jerry

here's a couple photos for completeness. i haven't accomplished nearly as much work as i had hoped for this long weekend, but i did actually use my HVLP gun for the first time. baby steps i'm sure, but forward progress nonetheless.

geeze, i'd never make any money doing this for a living. i just finished for the day, sanding my car with 80grit in preparation for epoxy sealer.

my goal for this long weekend was to have this car epoxied, bondoed, blocked, primered and ready for color....

i'm gonna have to settle for sanded. my next task is to go over this car with 'wax and grease' remover and a ton of clean rags. that should take another 2-3 hours i'm thinking. there'll be no 'fisheyes' this time around (recall previous post).

i'm not sure if i need to acid etch this before epoxy. there's only a few areas of corrosion pitting and i hate to put water on it quite frankly.

i'd be interested in perhaps trading services. my daily driver has a noisy 4 spd and i have a 5spd kit available for it but haven't gotten around to it. i'm in marin as well. if this is doable over several evenings get in touch: jerryallsmanATyahooDOTcom.

about the only thing doable without drilling out the rivets to get at the innards is perhaps ensure easy movement of the cables and water valve. if you're ambitious, remove the valve, clean it and apply a dab of silicon grease (do not use regular grease) to the o-ring.

while you're in there, ensure the opening in the car body is rustfree, clean and well protected from moisture. good time to inspect all wires under there. by the time you've pulled the heater box you've exposed a lot of hidden areas...

well, i passed what i considered a real milestone. i tried my hand at epoxy sealer as a first step in repainting my car. i've never done this before and i've been fretting over this for the past 2 months.

i used that wax and grease remover as best as i could but i have to admit that i still had some areas of the dreaded 'fisheyes'.

oh well, as this whole project is in reality a practice run for my tii, i'll just try to learn from this.

tomorrow i hope to spread some bondo and prep the body for its epoxy coat.

see photos on my Project Blog post.

i took the suggestions from this forum to heart regarding the thoroughness of paint stripping that i still needed to do. that in itself set me back another month and a half of weekends to get ALL the paint off this car. i've been reading up on painting as well.

the following pictures show the first step in the paint process: epoxy sealer on the fenders, hood, doors and trunklid. i hope to lay some bondo on tomorrow. additionally, i'll be sanding and preparing the car body for its coat of epoxy sealer. all this sitting around under a cover outside doesn't help w.r.t. surface corrosion.

additional work to date since the last posting has included rebuilding my rear trailing arms, more cleaning and painting of parts and removal of suspension and installation of temporary wheels for the body to roll it around.

comet, i think you just may have cured the cheapo center grill look with your clever paint job. kinda makes it blend in a little better.

i'm impressed. i'll be wondering how it holds up...

you only need the very center portion of the nose with an inch or two of the top and bottom portion for the side grills (to obtain the proper curvature for the Al grills). the outward ends of the nosepiece are the same for both versions. i've considered doing this to my '75 but i can't bring myself to cutting a perfect, undamaged nosepiece.

Personally, it's not the square tailights, or the big bumpers, or even the plastic grills that i find less than appealing, it's that darn plastic centerpiece. i don't know what it is but i find it bulbous and cheap-looking.

wow, that is one clean NICE looking ORIGINAL 02. that's what i'd call a survivor. ya sure you want to alter the looks of it??? that is, assuming it sports its original paint and isn't a rust bucket.

from my vantage point it's a nice car. best wishes to you, whatever direction you take.

(nt)

i'm suspecting the original post is intended as a 'tongue-in-cheek' poke at the overuse of the term Alpina to sell just about anything remotely 02-related.

just illustrating my penchant for stating the obvious....

can also get them from Mesa Performance, or your neighborhood Alfa-Romeo shop or Royze

looky here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/BMW-2000-TI-2002-TI-NSU-TTS-Solex-40-PHH-Doppelvergaser_W0QQitemZ4649574332QQihZ002QQcategoryZ96367QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Great write-up Bill. I indeed looked for the lock washer but honestly could not see it when looking yesterday so I assumed a PO removed it. My brother took it to a local shop this morning and the word was that they suspected an ample supply of Locktite during assembly. They used an impact wrench to remove it.

btw, I used a large prybar to secure the flange from rotating. wish I had a more elegant method like Bill's because I have to admit to a little witness marking on the Al casting... Oh well, won't do THAT again.

I hit Sears for an 11mm flare wrench, they only had one and it was mixed with another size so if you don't see it on the rack, check within the other sizes.

DON'T buy the SEARS flared wrench. I stripped more than a couple stubborn brake lines with it before I reluctantly bought a Snap-On (problem gone, now).

If you look carefully at the SEARS wrench you'll see that the edges of the contact surface are CHAMFERED which effectively decreases the contact surface holding the nut. I can't understand why they deemed it necessary to put such a large chamfer on it. suppose is gives it a more finished, and fuss-ed with look for store appeal...

I have not had any other problems with Craftsman tools, btw. good value for the most part. But the flared-end wrench is a different matter.

let's see.

dollars: about 30-40ish for all four bushings.

another 5-10 for nuts-bolts and PVC pipe to make extraction tool (worth the effort).

to extract, use a torch to soften the rubber and they'll come right out. swab some glycerine on em to ease installation. do not use grease, although silicone grease may be acceptable.

time: suppose you could do it while the trailing arms are still attached which you'd save tremendously on disassembly/reassembly time, BUT you'll pay more in frustration, limited space, 'on your back' work. i'd guess 2-3 hours for a 1st time effort with trailing arms attached.

about 4-8 hours to remove trailing arms, work on your bench, general cleaning and other goodness, R&R the bushings, reinstall trailing arms, bleed brakes.

as for me, it'd probably be a weekend effort cuz i'd always find something else to do, while i'm there...

well, i tried my slimmed-down 30mm deep socket on the transmission output flange with no luck. i'm assuming the threads are normal RH threads.

one thing i'd advise others is to either avoid, or cut the deep socket to produce a shorter socket. mine kept wobbling off as i tried to torque it.

i tried heat, PB Blaster and a hammer and punch (gonna need a new nut now too). i'm out of ideas. i'm off to the pros for this one....

what am i missing to do this job?

yes, the paste is a product of rust and PB Blaster, WD 40 etc.. which forms during fretting. fretting is the surface corrosion, wear under small amplitude movement and usually has a brownish appearance similar to a stain. unbalanced wheels can set up the necessary loading for fretting to occur.

i have a 121T head...

cast in 79

don't worry about it. as long as it rotates without roughness (due to grit). install it and forget it. i'm assuming it's unused. even if used bearings are of two types: early failure or long-lived assuming normal operating loads.

i've got a 3-bolt flange on one of my 5spd trannies that i'd be willing to trade for your 4-bolt flange. i recently modified a 30mm socket to remove it too. i just don't have the energy to go to the boneyard and hacksaw a 320i driveshaft front end...

email me at

jerryallsmanATyahooDOTcom

the splines should be uniform cross section along their entire length. it should be a snug fit with no lateral movement. your's sound scary. check your bearing inner races for fretting wear. did you notice any rust colored paste upon removal?

strut insert breakdown or is it added during initial installation? i've pulled nice appearing strut inserts that were soaked in liquid. IIRC Bilstiens are gas struts, right? so what's up with the liquid. no, it's not water, more like brake fluid.

you need to call Stereo City in Fremont (510/792-9337).

they have an upolsterer who does pretty good work for reasonable price. i just got back front and rear seats in brown vinyl for $650

i would rate them a solid 8 out of 10 for appearance.

i'm sure he could hook you up with new padding.

he's doing a set of reccaros for me too. i'm anxious to see how those turn out.

(nt)