AlfaBMWGuy

2 hours ago, AWatry said:

I'm the guilty party here. Have had one 02 before, a pair of Bavarias, various other BMWs including my wife's E90 M3, Alfas beyond counting. Will be looking for some parts in time. Got a curbside offer for it 20 minutes after getting it home Monday. Digging it the most.

Andrew

Congrats and welcome Andrew.  Happy to see our long-time AlfaBB sedan guru here.  I'm a long-time Alfa sedan (imported a '73 Giulia Super with the help of an AlfaBB contact in Belgium back in 2007 after owning a '74 GTV a few years prior) , BMW 2002, and BMW E30 enthusiast.  I'm an occasional poster both here and the AlfaBB.  Back when I was considering an Alfa sedan, on the AlfaBB I asked for driving comparisons with a 2002 since I'd owned a couple of those.  Your experience back then at least was that 2002s were like driving a little tank, but hopefully that was just the ones you had experienced--think you had a nephew you had one.  I admit they aren't quite as "on their toes" as a Giulia, but still one of the very best sport sedans of their era, or any era I would say. Like the whole of the vintage Alfa community, one of the very best things about a 2002 is the quality of the people who support them, a high percentage of them right here on the FAQ.  Here's my current 2002 and Giulia pairing:

-Gary

 

I had checked the car out about 3 years ago, met with Gary and most of what's been said holds true.

I had inspection done on the car, found about $2-3K worth of work that needed to be done and we did not come to terms but kept in touch.

He's a good guy - an enthusiast without being much of a gearhead, I suspect he will miss the car.

New owner has got a pretty decent car to work with.

That's a really clean looking Sahara square light car.  Well done on finding what you were looking for!

Ah, sounds like then that the seller was adamant that he get his asking price and finally compromised to the market value.  Plus, if he has been trying to sell for 3 years, the market value did come up in that time (ignoring that he would have got a better return selling years ago at a lower price and putting the proceeds into the stock market).

Price might be a tad on the high side, but $8-9K is several years behind the market for these when they aren't projects in some way.  I can understand not selling for that period at $20K, but at $16.5K I'd expect the seller to take $15K cash without hesitation with it being on the market that long.  So, my hunch is that there are some undisclosed issues that aren't being mentioned in the description and hidden in pictures.

Looking through the pics (link is still up), this seems like a reasonably market correct price to me--$16,500.  Below $10K would have been a price from several years ago for a car that is solid (not show car, but very good driver condition) cosmetically inside and outside, as well as mechanically sorted like this one appears to be.  I'm assuming there is no major undisclosed rust of course. If this was a roundie in the same condition, I'd say closer to $20K.  It this were being sold in the spring on BringATrailer, it should easily have brought his asking price.

On 9/30/2019 at 5:04 PM, AlfaBMWGuy said:

Thanks @HBChris. Here is a reverse angle shot of my coil and ballast resistor setup.  My car seems to run and drive fine in the two years I've owned it regarding ignition, but if there are improvements to be had, I'm all for it.  Do I just want to jumper the leads to the ballast resistor together to bypass it, or is there a bit more to it than that?  Let me know if more pics are needed to determine that.

 

Thanks,

Gary

 

By the way, thanks to Chris' keen eye, my ballast resistor is no longer part of the circuit with my blue coil.  The resistor is still attached to the fender for the correct factory look, but the wire leads aren't connected.  I suspect I never noticed this original owner modification before because my Pertronix electronic ignition was able to deal better with the reduced spark than points would have.

-Gary

Thanks @HBChris. Here is a reverse angle shot of my coil and ballast resistor setup.  My car seems to run and drive fine in the two years I've owned it regarding ignition, but if there are improvements to be had, I'm all for it.  Do I just want to jumper the leads to the ballast resistor together to bypass it, or is there a bit more to it than that?  Let me know if more pics are needed to determine that.

Thanks,

Gary

Here's a better shot of the steering wheel.  I've done quite a bit to the interior since the pic including replacing the ugly door speakers with something more period appropriate, replacing the modern CD player with a period Blaupunkt, and replacing the worn tan Coco mats with new red/black, replacing the worn clutch and brake pedal covers, adding the missing e-brake grip, and replacing both seat bases.  Both are actually mismatched embossing and they didn't match each other either.  You can see the cracks on the dash, but it's more spendy to replace or fix that than I can justify at this point.  Replacing the dingy carpets I think will make a huge difference now that the upholstery is squared away.

Yes, it's a 1971 model year built on October 22, 1970 based on info from BMW.  The chassis is #1677187.  I like the pre-71 styling features inside and out vs. the Model '71 so that was one of the reasons I jumped on this in addition to it not being rusty and being kept largely original vs. most of them.  The original owner bought it in Boise when he was 25 and sold it to me when he was 71, still in Boise.  My first 2002 was a late 1971 so it was the facelift model of course.  This Granada one also has the original "ti" sport steering wheel, which is cool to have.  The original owner put a leather cover over it, now quite patina'd itself, and I've never taken it off.  I assume he put it on because the original, which I believe is a "pleather" is showing wear.  I've turned this into a 3-season nice weather driver that I drive to work on a daily basis--I live in an area without much heavy commute traffic making that more reasonable.

Thanks Chris.  The original owner of my '02 at some point installed a Pertronix ignition.  Does that make a difference?  I assume you are talking about the white plastic cased component that is clipped to the fender?  Can I just unplug it even with Pertronix and will that improve drivability in some way even with Pertronix?

Thanks Steve.  Here's a couple more pics.  You can see a little split in my seat back along a pleat, but that doesn't bother me like having the embossing of a VW Beetle seat for my driver's seat base (not that I don't love VW bugs), which you can see in the very first post in this thread if you click on the pic to enlarge. Next, it's on to the carpet (see wear next to gas pedal) as the culmination of my interior work (living with the 3 cracks on the dash for now) and at least the FAQ board is fortunate to have a great source for those with Esty.

To close out this thread, this weekend I finally got correct basketweave driver's seat base vinyl installed on my '02!    Below are a couple pics of the finished product.  Thanks especially to Bruce @m-tuner for supplying the driver's seat base vinyl piece that let me finish off the work on all my seats front and back.  Original driver's seat base vinyl is definitely hard to source, several months in my case, when you need the whole piece rather than sewing in new basketweave vinyl in the center section.

Thanks,

Gary

I wanted to circle back on this thread as this weekend I finally got the correct basketweave driver's seat base vinyl installed on my '02!    Below is the pic of the final result.  So it took re-purposing a passenger seat base spring frame to turn it into a driver's spring frame, finding a good used horsehair pad (thanks @Guy Cocquyt), and then finding a good original vinyl upholstery piece (thanks @m-tuner).  I've now got correct and very nice basketweave on all my seats front and back (thanks also to @jerryasi for the passenger seat and to @JordanBbradley for the rear seat vinyl).  Looking at my list of people to thank and then at least that number I was communicating with, but ultimately didn't have what I was looking for, I realize what a big undertaking this was.  Original driver's seat base vinyl is definitely the hardest to source, several months in my case, when you need the whole piece rather than sewing in new basketweave in the center section.

Thanks as well to those who provided advice in this thread.  I did contact GAHH and got a basketweave sample by mail.  If I was re-doing my full interior, it would definitely be the way to go.  But, even though they use the correct basketweave embossing, it would stand out more than I wanted to just replace the driver's seat base vinyl on my otherwise original interior.  Their embossing is deeper and more defined than factory original--too good if that makes sense.  I've used GAHH for some replacement E30 upholstery though and you definitely get what you pay for with their work.

Thanks,

Gary

Here's a well-deserved thread bump and a pic of these dust caps on my Granada early '71.  Thanks Brett!

-Gary

Got mine on as well.  I think you nailed it Brett as far as the fit. They slip on with just the right amount of force so you know it's a proper seal, but also will come off if needed. This is the first 3-D printed item I've had and that alone made it worthwhile. Thanks again Brett for a really cool product and getting them shipped out quickly.

-Gary

1 hour ago, golf73 said:

Hi Brett,

 

Is it $25 each or for a pair?

 

Thx,

Ryan

It's per pair and $35 total with shipping within the continental U.S.  I was order #9 when I got in line by making the payment on Monday morning and it appears there have been a few more orders since.  The final product looks great Brett.

-Gary

Great work Brett solving two problems at once--fit of dust caps with modern struts and original black being NLA!  I have a crack in one of my original black caps on my early '71 and have held off on doing anything about it for both of these reasons.  PM incoming to pick up a pair.

Thanks,

Gary

Still hoping to find something.  Thanks!

Hi Bruce, please pull from your parts store a driver's seat base with good vinyl (don't worry much if there are cracks in the embossed center section, but I would pay extra if I don't need an upholstery shop to sew in good embossed vinyl that I have) for the smooth portions and the piping.  Take a few pictures of this from different angles and let me know what you'd like to get for it and whether you are willing to just sell and ship the vinyl cover rather than the full seat base. I'm really trying to wrap up my interior restoration work and this is the last remaining item at this point.

Thanks,

Gary

Bruce, after studying your pictures more closely, I suspect you have two passenger seat bases and no driver seat bases. It is not surprising in that passenger seat survive in much better condition over decades. Yours look identical in terms of what side extends out furthest where they should be mirror images if you have both a driver and passenger seat base.

Thanks,

Gary

Thanks Bruce. I have PM'd you regarding details.

-Gary

Thanks Steve.  Yep, LB72 and I figured out his wouldn't work for me.  I'm not as much concerned about the embossed center section because I have good original basketweave that I can have sewn in.  But, his are the later seats that aren't as wide (the top of the seat base doesn't extend as far towards the parking brake handle) so it just won't fit over an early seat frame and cushion.  You wouldn't think it would be so hard to find used black vinyl driver's seat upholstery, but it's proven to be a real pain to source.

-Gary

Bump since I'm still looking as even getting info from GAHH on what they sell has been difficult.  Hoping someone has something that's the proper early black driver's seat vinyl.

Thanks,

Gary

Thanks Bruce.  I just PM'd you for more information.

-Gary

Final bump before giving up on used original.  Amazing how hard it is to find driver's seat base upholstery.