a community garage where I could learn the DIY solution. Our single car garage is filled with bicycles, lawn mowers and stuff, and is unheated. There's room for the 02 and to do light mechanical upkeep, but not enough room to do bodywork or painting.

I know I'm not alone trying to figure out the urgency, weighing the pros and cons: Can I afford to take care of the metal and paint NOW, or can I afford to procrastinate another year? Since rust never sleeps, either way, repainting is inevitable.

In this day and age, one would think high-tech body shops would have diagnostic equipment to see behind the skin and determine the locations and extent of corrosion. My 8 year old daughter just had an ultrasound and CT scan to diagnose an abdominal problem she was having. Drilling holes, scraping, prodding a car seems so primitive.

That's where the fear lives - what secrets lurk between those metal panels.

I'm determining budget priorities for my '75 and wanted to get a reality check on this. My car lived in Northern Cal until 2 years ago. It's been well-cared for and is free of visible rust, EXCEPT for 4 slowly growing rust bubbles - one on each of the lower door corners, and one on each of the side panels. I know these indicate hidden problems, and I want to do preventative repairs. While I'm at it, I also want to repaint the front panel (rock chips), and repair the zit on the hood where a PO dropped it too hard.

The car was painted in 1999 and the Fjord Blue paint still looks great. I didn't think I was ready for full body paint.

I live in a small city where a major hail storm last year has kept all the body shops flush with insurance money. They're not exactly hungry for work. Reputable shops are still 4-5 months out.

Two estimates from honorable shops came in close to $4,000 - 52 hours of body and paint labor @ $65 per, plus $500-800 paint. Both shops said spraying to match the 12 year old Fjord Blue paint would be difficult.

$4k is hard to swallow given what I was anticipating. A full paint job would cost only $1,000 more. Both options seem disproportionate to the value the car.

I don't have the knowledge, skills, tools or garage setup to do my own body and paint work. Would like to compare with other's experience dealing with rust bubble problems. Are there any more cost effective ways to deal with it?

It's not my car, but in this remote Montana town (population 39,000) seeing another vintage BMW in nice condition is a rare and delightful sight. I noticed this 1986 BMW 635csi with a For Sale sign parked near my house. I hadn't seen it before, so I was curious and called the owner to get some details. If anyone is interested, I'm happy to connect you with owner Corwin and/or a good BMW mechanic. Here's what Corwin writes about his car:

"Below is some information about the "shark." It runs beautifully and I thoroughly enjoy driving it, but realistically it spends most of its time in the garage. I know it has a slight power steering leak and the front brakes are in need of pads or the rotors turned within a reasonable amount of time. I am of course fine with anyone interested in the vehicle taking it to a mechanic of their choice. "

1986 BMW 635 CSI

BEAUTIFUL CLASSIC CAR

ORIGINALLY FROM CALIFORNIA

NEVER TOUCHED SNOW

104,XXX ORIGINAL MILES

STRONG ENGINE

SMOOTH TRANSMISSION

IMMACULATE CONDITION

MECHANICALLY FANTASTIC

ORIGINAL PAINTS SHINES BEAUTIFULLY

INTERIOR IS NEARLY PERFECT

LEATHER SPORT SEATS IN TAN LEATHER

ALL ELECTRONICS FOR SEATS FUNCTION

UN-CRACKED DASH

BMW BBS WHEELS TO REPLACE FACTORY METRIC WHEELS

SUNROOF

TOOLKIT

He's asking $5,500. Photos attached and more in PDF format I can send you.

Delving into the past of my '74/75 Tii clone - and how it got that way - I've always been curious about the unique sound of my car's muffler. Today I was going through a folder of old receipts, and found one from Road Rockets in Sonoma, CA dated 2002. Prior owner Robert Goan of San Rafael (now deceased) had them replace the exhaust system. The receipt lists -

Turbo Center Muffler ($359.95)

Turbo Rear Muffler ($320.85)

Turbo Rear Muffler Tip ($21.19)

Cryogenic Treatment ($271.30)

Photos attached. My car sounds a bit like this one:

http://tinyurl.com/3ml3zmo

Would I be correct that Road Rockets installed the mufflerlisted here for the Turbo?

http://tinyurl.com/3hb26jn

Sounds like bottlecaps with all-seasons would make sense (Though I don't take my car out if it's wet or snow on the street). A few FAQ'ers said they'd be interested in the Panasports if I decide to sell them. If anyone is looking for a set of Panasports, I found these for sale at NASA forums @ $850/4:

http://www.nasaforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=43122

I bought the Ireland distributor with Pertronix and love it. Very well made, and no more points bounce.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Your opinions are much appreciated. Looks like 185/60/14s are most popular, with 195/50/15 next. I'll keep an eye out for a nice set of 14" alloy bottlecaps. I'm not sure what I'll do with the Panasport FS15E racing wheels. They'd be great for someone who uses them for what they were intended. Or I might paint and polish em, and keep 'em as spares mounted with summer driving, and mount E30 bottlecaps with Blizzaks during winter.

Thanks Grover / Trichardson,

I sold the close ratio box back to the guy I bought the 02 from. I didn't research it's value, but he offered me $500, and replaced it with a stock 02 steering box. (I saw a recent post about them going for over $1,500 on eBay.)

Would like to get some experienced opinions about the ideal wheel and tire size for a daily driver 02.

I bought my '75 a year ago. It came with a Tii engine, clock, badge, a Schrick 292 cam, 10-1 compression, a close ratio steering box, E21 Recaro seats, Nardi-Personal, Turbo muffler, Panasport 15 x 7 FS15E "racing only" wheels with 195/55 R15 Hankook K106 mounted.

Most of these improvements I enjoy, but some modifications are wasted on my driving style and would better off on another car. While I enjoy a spirited drive on our wide open mountain roads, I'll admit to rarely exceeding Montana's 75 mph speed limit, and I'm not planning to autocross. So I sold the close ratio steering box and when I had new valves installed, I swapped the 292 for a stock cam.

While I love the look of the Panasports, they have a terrific reputation, and they're impressively expensive ($320!! each new) I'm thinking about going with a more conservative "street legal" wheel and tire. Maybe back to 14" alloy "bottlecaps." I might sell the Panasports to fund higher priorities, or keep them for summer fun.

Before deciding, I'd love your feedback.

The story behind the story opens with his drowned and smashed car (it appears to be a Fjord Blue? Subaru Lucra) and how they retrieve the chip from his Sony HD camera. I found two web sites with extended video and translation:

http://xmb.stuffucanuse.com/xmb/viewthread.php?tid=7780

http://maudlin.videosift.com/video/New-Amazing-Dashcam-Footage-of-3-11-Tsunami

Want to verify reporter's comment that this vid was shot by the driver of a 2002 caught in the March tsunami. Does anyone speak Japanese? :-)

http://youtu.be/IQqmp9OOE1E

Agree Chris, that's the part of greatest concern to me, and will need replacing at some point. I'm wondering if that's also the part in the available repros that are prone to failure.... or if it's the cable itself that snaps.

This is probably old news to many of you, but I'm just catching up on Golde sunroof trivia. If I'd known this before taking my sunroof apart yesterday, I'd have been much more intimidated and respectful.

If you Google "Golde Sunroof," you'll find Larchmont Sunroof Company of New York. Their website boasts:

WE STOCK NOS GOLDE SUNROOF CABLES FROM 1967-2007. WE ALSO STOCK NOS SUNROOF SEALS, GLASS AND STEEL PANELS. WE WILL BEAT ANY PRICE!!!!

http://www.aslauto.com/

So I called. Woman answers. I ask about Golde cables. Without waiting to hear what car it's for, she quickly blurts "$3,000. I have just one set left."

Thankfully, repro cables for our 02s are available for about $100, but I hear they're prone to breaking. Anyone have experience with these new ones?

Clearly original Golde sunroof parts are scarce and getting scarcer. Is there a site anyone's found that has information about what other vehicles "our" Golde components are common to. Golde supplied sunroofs for 50's era T-Birds, VW Ghias and microbuses, Porsches, MBs and Volvos. Collectors are willing to pay thousands of dollars for original Golde components.

Thanks to the terrific links above that show step by step how to remove the sunroof, I did so and removed the two cables.

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/t,294557/highlight,remove+sunroof+lining/

http://www.my2002tii.com/spring_2005/sunroof.htm

I spent some time soaking the cable and trying to remove the furry gunk between the spring with a wire brush. I made a few phone calls to one of the better know BMW suppliers and was assured by tech support I was on the right track - that new cables didn't have the fuzz. It was suggested brake cleaner would remove the debris.

Than I remembered a mechanic in town who'd probably know about older Golde sunroof systems. I took the cable to him and showed him my challenge.

He took one look at the cable and said - you DON'T want to remove that stuff. It's supposed to be there! It's to let the cable slide without using grease and keep it from rattling. Golde sunroofs are designed to work dry.

That seemed to make sense, given how difficult it is to remove the stuff. Slightly embarrassed at my mistake, I thanked him and slunk out of his garage.

Can anyone else confirm this - that the furry fibers are part of the cable? I've just posted a photo.

As usual, lots of really great advice, along with the comforting knowledge that I am not alone; that my wife is wrong, that I'm not totally insane as I stand in my dimly lit garage at 1 in the morning, trying to pull out little bits of greasy fuzz from the spring cables with a tweezer.

SURPRISING (to me) UPDATE - SEE MY POST LATER IN THIS THREAD

I'm doing the annual inspection of the manually opening sunroof on my '75. After removing the cover panels, I decided it might be a good idea to clean the two spring cables. From the looks of them, the cables are original and still in good condition, but there's this fuzzy stuff compacted between the spring wire. Is this debris collected over 36 years, or is it some kind of flocking to help the spring cables slide?

I'm reluctant to remove the cables, fearing I'll have trouble reattaching them, so I decided to clean the cables using a small screwdriver to chisel out the fossilized dusty gunk. But doing it this way is taking too long. I'm wondering if:

A. Anyone has cleaned the sunroof cables and found a better/quicker way to clean out the gunk?

B. Am I wasting my time cleaning the cables, or will this make the sunroof operate more smoothly and help them last longer?

C. Is there a FAQ somewhere on how to remove / reinstall the cables?

That's excellent archived information. Thanks! Just what I was hoping for.

I'll take it! I just sent an email.

The horn in my '75 02 sounds pathetically weak. I'd like to replace it but wondering which of the 5 available horn options listed in RealOEM.com I might want to go with. Living in Montana, horns are mostly useful for yelling at stray cows to get off the road. There are different models from Hella, Bosch, Fiamm at different frequencies - 510 Hz, 410 Hz, 335 Hz. Any horn experts out there who know the pros and cons of the various offerings (or with a link to an FAQ on the subject)?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=2214&mospid=47140&btnr=61_1128&hg=61&fg=40

Email sent

OK. No problem. How deep is that wood split? What do you think it would take to repair? What is the wheel's diameter (inches OK).

I don't suppose you'd be interested in trading for my rare vintage Nardi-Personal steering wheel? Like Momo, also made in Italy. Black leather rim. If interested, bad photo attached, but I can take some better shots and send via email.

Let me know if you don't sell it, and email what you want for it. It looks to be in good condition. Ron@ecoautoinc.com