Schon '02

‘75 Turbo with 41k miles has one…

I get more thumbs up from late model BMWs (and most other cars actually) while driving my Alfa GTV than the ‘02. There was one time when a nice E24 came zooming up in my rear view mirror, pulled along side and gave us the thumbs up, then rode wing man until we parted ways at the next freeway interchange. But just once…

If the holes were drilled in the same location, then there was probably some coordinated effort to it (factory, TSB, club newsletter maybe?); if there is randomness, then it's likely a result of helpful hints and word-of-mouth that becomes legends or myths. So mine is 3-1/4" from the edge of the center cowl reinforcement plate.

Unrestored, stock, time warp Sahara Beige, 4 Speed non-Sunroof, non-tii ‘75 just sold on BaT for $30,250… must have been the hole…

What is that off-white stuff on the door? Is it the compound used to seal the vapor barrier to the door frame? It’s not tacky nor does it seem like a good flexible sealant. If it was tack or flexible at one time, it sure didn’t stay that way, turning into some dry and brittle crap that can be scraped off the door.

I understand that some of the tii notches were "factory" tin shear cut, so a cleanly drilled hole wouldn't necessarily be a guarantee, would it? I'm just curious if they're all in the same place, dimensionally. If so, it would rule out the randomness of individual owners doing so, maybe???

‘73 VIN 2590923, but no clue if it’s original to the car having acquired the car four years ago.

A couple of useful links below… availability will depend on what you need. As the prices of these cars have gone up, so has demand for restoration parts. This in turn has depleted the inventory of some parts, and created a market for reproductions of others. You will likely need to explore all of the sources out there (vendors, salvagers, resellers, swap meets, classifieds here on the faq, etc). Welcome and good luck searching. https://www.bmw2002faq.com/vendors/ Wallothnesch - Ersatzteile für klassische BMW Automobile | Wallothesch WWW.WALLOTHNESCH.COM

I have the same hole on my ‘73 (non-tii).

Decided it was time to jump in feet first and address numerous door issues including a broken left side window register (failed outer spring pin… cobbled up a replacement with hardware from the parts bins), scratched left-side window (replacement on order), right side window adjustment (close up gap causing wind noise at the top rear corner), door card TLC (gonna give the chrome Mylar treatment on the trim a try), and new thicker visqueen moisture barriers for the door cards. The left side window parts were pulled and cleaned of 50 year old grease, awaiting the new window…

Larry, Bob, Tom and to all of the BA’02 volunteers, thanks for putting on a great event! As mentioned, there was something for everyone, and meeting other enthusiasts, catching up with old friends and making new ones is what it’s all about. Keep up the great work. My only caveat would be to not let the event’s success lead to its downfall. The Brisbane site has been a tradition for some time, and offers great views of the Bay. Unfortunately, the turnout means cramped parking on a sloped site, and little room for participants to spread out or even open their car doors without concern of an accidental door ding. There’s also limited space to showcase but a handful of cars that creates a feeling that only a few receive that perk for reasons unknown. There are other venues in the Bay Area that offer a real flat grass field for with plenty of space for everything that the Swap n Shoe has to offer. Perhaps it’s time to create a new tradition?

A reasonable budget for a driveable ‘02 is probably $15-20k for a ‘74-‘76 model… maybe less if it’s an automatic or it’s a ‘76 that still needs to be smogged. Walking around the Swap n Show today, there were a couple of ‘74 tii’s with asking prices in the $60k plus range. Anything in the $3-6k range was like sighting the Lochness Monster or a basket case of parts on the parking lot asphalt.

If you’re asking about the cable adjustment, I assume you’ve never done it before. While it sounds easy, it is all blind left handed work with a 7mm wrench. It’s easy to see the heater valve, under the cowl from the passenger side. The cable is on the back side of the valve. If you have an inspection mirror, take a look at the back side to get a mental picture of the lever and cable attachment. Reach in and get a feel for the nut location on the lever, then get in there with your wrench to loosen the nut. Make sure the dash lever is in the full Cold position, then reach in to the heater valve and make sure that it is hard against the closed stop (should be pushed towards the back of the car). Then retighten the nut. If you’re still getting heat in the box, then something else is wrong (such as a leaking heater valve).

Not mine of course, but still an interesting old picture of a racing ‘02 with a Repco Brabham 4.4L V8 under the hood.

Here is the set up on my ‘73 with 45 DCOEs, Canon intake manifold and phenolic/Bakelite isolators. I’ve not had any issues with this set up in the four years that we’ve owned the car other than the Thackery (spring) washers (located under the Nyloc nuts). The washers are intended to help with dampening vibration so are not fully compressed. However, there seems to be a fine line between under tightening (and leaking past the gaskets) and over tightening (eliminating any spring/dampening). And the washer is hardened spring steel so they will crack over time (as I found that mine had done). I’m tempted to remove them entirely for standard flat washers to see if there is any difference in engine performance.

Thanks guys! Feeling better that whatever was in the plug well was incidental and not some means to deal with an issue.

Would the temp at the base of the plug be hot enough? The current wires have a silicone boot. Perhaps the previous wires had a Bakelite boot and chipped upon removal, and the PO or mechanic didn’t realize it when he put in the plugs, and the plug wasn’t fully seated when it was tightened?

The material down in the well had to be scrapped off the head. It wasn’t loose. It appeared to be an epoxy of some type that was fluid before it set up.

It’s been almost four years since acquiring the ‘02 from a trusted friend and the car has been trouble free other than a balky temp gauge (bad ground). The car drove well without any glaring issues, but I can’t say that I had any relative bench mark to compare the seat of the pants feel for the upgraded engine (Weber’s, cams, and headers). It was past due to explore the top end for the first time, so with a long weekend at hand, I checked the valves and the plugs. The valve train looked very clean. The valve lash all checked out at 0.008 for the 292 cams… the plugs all checked out as well with NGK BP6ES’ at 0.040. But the #2 plug was hard to pull as if it was cross threaded. One photo shows a small bit of substance between the crush washer and the shoulder of the plug… another shows something down at the bottom of the well… and the third shows what was scraped out (a hard, brittle, reddish material). Upon replacing the plug, I went heavier than usual on the anti-seize and pulled the plug back out whenever there was resistance to check the thread-depth. It took several passes to eventually get the plug to screw in smoothly to the bottom, so I could make sure it was seating properly and then torqued. The engine now seems more responsive on throttle than before (barely touch the pedal and there’s no hesitation on revs) and seems to have more power on the road. I checked the plug well after cool down and all looked normal and dry. So, thoughts on what that stuff was in the plug well and why it might have found it’s way down there?

Great! We’ll keep an eye open for you a on the Marin backroads.

Ditto @Conserv The Alfa community has tagged these as Delta Milanos with some owners having this identifier on the the wheel.

Speaking of X-rays (from an RN friend, so true story)… here’s a Florida man’s left foot on Thanksgiving after mentioning to his wife that the Turkey was dry…