building a 2002

Update!!!

2008-07-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

Yeah, not much of an update. Im still alive. I still have the 02. Im in the process of moving all my stuff 3 thousand miles, so I havent had much time to keep the updates coming. Expect some activity in August. Thank you, come again.

Half step forward

2008-04-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

Block is back from the machine shop with a clean bill of health. Unfortunately, we had to put the head down. Since getting the block back its been painted and crank installed with ARP hardware. Used plastigage with standard size bearings to check clearances. Amazingly the crank has seen zero wear in the past thirty years. Clearance for all journals right around the min. spec.

Block treatment: thermal clean, magnaflux, decked, bore/hone.

Crank treatment: cleaned, magnaflux, measure, polish.

Cylinder head installed just for mockup.

MegaSquirt

2008-04-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

No, its not Ron Jeremy's latest film. Its the DIY engine management from B&G.

Hit a couple glitches with assembly and testing, but all is up and running now. I feel very edumacated. Engine should be assembled in the next couple weeks. Then i need to do some wiring and set up the (aheemmmmmm) ford ignition system, and hopefully fire it up. Month maybe?

Blank MII V3.0 main board:

Partially assembled:

Completed board:

Completed board, relay board, and stimulator:

Megasquirt Megatune software, still not porn:

The engine is out getting all the machine work done. Lots of good stuff to come.

Roll center

2008-03-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to regain proper control arm travel and angle, Ive installed Massive Lee's 32mm roll center spacers. If you ever have the chance to order something from Massive I guarantee you wont be disappointed. Everything Ive gotten from him has been a perfect fit and finish.

Its pretty pathetic when you look at a picture of your suspension and think, "I need to dust that, wait, is that a fingerprint?".

Redneck engineering.

2008-03-19T17:31:00.001-07:00

As of now, the plan is to make my own turbo manifold flange. Im using 3/8" steel.

Normally you would use the exhaust manifold gasket as a template for the flange. Since the gaskets for this head are not one piece, I had to come up with something else.

After a lot of daydreaming about other stuff, I figured out a solution. Take some painters tape, apply to ports, rub tape with greasy gloves. This left a perfect stamp of the ports on the tape. Then remove the tape and apply to steel. Cut away.

Picked up a 1" hole saw to start the ports.
Its times like this I wish I had a bandsaw.

I got head

2008-03-19T17:27:00.000-07:00

Picked up an E21 head. Just got it disassembled for now. Will be sending it to the machine shop to have the surface checked.

This car might have had some intake restrictions:

Lumens

2008-02-17T16:15:00.001-08:00

Sort of finished one taillight. One of the circuits in the brake light is inop due to me running out of the proper resistor. I plan on setting up the other light in stock form for a side by side comparison. I will also be getting new lenses that will be less faded letting more light through.

Accident avoidance

2008-02-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

In an effort to avoiding becoming a statistic of another 02 being rearended, Ive decided to upgrade the rear light assemblies. The stock brake lights are very dim, and dont do an excellent job of alerting tailgaters (high school girls trying to text message a fellow chearleader about a crush she has on the quarterback) that I am coming to a stop. My old roommate John from Jersey would be proud of the lumens my new taillights will be throwing out.

Ingredients for taillights: Lots of LEDs, resistors of a specific value, pc board, steady hands.

For this board it is four parallel circuits, each with 5 LEDs in series. A 1/4watt, 39 ohm resistor keeps each circuit within spec. I used a simple LED calculator to determine the proper schematic based on the factory LED specs.

Obviously not completely done, but you get the idea:
The luminous intensity of the white LEDs is 13000mcd, versus 8000 for the red ones. I will be using white ones for the brake lights, red for running lights, white for reverse, and orange(5000mcd) for turn signals. Im no electronics expert, so if you see something sketchy speak up!

2008-02-17T11:03:00.000-08:00

After getting an estimate for dropping off a dirty assembled motor for rebuilding, Ive decided to do all the work myself i can. Hopefully Ill be dropping the block off this week at the machine shop.

Rollaaaa

2008-02-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

Finally, its an official roller. Rear suspension is "done".

Coilover sleeves arent against their perch cause its jacked in the air again.

Hopefully next update will be of this engine fully rebuilt.

Once the engine is rebuilt:

-install engine with transmission, modify tunnel to accept transmission.

-mockup steering rack, design steering column.

-measure driveshaft length and send out to get shortened/balanced.

-install pedals according to final steering wheel position, bend brake lines.

-install seats according to ^^^

-get engine running.

-burnout.

Support out back

2008-01-24T16:37:00.000-08:00

Finally made it to the metal place where they sell, uh, metal. This rear suspension cage(?) is going to be completely assembled out of car in order to get full welds. Still need to weld on the upper coilover mounts and one of the sideplates. It will then be welded into the car at both ends and the bottom. I was going to triangulate the hell out of it. Then I decided to keep it simple, as i think this will be plenty strong. It looks really heavy, but its actually under 15 pounds(arm scale method).

As of right now, it looks like my plans of running the coilovers inverted is going to happen.

Obviously i chopped off the old upper mount area. I also moved the upper mounting point forward a couple of inches to help maintain the original geometry as I moved the lower mount forward as well. Coolest part is that the ride height should be able to be adjusted from the trunk!

On Deck.

2008-01-24T16:34:00.000-08:00

With the suspension coming to a close, the engine is on deck. Basically a full rebuild with stock components. Forged pistons will be added to handle the boost. Stroke will stay stock, bore will be determined once cylinders have been checked.

Give me fuel, ...

2008-01-20T16:43:00.000-08:00

Got the basket for the fuel cell fabricated. I know it looks like a strange design, but i had to accomodate the bottom feed/return line hookups. It supported me jumping up and down on it, so unless we switch back to leaded fuel, it should be plenty strong. I still need to fabricate a strap to go over the cell to hold it down. If i dont get more steel this weeek, dont expect a progress report anytime soon. The angle iron on all four corners holds it in place nicely. I have a hard time getting it out even without an over strap.

Rear Legs

2008-01-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

I have got to get this rear suspension done. Ive been working on this suspension for so long, and the end is so near.

After much debating, I think ive figured out how the rear lower mount is going to go:

First i welded some flat stock and wrapped it around the circumference of the control arm bearing area. This is to distribute the stress of the mount assembly. Then i welded on the mount so that the strut can go through the complete travel without the heim joint binding. I plan on mounting the coilovers inverted as long as space allows. I need some "cage" material before i can attack the upper mounts. Hopefully Ill get to that this weekend. (yes, i removed the wheel bearings before welding)

Shameless plug

2008-01-16T16:45:00.000-08:00

If you have the chance to do business with kelleyracingcompany.com do it.

I ordered my pedal assemblies, battery box, shock mounts, rear coilover sleeves, rear shocks, and some other stuff. Theyre an excellent company to deal with.

Battery box:

I wasnt sure what i was going to need for fabricating the rear coilover mounts, so I ordered them all. Hopefully I have my design figured out before the return policy expires.

Stopping power.

2008-01-16T16:38:00.000-08:00

Wilwood brake pedal with dual master cylinders and balance bar. Only a few components left before the brake system will be complete. Also pictured is the Wilwood floor mount clutch pedal.

ARP wheel studs for the rear. Plenty long, plenty strong. These are intended for a Lexus IS300, but fit absolutely perfectly. Im sure these are the ones Ireland engineering sells. But if you want to get them on time, right part, and without being treated like shit, order them from Jegs or Summit.

Slammed

2008-01-16T16:36:00.000-08:00

Fully tucked. First thing to cause interference was actually the control arm hitting the floor board. I hope to never see this kind of compression, but its nice to know the room is there.

Rollin dirrrty

2008-01-06T12:59:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like a roller. Unfortunately the rear suspension is not done and its being held up by jackstands.

When fully drooped tires are hitting the outside of the rear fender. Luckily, that can easily be trimmed.

All slow, No go

2008-01-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

Lee's Massive kit installed(minus the front rotors for now). Everything went in perfectly, although i think i installed the parking brake assembly every way but the right way. Once i finally figured out the proper sequence(bracket>rotor>then spot caliper) it fit perfectly.

Obviously need some longer studs for the rear

Unsprung weight

2008-01-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

A slight upgrade in braking since 1973.

Rollin on dubs -5

2007-12-23T17:25:00.000-08:00

Finally decided on some wheels.

Rota RB w/gold centers and polished lip: 15x8, 4x100, et+04, 67.1 hub bore with rings to bring it down to 57.1

Tires to be:Hankook rs2 225/45/15

Also finally figured out what to use for the rear suspension.

Bilstein 2" large body race shocks, 230/78 linear valving with coilover sleeves and upper perch for 2.5" inside diameter coil springs. 10inch, #200 springs on order.

Next up:

Install complete Massive/Wilwood brake assembly.

Mount tires and drop car on wheels to check for clearances(with fingers crossed).

Fabricate mounts for rear shocks. Reinforce rear strut towers to support upper strut mounts.

Roll car back and forth just because i can.

Fabricate mounts for, and install, wilwood pedal assembly.

saga continues

2007-12-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

Welded on some flat stock to complete the triangle bolt pattern of the e36.

Still need to fill in the old holes, then shes done.

Before:

After:

End of day

2007-12-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

The day ended with rear end installed, front suspension almost complete.

A shot of the fronts, need to get some paint on those seam welds.

Steering rack needs to be mocked up. But i couldnt set the front suspension height because the wheels i have for mockup are way too narrow.

I was hoping to get it on four wheels today, guess Ill have to settle for one.

Low...ri...der. is a little........

2007-12-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

I finally got my rearend together, literally.

I needed to get this put up so i can determine what stroke shock i will need.

max drop is 25", fully tucked is 15" but i will never see any of these extensions. I figured 22" was a safe fully drooped. Still with me? Im gonna go with a 7 inch stroke.

Obviously these arent the wheels im going to be using. This is max tuck without hitting. A little unsafe for mass. roads.

Yes, i have adjustable camber in the rear, so hopefully some of this will go away instead of my tires.

Ha, the I cant imagine how this would look driving down the street. I guess if i wanted an idea i could go check out some hondas in dochesta. You can kinda noticed i started the blending on the rear fenders.

Finallyyyy

2007-12-08T13:10:00.000-08:00

So, i had to wait over two months for my kmac camber plates. Then they got lost by ups. Then ups claimed they found them in the woods by my house. Done laughing? So a week later i finally got them. Completely crap. Looks like something that came out of a freshman shop class. I had to send them back and find another solution.

So I believe kmac and ireland are the only ones that make plates for the 2002(i think ground control might, but my roommate had a horrible experience with them). I refused to give in to buying something more from ireland. My roommate had bought some e30 ones from Vorshlag. Unfortunately they dont make them for the 2002. So i ordered the ones for the e36 with camber and caster adjustments. Hopefully i can make them work(fast forward-theyre already installed, so theyll work)

Heres some pics of what had to be done:

Camber plates with crazy good engineering and machine work.

Everything fit beautifully with correct parts to accomodate my 2.5 springs and inverted bilsteins

A little geometry with levels, straight edges, etc.I forgot to mention, the e36 bolt pattern and center offset is completely different. So i had to drill two new holes, and them im going to weld a plate to support the third hole. Soon to come.

Markings for new holes

And installed

Patching

2007-11-25T15:59:00.000-08:00

Been awhile since an update, no real reason why.

Cutout the last area of rust, and patched it up.

Here is the panel cutout, and the new one ready to weld in. The welding and blending is all done, just forgot to take pics.

Thanks to Geoff sr. for this south bend drill press.

Front subframe is in to help mockup the steering column. Unfortunately not all of the front suspension can be finished due to an issue with the front camber plates. Unfortunately, I ordered kmac units, and they are pathetic. I have an idea as to what Im going to use, but it will take some time.

2007-09-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

e21 320 manual steering rack. It seems lots of people talk about doing this, but I havent heard of a successfully finished conversion.
320 5-speed transmission.

epoxy

2007-09-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

Here is the main ingredients to get the fiberglass fenders bonded to the metal body.

Since Im running a fuel cell, the fuel door will not be needed. I applied the fiberglass mat to the inside...
Then used a thickened resin to fill in the outside.
I applied thickened epoxyresin to all contact surfaces before riveting. The rivets have been countersunk into the fender. This will allow me to fill in the holes from the rivets to be flush with the fender.

Flares revisited.

2007-07-21T07:45:00.001-07:00

Ive gotten back to hacking up this classic automobile. Totally going to rice it out. After these flares are done, im thinking roof spoiler, trunk triple decker spoiler, and wings coming out of the doors, and lots of neon lighting.

Ive temporarily riveted one of the rear fenders on. Im kinda dissappointed with the fit as not all of the body lines are correct, and it was fiberglassed too thick in the rear, so I had to cut into the trunk. Also where it tapers off in the rear is not the correct boy shape at all. Luckily I have time and patience so it will look nice when done. I have about 8 rivets holding it on. I will drill a bunch more holes for future rivets. Drill these ones out then apply the epoxy resin. Reinstall the flare and put in lots of rivets. Im using a wide head rivet that i am going to try and countersink into the fender a bit.

Heres the shark looking thing. Its been welded to the inner fender and bent to shape to match the fiberglass fender flare. These tabs will be pushed out more to mate with the flare. I will epoxy them to the flare, then cover the surface with fiberglass for a clean, sealed look.

Suspension progress.

2007-07-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to get all the suspension together but missing parts, wrong parts, and no money has been slowing me down. Front suspension is almost done. 300# H+R springs sitting on custom Carrera coilover sleeves. Bilstein sport shocks for a vw rabbit(shorter body) with a custom spacer in the strut tube to make it work. Collar nut that comes with the struts will not work, Bilstein factory is the only place i could find that would sell me the 2002 nut, so think about this ahead of time. Lee's Massive rotor hats cant wait for the rest of the brakes. I cant wait to be able to afford them. Havent completelt settled on camber plates, but I will most likely go with the KMAC stage two adj. camber plates for the front.

The rear suspension is starting to come together. Sway bar has been coated with aluminum color por15. Still waiting to hear back from Bilstein on their recommendations for shock valving. I will be running a small body bilstein strut with coilover sleeves. Waiting on 320i inner cv joints so the axles will bolt up to the differential. Also need to pick up some spacers.

Shorter is better.

2007-05-30T17:55:00.001-07:00

Most say longer is better, i disagree. So much that i decided to shorten my strut housings. I started by removing two inches (measured 3 3/8" from the top, and 12.5" from the bottom) and then welded the two sections together.

Notice the difference between the shortened strut versus stock.Before welding the two together, i put a nice chamfer on the sections to get a solid weld that didnt protrude too much as to interfere with the coilover sleeves.

By shortening the housings, i can regain lost suspension travel as a result of lowering the car. I will be using Bilstein sport inserts intended for a VW rabbit(shorter insert). Next step is to weld on the coilover perches then paint.

A first ride(years to come) will be awarded to the person who is able to guess what I made this for. Note its about three feet long and its not for a "shark" themed bmw.

Bloody murder

2007-05-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

I guess when you take an interior to bare metal, let it sit for a year, it begins to look like a crime scene.

So i got it all cleaned up, again, and neutralized the rust. POR15 and its done for now.

Never again.

2007-05-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

I will never again take a cars underside to metal. Finally finished stripping, and got the POR15 on there. Patched all the holes in the floor as well. Lookin good.

Rear sub

2007-05-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

Got the welding done on the rear subframe. It now has adjustable camber and toe. I still need to grind out the slots and paint it. Good progress.

Before.

After.

Smoke, bling, and minor progress.

2007-05-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

How many grinders will it take to finish this project?

3 so far. First one suffered from internal injury, the next went up in a ball of smoke, we'll see how number three holds up.

I first set this up as sort of a joke. Now i keep imagining how cool it would look with the flares on there. 18" twists.I finally finished something, 3.90:1 limited slip differential. All new seals, por-15, and hardware. I hope i didnt do all of this just to find out the diff is junk.

Now the car is back on its side. Once I por15 the underside(hopefully this weekend), It will come back down and Ill re-paint the interior. Then time to fab up the rear flare mounts. Fun stuff ahead.

I like em shaved

2007-04-25T15:28:00.001-07:00

The engine bay has seen a lot of work. All of the holes(there were a lot) have been welded and smoothed over. The inner fenders have been seam-welded to the firewall and the frame rails. Heaterbox delete panel smoothed over. Front cowling removed along with the panel that covers the heater box area. The entire area will be puttied to cover any imperfections. Right now it is just POR15'd. I will drill the least amount of holes possible to accomodate wiring, brake lines, fuel lines, etc. Simple is good.

If girls dug clean engine bays, I wouldnt be posting on this right now.

2007-04-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

Trimming the rear

2007-04-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

Part of me didnt like cutting into a perfectly good panel. Part of me thought about putting 36" monster mudders in the new huge opening. I cut the rear fenders out to accomodate a wider wheel/tire package. The fiberglass fender flares will be tied into new wheel well extensions i need to fab out of sheet metal.

De-Flinstone

2007-04-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

Put a little work into getting rid of the rust and holes on the drivers floor.

Heres the original section i cut out:

Heres the new section viewed from the inside:

From underneath:

And the tricky curved piece:

I still need to grind down some of the welds for a smooth finish. I got pretty sloppy at some points.

Its got Flare.

2007-04-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

Finally got the fiberglass flares and hood from a company i wont mention. 2" box flare should make some room for wide tires/wheels.

Score...

2007-03-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

I love when disgruntled wifes sell off their husbands tool collections...

$35:

I got some other smaller stuff as well.

I finished up the trailing arms' modifications. I boxed them out to add strength. I did not fully box them as I dont want to give moisture a place to hide.

I also began to delete the opening from the heater box. 24 guage steel welded flush to the body. Im going to smooth down the welds and eventually use body filler to make it perfect.

Roll Cage for sale

2007-03-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

What a disappointment. Finally got the cage pretty much in place, and it fits like a whores panties on monday morning. Nothing lines up. The bars dont follow the body lines at all. Huge gaps between the bars and the body. Complete junk. Im considering chopping out the whole front section and just using the rear rollbar. I had originally planned on just running a rollbar, so Im not too upset about the change of plans. With the seat in there, my head and arms are way too cramped and close to the bars. Unsafe.

To get this bar to fit required straps, a jack, main support beam of the house, a vise, screwdrivers, two hammers, and a contortionist.

Notice the roof line and the A-pillar. Gag.

Look at the roof line. Probably blocking much of my line of vision. Especially for birdwatching.

Making room

2007-03-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

Well, its sitting like a normal car again. Going to drill the holes for the cage(more on that in another post) and anything i need to do before the bottom is ready to paint. I cut out the front cowl. Im going to frame out the top with square stock to regain strength and to allow a nice place to mount the radiator, intercooler, oil cooler, barbie collection, etc.

Left inner fender. All the scuffed parts are where holes used to be. Weld em up, grind em down. I want the engine bay to look as simple as possible.

This is a before picture of the firewall. Hope to get working on this soon...

This is the front cowl before meeting the cutting wheel.

This is after. Look at all that wasted space. There should be enough room for at least my barbie dream house.

Beginning stages of welding up the old seems where i cut. I want it to look like it came that way from BMW. This will all be grinded smooth. There used to be a lot of holes on this inner fender as well, all of which have been filled.

Trailing behind.

2007-03-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

I had previously cut out the lower spring perchs on the trailing arms. This removed some of the support for the swaybar bracket. I beefed it up with some 1" angle stock.

Before:

First one done:And the other:

Bodies in the Trunk

2007-03-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

I welded in some angle stock to help support the front of the trunk cage. The trunk should be strong enough to hold at least 5 bodies.

This is the area prepped and ready for the angle stock:

And this is after:

And the back side of the bracket:And this shows both brackets all done. I think Im going to leave it extended from the body like it is, in case i want to use that bracket to support something else(like brake/fuel lines):

Melting metal

2007-03-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

Ive been using my very amateur welding skills to begin seam welding the unit. I plan on seam welding as much of the major seams as possible. Seam welding supposedly stiffens the chassis by significant amounts(I read up to 70% somewhere, not sure if i believe Ill get anywhere close to that).

The outfit:

Early stages of welding

Earlier this week I finished the majority of undercoating removal, finally! I sandblasted the area that i plan on painting first. I left the fender linings alone because I have a set of fiberglass fender flares on their way from Cali. Much of the existing fender will be cut out to allow for wider wheels/tires.

A little more welding to do before paint, but I ran out of wire and gas simultaneously. Should be ready for paint this week, then I will be dropping it on its belly again.

Hopefully just for show...

2007-02-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

Picked up a "bolt-in" roll cage by Autopower. When I think of the term "bolt-in" I think of something that should be easily installed. This cage should be called "bend-twist-spread-pray-curse-startover-bolt-in".

Its one of the few things Ill be putting into this car that I hope Ill never really use. It will, however, add a little rigidity and a safe place to mount the harnesses. Not to mention the rice factor.

The New HELL

2007-02-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

Yeah, sandblasting is hell. Its dirty, dusty, painful, sweaty, tedious.....but the end product is cleannn. Im sandblasting pretty much all of the old parts that i will be using again. Blasting the parts brings them down to bare metal.

You'll need:

A pretty large air compressor that can keep up with the amount of air youre using

A gun with lots of sand

A semiclosed off area, preferably one nicer than this

And finally someone tough enough to pull the trigger

The end result is clean parts ready for paint, sand existing where you didnt think possible and dusty air.

Some stuff not from 1973

2006-12-27T08:43:00.000-08:00

Gradually collecting parts as funds permit:

Lee's Massive brake kit: Two piece rotor design with teflon coated stainless braided lines will allow the mounting of 11.75" diameter 1.25" width vented rotors with 4 pot wilwood calipers. Rear kit soon to come.

You'd be excited too if youve been breathing 30 year old undercoating through a $5 mask for a couple months.

Front sway bar kit: 22mm hollow adjustable front sway bar kit has the stiffness of a 25mm solid bar.

22mm rear sway bar, fully adjustable.

These plates weld onto the rear subframe to make camber and toe adjustable.

Coilover sleaves weld onto the front struts for front ride height adjustment. Rears will also have full coilover setup.

Welding and Flipping

2006-12-20T09:31:00.000-08:00

The trunk is only partially framed-out for now. Im waiting to finish it up until i finally decide on exactly how the fuel cell is to be mounted, and how Im going to seal it up.

In about five minutes it went from jackstands to a pile of tires on its side. While its in this position im going to cutoff any unneccesary brackets and grind down all of the undercoating. Then POR15, primer, and fresh undercoating.

POR-15

2006-12-06T17:13:00.000-08:00

Any areas prone to rust will be treated with POR-15

These are the Recaros that will be going in. I feel they are very period correct despite the fact theyre from a factory Japanese Toyota 4Runner. They came with matching rear bench and door panels. Not sure if Im going to use either. The pictures make them look like they have stains, but theyre actually in near mint condition...

Junk in the Trunk

2006-12-06T17:04:00.000-08:00

Been working on the "new" trunk. The stock trunk has provisions for a spare tire and the stock fuel tank. I've cut this out in favor of a custom trunk to allow mounting of a fuel cell, battery, strut bar, and roll bar tie-in. Still playing around with ideas....

This is what is left of the old trunk...

Starting to frame in the new trunk. The fuel cell is a powdercoated aluminum, foam filled cell with a 2" sump.

bad paint.

2006-09-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

All the paint and undercoating is coming off. Lots of grinding, stripping, and city boogers. Wherever there was undercoating, the bare metal is getting POR-15. The interior is also getting POR-15. Once this is all coated, I'll get working on getting rid of all that blue paint. "White is right" as henry would say.

Early pic.

2006-08-31T19:04:00.000-07:00

This is right before i left the dirty jerz, Massachusetts bound.

New home.

2006-08-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

Kinda small, but much better coverage than a tree.

Out with the old.

2006-08-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

No more sound deadening.

About a stables worth of 30 year old horse hair.

Take it all off...

2006-08-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

Not very kind on the hiney.
I wouldn't want to sit back there either.

I started stripping out the interior in my driveway when i was in Framingham. I found minimal rust on the floors, lots of horsehair, and enough change to buy a loaf of bread.

Pick-up day

2006-08-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

I picked up this '73 BMW 2002 in June of '06. I took it from Jersey where it had been sitting for about 4 years. It was originally bought in New York with a current mileage of about 110k. It hadn't been driven in about four years when i made the stupid decision to pack it full of my stuff, and spare parts, and attempt to drive it over 200 miles. It was a somewhat scary and very uncomfortable ride for Jay and i.
Things i learned on the trip home:
-blinker switch is on the right
-30 year old horsehair seats or about as comfortable as a log covered in pinecones
-fuel guage doesn't work
-it only likes to go 55mph, the driveshaft wants to go for a ride at any other speed
-drivers door opens itself on a regular basis
-i should have brought a boombox
The car made it home through traffic with no problems.

The plans as of now are to strip it down and start from scratch. I want to build it up to be a compromise between daily driver and weekend racer. Everything on this car is going to be stripped down and either replaced or recoated. My goal is for it to look better than new, and more durable. Plans as of today(subject to change any and every minute):

-white paint, no bumpers, turbo flares, as much fiberglass as i can afford

-custom turbo, rebuilt m10, 5 spd., 3.90 lsd

-urethane throughout, modified subframes, coilovers, e21 rack and pinion, etc......