Seth Horwitz

After what is probably a dozen arguments with my mechanic on Long Island, where he’s worked on every car but mine, I may be going to Saratoga for the summer and would gladly have the work done there. Are there any locals that have 2002 speciality mechanics that they like? I don’t need it, yet, but experience with swaps and fab work would be great. Thanks for any info. Seth

Could be, but I don’t think that the two companies were quite as tight back then. Half of the engineers had come over from VW to form Porsche, and they were doing joint projects that were engine plug and plays, but they weren’t quite as tight as today.

Yup. For about five minutes I thought about trying to go that route. I can’t imagine that would’ve been easy to find, as a drivable one is probably at the Porsche museum or worth a ton. Getting replacement parts wouldn’t be cheap/easy/possible? if necessary.

Porsche had an old sort-of-automatic around that time period, too. The German makes tried a lot of interesting stuff using nothing but pencils and rulers, back then.

It’s funny, as the thought had crossed my mind. I saw some guy did a hatchet job of a DIY. If done properly, it’d be interesting, but I think that the reinforcement needed to make the car not turn into a pretzel would be enormous. Sure, you pull the engine (and sometimes transmission)), but you’re adding a whole lot of weight and torque if you want something with a range over a hundred miles. Putting that in a forty year old chassis may get messy.

Good info. Thanks, Barney. I know on older posts you came up as thinking about going with the 4hp22 swap. Did you go ahead with it, or keep the 3-speed? To your point, I had an A4 when they first came out with the 1.8T in 1997, an engine that Volkswagen still uses in a modified form to this day. The car was REALLY slow, but felt really fast, which was an amazing combo. I felt like I was flying and I was barely going over the speed limit. It got dangerous when I got out of that and climbed into my mother’s A8, assumed I was going about 70, but was doing 120. The actual speed isn’t as important as how it feels on the road. I’m not racing or looking to set any records.

Thanks, Henning. Much appreciated. I just made the mistake of going to my friend’s dealership where I always walk away thinking about maybe shaking around my cars. I’m not sure where the 2002 fits in, but I’m still working forward.

Just to be crystal clear, which two trannies do you have on that cart?

The car is an Auto, so I’m thinking that helps. It also has A/C, but that may need to be sacrificed. It makes sense, and your picture illustrates it perfectly, but you read about all of these guys with M20s and 5-speeds that they make fit with a bit of hammering, and it “feels” like the M20 and 4-speed should fit. That auto sure is fat, though.

I’m wondering if a 4-Speed Auto and M20, so the whole drivetrain from an E30 325i, may be the best option, or how much hacking would need to be done. I’d be pretty pissed if I bought the 4-Speed from a 318i to mate with the M10, not be happy, and then go source an M20 and new housing for the tranny which will probably be a huge hassle. I’ve seen a running (>200K mi) 325i that I could probably buy for around $1K. (If it weren’t so far away, I would’ve already bought it.) If the parts don’t look like they’d fit, I’d bring the E30 to a scrapyard. If it’d fit, I’d get it fabbed up, pull them both out, then rebuild both.

I’m thinking of a local shop that does all of that stuff (hand controls, custom vans, ...) who would be worth a call. I think they’re more of an installation of other products type shop, but maybe they know of something or possibly have an engineer on premise. Good idea. Thanks, Steve.

I haven’t looked at switch operated clutches in a long time, but all of the ones that I found were for big rig truckers. Do you know what your friend used, or which Bugs had parts that could be scavenged? Much appreciated.

Good stuff. Thanks, guys. It seems like it may be possible if I rebuild the whole tranny tunnel. As the budget gets bigger on this car, it makes it a bit harder to justify over just getting something else, too. (I need more parking.) Henning, have you seen those digital to mechanical adapters? You’ll have to hack a bit, as they’re usually made for American trannies, but that should get your speedo running properly.

I could spend an hour showing old videos of me driving a “proper” stick and explaining in medical detail why I need an automatic, but let’s just assume that I HAVE to drive an Auto and I’m not pleased about it. (It’s been 20 years, so I’m used to it, but it still sucks.) Ok, I’ve seen someone on here who swapped in the 4-Speed auto from an early 318 onto the stock M10, but I saw a post or two with some issues, and haven’t been able to contact him. If he reads this and wants to give me a shout, it’d be appreciated. More to the point, guys on here have done both M20 and M42(M44) swaps with 5-Speed Manuals, but has anyone put a 5-speed Auto next to a 5-speed manual just to look at the dimensions? How big of a difference are the housings? (I wish I lived near a junkyard.) Is there a 5-speed Auto that could mate to the M10? I have no issue with getting a custom drive shaft made, so the question is “will XXX tranny fit with YYY engine to make the car a lot more fun to drive?” I’d like to keep it all BMW. I’m not looking for a monster, as I have another beast with 600hp to the wheels in AWD, but something a little more fun than an M10 with a 3-Speed slushbox. I don’t have a ton of great roads, so a little more power (even the same with more gearing) is needed to have fun in these ‘burbs before I find a rare turn I can hit hard. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks. Seth

Good stuff, thanks. Yeah, this car is never going on a track, even if I eventually do an engine swap, as I'm so far from a track that I don't get on one very often. When I do, I have something else for that that's both fun in the corners and puts me into the seat a second after I hit the Go pedal. (Those big turbos need a second.) I don't live near any particularly interesting roads, either, so if I'm working the brakes heavily, it's only for a handful of turns before there's nothing left to do and the whole system can cool down. Brake fade won't be an issue. (I hope. I prefer giving mechanics work over body shops.) Thank you much.

Reminds me of guys who were pulling the stock brakes on an E36 M3 (when they were new) to put on bigger Brembos. There was a turbo kit for the ‘95, and a supercharger kit existed for the OBD-II cars, but few people had them, so the stock brakes were fine. People spent a bunch of money (because over and above the brakes you had to get bigger wheels) just to get some red calipers.

Wow. As always, this board doesn't disappoint. I tried to copy and paste each individual post for a response in one message, but that doesn't work, so I apologize for not addressing each one of you directly. 1) Clearly, stock is the way to go if things need to be replaced. AustrianVespaGuy, I most certainly can't tell you why I feel the upgrade is needed. I've tuned more than a few cars that I've owned over the years, and have never done brakes. (Just pads.) I've also never owned a car that's over 40 years old, so I came to the experts for a gut check. 2) VWJake and everyone else, I'll make sure that the 17mm adjuster is checked. 3) NYNick, I live in the City, but have been on Long Island with family for a few months, and have only gone back once. (That explains the space issue. I have one car in the city, another parked in front of this house, and the 2002 is at the mechanic so I don't need to hear about taking up another space.) My mechanic worked at Rallye BMW a hundred years ago when people were still bringing the 2002s in for service at factory dealerships. He was the head mechanic at Bentley Long Island for awhile, then went out on his own about ten years ago. He's definitely competent, though obviously not a 2002 specialist by a long shot. He works on a ton of mid to high-market stuff. As for the e-brake cables, I believe he physically inspected them, but maybe that was a misunderstanding. 4) '76mintgrün'02, the car is an automatic. I'll have him check to make sure the pedal box isn't filling up with fluid, though. 5) zinz, I'll have him check the booster. Is it a good idea to just replace both of these? I'd rather not pay for something unnecessary, but if I'm going to do it somewhere, it's on brakes on a car. I've used the phrase "Do you buy the cheapest brakes you can find, or do you do it right? Don't be stupid by looking for a deal on XXXXXXX" quite a bit. It seems pretty applicable when I'm literally talking about brakes. 6) jimk, I'll definitely have him check the weep hole. There's no corrosion, so hopefully that's not it. The bones on this car are really good, which is why I knowingly overpaid for it. There's almost no rust anywhere, as the car was in a garage for 85% of its life. Probably more. 7) TobyB, I'll probably just hand him your message. Good stuff. jimk, great diagram. I'll pass it on. 8) halboyles, I'll give you a shout if it comes to that. When I get to live within 35 miles of this particular car, and I can tinker with it more, it looks like that'll come in handy. Everyone else, thank you much for the other insights. Now, does anyone have any input on a wonky fuel gauge? (Just kidding. I have a bunch of stuff from Search that I've found.) Thanks everyone. Seth

I definitely don’t have the room, and likely don’t have the skill, to do the brakes on my purchased ‘76 2002, so it’s at my mechanic. The car has been there FOR A LONG TIME (again space issues) so there could be a number of reasons why the brakes don’t work, but that’s neither here nor there. I take responsibility, regardless. Symptoms: 1) There’s a brake fluid leak, but not in the lines or on the brakes themselves. My mechanic thinks it’s in the master cylinder, and will diagnose. 2) The e-brake cables are a mess, but he said they weren’t just stretched and seemed kinked and deformed. I figure a 40 year old car, that sat for over 25, could use new cables anyway. No big deal, just another datapoint. 3) The fun part, the rear shoes seem to be engaged, to the point where you can’t even push the car, and need the engine to move the car around his shop. This wasn’t the case when it was first dropped off by the last owner, but that was a year ago and, again, that’s neither here nor there. I don’t think adding more fluid is going to fix it. 4) He can’t get the drums off to inspect without going at them with a mallet. He wanted my permission, so I told him to just do it. He said parts may break, or maybe not, so he wanted to check, first. Again, I want to drive the car, and told him to just get it diagnosed so we can fix it. Anyway, and I’d be impressed if you could, anyone who thinks that they can diagnose the issue from afar would be much appreciated. So, I’ve got the original M10, and I don’t think it’s ever been rebuilt, nor have I done a compression test. There are either 50K or 60K miles on the clock, likely true mileage. (Again, the car’s been there a long time, as the seller dropped it there, so I don’t remember.) I had been thinking about going the M20 route right away, last year, but given that I’ve only driven the car a few miles before I bough it, I figured I’d just let him fix it as-is, drive it to the grocery store and pharmacy while I’m locked down for several more months (I’m in NY), and then reevaluate. All of that said, how would you go about replacing these brake components? Are there any components that I should do, even if they haven’t failed, yet, just because others are being done? I’ve seen people rebuild boosters and then cause huge problems downstream on other makes. 1) Do I replace the existing parts with identical new parts? This is clearly the cheaper option. OR 2) Do I upgrade with something from IE or elsewhere? Figure I’m 50/50 about whether or not I upgrade to a more powerful engine in the future. Will I enjoy the different brakes with the stock M10 that’s lost power over the last 40 years? (Bigger drums, or discs? You tell me.) If they’re so powerful that they mess with the overall balance and feel of the car, then I’d rather just replace stock pieces, and chalk that money up as lost if I go bigger on the engine, and then upgrade the brakes anyway in the future. If I do upgrade the rears, should I do the fronts, too? (Upgrade the whole disc and caliper, not just new pads.) I’d want the proper braking balance, and I don’t know whether installing a brake bias control would be enough to do that. Having the back lock up before the front would be something I’ve never experienced. Any info on that would be appreciated, too. This car will never see a track (I’ve got a better toy for that) and rarely see the highway, but I enjoy spirited driving, more so than the local police, so I appreciate good brakes. If the car takes a minute to get to 60mph, though, that kind of defeats the purpose of having great brakes that let me do late braking from 50mph a second before the turn, to putter out of it at the apex. Thanks for any advice. Seth

It’s almost like you’re on a mission to make every other ‘02 look cheap. Looking good.