mike472

No way any shop is going to bill two hours for that job. I would guess a shop would bill about four hours with time varying based on shops expertise and having the proper tools and equipment to help make it go quickly. This is if you're taking out one and replacing with a complete rear sub frame complete with the diff, axles and brakes already mounted.

There is a new technology using laser to clean metal that I think is better then blasting and maybe even better then dry ice. You can see some automotive applications here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRzg3i7o-IA I'm having a guy who does both laser and dry ice get the POR15 clear I used on my valve cover and intake manifold off. I tried to preserve the aluminum finish after I blasted it with the POR15. Mistake. Problem is the clear finish yellowed over time. I don't trust any coating. I'm leaving it au-natural this time. I did it before and it got stained and that's why I coated it. I think it had something to do with the media I used to blast it with in my Harbor Freight blast cabinet. I used their blast media not glass bead or anything special. I think it was a little too coarse and it left the surface porous and easy to stain. I had the valve cover on my other car blasted by someone else and it has remained easy to clean and still looking good. I think I'm going to use another valve cover and just clean it since the same thing is liable to happen again if I use this valve cover.

Around the Northeast seeing 02's or any BMW built before 1977 is a rarity. Nowadays to even see one on the road is just about an impossibility, never mind seeing one coming head on. The only place I could see it happening is in California. The place seems to be filthy with them. I used to go to San Fransisco every January to exhibit at the Fancy Food show up until about 10 years ago. I would spend a week and a half out there working the show with a sightseeing trip north or south thrown in for good measure. When I was out there I usually hung with my buddy Joe a fellow BMW" aficionado. He lived there and we had a running contest to see who could spot more 2002's in a day. We got up to 8 between us in one day. I think that Mike Self had it right. You might see some flashing at the Vintage or 02fest, but that's about it. I also remember what Mike was talking about when the E21 "Yuppiemobile" came out. No flashes from most of those folks. That was the moment when BMW starting changing and I can't say for the better. There was a running feud between the 02 guys and the new wave E21's folks over whose cars were cooler, or faster. or whatever. It was a completely new car that was styled by BMW in house and a lot of us didn't like it. I was one of the 02 holdouts. The E21's style didn't appeal to me. I have since come to appreciate them a little more. When most of them didn't flash like the 02 guys, that sealed the deal for me. I knew I was going to be forever hung up on our little cars. It was like being in a cult where the secret handshake between fellow cult members was a flash. It's funny how something like flashing your headlights meant something. It signaled a rare occurrence even in the 70's. You had to be a real car guy to buy one and I think we all felt like we had something kinda special. We thought of ourselves as more discerning individuals. Especially in the face of all my idiot friends who went out and bought Monte Carlo's simply because they were cheap and had a V8. They couldn't figure out why anyone would waste their money on something like a 2002. My father and I traveled to Germany on business and I saw 2002's disappear from the roads pretty quickly when the new cars came out. Again, they were nothing special. Germany, especially in the 70's, BMW's, especially 2002's were commonplace and they definitely didn't get why Americans like me thought BMW's were so special. To them a Chevy Corvette or a Harley-Davidson was special. Most German's would laugh at the notion of BMW's flashing each other simply because the people owned the same car. To them, seeing another 2002 was like seeing another F150 to us. Imagine if those guys all flashed each other. We'd be going blind.

Curious as to why you called it “disaster Blue”. Was this 1602 painted an original BMW color? Looks sort of like Riviera blue

Come on guys! What’s with the blank faces? Show yourselves 😎. You guys aren’t wanted by the authorities are you? I think the statute of limitations has run out by now.

Funny how these threads come back to life from time to time. Couldn’t help but post a couple more recent pics from New Jersey chapter CCA shows. Estorilblau is the color One is of an E36 next to me with a two tone job with Estorilblau in it. Another is a more recent 5er and me in same color. Old and new. I think it looks better on the 02 but you could say I’m a little biased

Nick, The front seats are LeMans T80 model from Classic Touring Seats which cost about $1700 apiece. Then I had them both modified for $500. Much better looking with the perforated vinyl center sections and bump outs in the thigh and shoulder foam. The rear seats were a completely shot and they cost a total of $1800 to rebuild including materials. The interior of this car was Gobi(tan) and I restored and painted the door panels black and used original type BMW black plain and perforated material for rear seats and center sections of the seats. The original color of the car was Sahara and I changed it to Inca. It had already been changed to Inca when I got it about 12 years ago but shoddily done. I had him redo the dashboard for $700. That involved patching a couple of holes I made to run wires for gauge and a cracked spot. He matched the texture in his patches and then resprayed it black. Came out great. I inquired at JustDashes out in CA as to how much they wanted to rebuild a dash. They quoted $2800 but they completely remake your dash stripping the entire skin off your dash and then vacuforming a whole new dash over your old foam core. Nice but expensive and most times not necessary. I saw them on a Jay Leno episode and was quite impressed with the level of quality they offer but it comes at a price.

Try driving from the vintage to NYC in one sitting and you’ll appreciate the “BarcaLounger” effect. I have these black Classic Touring seats in another car in which we modified the center sections for esthetic reasons and to get rid of the corduroy material that they came with. They are a little more firm but still comfortable. They look nice without the headrests too. I like both of these seats better than the Recaro seats I see people putting in their cars. I think the important thing besides comfort and support is that your seats match your interior material and color and look like something BMW would have done. My guy Javier put piping along the edges of the Scheel 501’s just like BMW seats. A nice touch.

Just saw this last night. Made in 2023. Mildly entertaining flick about a mob watering hole called the “Gemini club”. At one point the main character Bobby is breaking into a Malaga 76 with a slim Jim. Car makes a couple of appearances through the movie I watched because Sid Rosenberg who is a DJ on WABC radio played the bartender and Bo Dietl one of his regular guests played police chief. He was talking it up on his radio show so I decided to give it a look. Like I said, mildly entertaining The 02 was a bonus

Visit both shops and talk to the tech who will be working on your car and how much it will cost(at least a range). If either question can't be answered move on. I had a cylinder head rebuilt by Korman. It was built up new from a brand new casting. It is performing well and price was not too bad considering all new parts. I spoke to someone in the shop while I was visiting there during a trip to the Vintage. He told me a man came almost every year bringing in a new 02 find and had them restore it. He told me the guy typically spent 80-90K!!! Work can be surprisingly expensive even when you do it yourself. It also depends on what level of perfection you're looking for and how much your pocketbook can stand. I am just finishing(this word needs defining!) my second 02 restoration so I can speak from experience. If you want to be thorough it will cost you. There's also mods you may want to do. Those will cost you too. Especially if you get a case of the "while we're in there we might as well" as you go over every component you're going to put back on your newly painted car.... you get my drift.

I'm almost positive those are the same as mine, 501's. The 501's flip forward too

These are the vinyls he had for early BMW’s. We chose Marine blue which is what the interior panels are. They came out of a Fiordblau car. He is re-doing my trunkboards too. You can see the gray elephant skin material for that at the bottom of the page. I thought briefly about leather but this was cheaper and more authentic in my own humble opinion.

Andrew the car got it's wish! I should have done this a long time ago. I would have but didn't know who to go to. I just met the guy that owns this shop and he does some high end work at reasonable prices. Saw several P cars he had apart. He is really talented and I'm lucky to have found him. Brimar is the name of the shop for you guys here in the NYC area. Jim you are correct. They're heavy as hell. The frame has some heavy steel and the mount doesn't help either. Comfortable and probably protect you a little bit in a crash. Glad I ditched the 5 mph bumpers!

$2400. It was a lot of work. He did my GTS touring seats over I had in the Inca car. I bought them with a corduroy center section. Kind of a mistake. They got dirty looking really fast. It cost me 500 to replace center with the right black vinyl and reshape the foam so it was a little wider, a little bump up in the thigh support and same behind the shoulders. Also deleted the headrests. Much more comfortable and better looking he also did rear seats for 1800. Matched the perforated center sections in the front with the same thing done in each seating position in the rear.

I finally got tired of looking at the worn through fabric on my old Scheel seats and decided to have my local upholstery shop Brimar redo these seats in the stock Marine Blue vinyl material that matches the door panels. He took the seats down to the bare bones and modified the foam a little for a slightly wider seat and back with a little less behind the shoulders. I was going to put the Scheel emblems back on but they looked like s**t so I didn't We used both perforated and plain material. The old rotted webbing underneath was replaced with a piece of thick masonite looking board. All metal was refinished in black. This was the finishing touch but as you all know there is never a "finishing touch". Everything is a work in progress even if you think it's finished!

Got the steering lock to let go. Driving with the lock cylinder out caused the piece that you see in the picture to back out of it's bore and cock sideways and jam the steering lock and the switch. Once I took the ignition switch off the back it unlocked. It took a little jiggling and the steering unlocked. I looked at a spare steering column I had out turning it upside down I saw how that inner rotating piece has a blade that engages the ignition switch. Once this comes out of it's hole you have to guide it back in. This is easy with the ignition switch removed. I put a working lock cylinder back in and then the switch behind it and all was good. Moral of the story is: Don't drive your car around with the lock cylinder out using a screwdriver for a key. I only was going a short way and it happened when I stopped and tried to shut the car off. This could have locked up on me while I was driving which might have been an accident. As I mentioned, this happened at my friends shop and they couldn't move the car because the key wouldn't work. It was easy to pop out the lock cylinder there and get it unlocked. I shouldn't have driven it but I wanted to work on it in my own shop.

Mike I tried jiggling the steering wheel. I knew that trick but it didn't work. I'll try taking the ignition switch off the back. If that doesn't work I have a spare steering column with a good steering lock assembly and key. I tried taking that cylinder and putting it into the steering column thinking maybe one of those tabs might have to be pushing something in the column lock to release it. That didn't work either. I will PM you for your writeup. Not anxious to change the steering column if I can avoid it. Thank you! Mike

Had to take lock cylinder out of steering column because key stopped worked. Figured it was a worn key so I got key code to locksmith and had him make a key. That failed to work in ignition lock cylinder. I had been starting the car with a screwdriver in the interim and when I went to turn the car off with screwdriver the lock wouldn’t turn and then the steering locked up. I can’t budge the lock either way. The ignition light stayed lit and car was running even though key switch was turned to the off position. I had a battery cutoff switch so I was able to turn off power but ignition switch is still on. I had a spare lock which I tried putting in to see if a good lock cylinder would turn it but no good. Is my steering lock broken? Have a spare steering column but it’s a bitch to change. Is there something I’m missing here? Maybe bad ignition switch jamming it somehow? Haven’t take it out yet. Figured I’d ask here first to see if anyone has an idea what’s going on before I took that off

This is me in 1973. I’m on the right. My silver 1965 1800 is behind me and I’m talking to my buddy Lou about what’s wrong with his Dodge van which was his harem on wheels and transportation to our hockey games. At 20 with only VW and MGB experience in wrenching this was a whole new ballgame. If VW and MG parts were hard to get, stuff for this car was darn near impossible then. A valve job was nothing like an VW. Even knowing the dealer who was my neighbor didn’t help. He had Bel-Aure motors in Staten Island and in 1975 he ended my suffering. He came home with a Malaga 76 one day and while I was over his house hanging out with his son and daughter he told me my new car was in the driveway across the street. He told me to get rid of the 1800 and gave me a great deal. A 2002 stickered for $6875 and he took that down to $6300. Borrowed $2000 from the old man and the rest is history

Carl I think you're right about this. You have to have a good delivery and timing to pull it off and not sound like a jerk. Bottom line is, it's a compliment.

Thanks for posting this. I'm about to need it. Even though I have another car to cheat off of. I have to take the door panels off to look.

Good luck. Thanks for the source on that switch. The other response with the back feed theory might be it from those other fuses. You’ll find it. That ignition switch drove me crazy the first time it happened to me and it was intermittent like your problem

Didn’t know those switches were available through anyone. Not Ricambi is it? I know they sell a lot of Ferrari and other super car parts. Start tracing backwards from coil back. It’s got to be fed from somewhere it’s not supposed to. Maybe try lifting out your fuse block to see if there is anything wrong there. You haven’t left the car anywhere that mice could chew on things have you?

I think it’s your ignition switch. If it came apart inside you could have shorted the hot lead onto that accessory terminal. I just bought a spare on eBay. They break in different ways with brittle plastic being the culprit most of the time. That switch feeds the fuse block which in turn feeds your coil. If everything was good before and this suddenly came from out of nowhere I would bet on it. There is another switch for sale on eBay now for about $60