doslucero

Installed a new water pump, radiator, electric fan and fan switch. Pretty straight forward job. Had to drill a couple holes for the radiator and got all the wiring parts needed at the local auto parts store.

Thanks for the reply guys. I'll look into a 90 degree drill. There are still two bolts holding the bracket to the engine block which is a good thing but I would like to fix this sooner than later and I would like to do it without having to pull the engine.

I just bought some new motor mounts and was planning on installing them and noticed a possible broken bolt where the motor mount bracket attaches to the engine block. This is on the passenger side. The motor seems to be pretty secure despite the broken bolt because I've been driving it for the last year. I was wondering if anyone can help me with some options on what to do since I cant get a normal hand drill down there to tap it out. Thanks, Roberto

Thanks for the info guys. I checked the float level and it looks to be correct.

Hi, I am having some starting issues with my 76. It has a 32/36 weber and a electric fuel pump that is regulated at 3.5psi and I believe the issue is fuel related. I just put a new 32/36 weber carb on with a manual choke. The issue I was having with the old water choke 32/36 was that on the first attempt at starting the car, it would crank over but then immediately die when putting foot on gas. Then every attempt after that to start the car would result in it cranking forever but never turning over. I would have to wait 24 hours to try it again where it would crank over on the first attempt but typically die when pushing the gas pedal. Now with the new carb, It will start on the first attempt with the choke fully engaged but then after warming up the car and turning it off, then trying to restart it, it will crank continuously and never start. I think that I am flooding the engine since the car needs to sit for a day before starting again but this is an issue with both the old and new carb and I have checked the float levels and they look to be correct. Could it be anything else? Thanks, Roberto

Looking for a dip stick. Mine is shot and the rubber part completely disintegrated. My car is a 1976, not sure if that matters. Thanks, Roberto

I'm looking for a used rear bumper. Preferably short style. Looking for something in the $350 range if possible. Thanks.

My advice is to buy a welder. Or borrow one in my case. No need for gas, just a mig that plugs into a regular socket works fine. I was in your same position more than a year ago. Never welded, had rusted floor boards. The task looked far beyond what I thought possible given my skillset but once I started it, it was a pretty straightforward easy process, just time consuming, and so satisfying at the end. A family member let me borrow a welder, he showed me how to turn the machine on and that was it. I learned how to weld on my floor boards. I saved a ton of money and now know how to weld. Don't let the unknown deter you. Anyone can do this task. You can buy all the stuff you need at harbor freight for pretty cheap if you're on a budget. Not the best tools but who cares, they work. Here is a link to my blog post about welding my floor boards.

Thanks so much!

I love the look of a vintage roof rack on a 2002. I searched for months trying to find one but had no luck. I was able to reach one company that makes them but they only had a limited supply and would not sell me one. So I decided to make my own, kind of. I purchased a VW bug rack off ebay and decided to modify it. It was quite a bit of work because It was too tall as well as too narrow. So I started by chopping the legs, all 6. I got it to as low as I wanted it and welded some new metal feet to the bottom of the legs that fit in the rain gutters. Then I had to figure out how to widen the rack, that was the hard part. I cut the three cross bars in half and added about 2 inches give or take to the middle of the bars and welded them back together. For the base of the rack, I left that in tact and instead, welded a 1.75" metal piece to the rack sides where the base connects via a screw. I'm super happy with how it came out. It's not going to be carrying any couches anytime soon but it's strong enough to carry some camping gear or whatever. The first pic was taken while I was still working on it. The last two pics are the finished rack.

I recently took some pics of the car while on a drive in the desert. I haven't posted much on the blog since I got the car back from paint but have been driving it a lot and have done quite a few things to the car including new carpet, tucked front bumper, dyed the rear seat to match the brown door panels, installed an electric fuel pump and repainted the steelies. I'm also currently modifying a VW bug roof rack to fit on the car. I'll post some pics of that when its finished. My future plans for the car are to install a 5 speed transmission, recover the front seats and reinstall and fix the frigiking A/C cause its getting hot as hell out here in AZ.

Welcome! I believe these wheels are modified early Porsche or early VW bus/bug wheels. I've always loved this look but I'm sure quite a a lot of work went into making these work.

Thanks for all the info guys. Guess I have to keep looking.

Thanks so much for the info guys!

Quick question. What if its a 91-92 getrag 240? I haven't seen any info on other than the 84-85 ones.

Here is the bottom of the transmission. It has two mounting points. So, from what you guys are telling me, its a later one that will still work on a 2002, just no mechanical speedo.

Thanks for the info Preyupy. Unfortunately I don't have the transmission in my possession. Trying to work with the seller to get some more information on it. I'll see if I can get some more pictures of the areas you said to look.

I'm trying to figure out what year 318 this getrag is from? The number on the transmission is 240.0.0490.90. Also trying to figure out how I can tell if it has a mechanical speedo input. I appreciate any help.

I had the same problem. One shock retracted while the other was stuck. After trying to hammer on the shock with it still on the car, it still didn't budge. I unbolted the shock and pulled it off the car (pretty easy, only one bolt, given you took off the bumper already). Then I stood the shock upright and hammered on it with a sledge hammer (place a piece of wood on top where you are hammering). It eventually retracted but I had to hit it pretty hard. You could probably put it in a vice if you have one (I didn't). Also, if the shock that is stuck is on the drivers side, take out the battery to get to the bolt (BMW cut a hole in the battery tray for easy access to the bolt. Good luck.

When you took off the old flex lines on the passenger front, did you notice alot of brake fluid coming from the hard lines? Or was it clogged? You can rule out the caliper since you put a new one in. You could try bleeding again, but also you could follow the line up toward the brake master cylinder to find the cause of you not getting fluid coming out the inner bleeder on the caliper. There is rarely an issue with the hard brake lines, so you could take a look at the brake master cylinder, brake booster or linkage going from the brake pedal to the brake booster. Sometimes the rod holding the pedals (under the carpet) gets rusted and give issues, sometimes the linkage from pedal to brake booster needs lubricating and in my case, the brake pedal would not retract because the bolt that helps pivot the pedal linkage to the brake booster was too tight (had to take me replacing all flex brake lines to find this). You could also check the brake booster vacuum hose to make sure it has vacuum, check the check valve too on that same hose to make sure its the right way and that its working. In regards to not being able to get to reverse, Sounds like you need to tighten the shifter plate under the car that stabilizes the stick shift and possibly get a shifter rebuild kit to fix the slop. When I got my car, I could move the shifter a few inches in all directions in every gear, I found it very hard to put it in reverse.

While the e30 seats are very nice, the difficulty with having them in the 2002 is that they either sit very high on the stock 2002 mounts, or I've seen people cut out the stock mounts all together and sit the e30 seats on the floor. e30 seats were designed to sit on the floor of e30 cars (not on mounts). Looks like you have some decent carpet in the car and it would be a bit of an undertaking to cut out the mounts and drill holes to fit the e30's to the floor. My advise is to drive the car as is till you can find some original 2002 seats or recaros that are better suited for the stock mounts. When I got my 02, I found some e30 seats thinking they would be an easy fit. After deciding I didn't want to cut up the stock mounts, I sold them and bought some recaro style seats that required far less fab work that e30's.