engine and drivetrain Introducing my newest project - a 69 2002 automatic

[supark]

Hi friends - happy to back on the 02FAQ after a year or so absence. Had a 72 02 for a bit that was a decent 10 footer driver, but decided to sell it after realizing it had a bit more rust and body filler than I was looking to deal with.

Since then I've gone through quite a few cars - a 66 Mustang Fastback A code with a 289 and GT conversion, a 63 nova vert with a sbc 350/th350 swap, a couple bmws and a range rover sport...

Decided that I wanted a relatively inexpensive classic project again and picked up this sweetheart of an 02 a couple weeks ago. It's pretty much stock aside from an aftermarket voltage/temp/oil pressure gauge cluster that's actually pretty nice to have. I'm kind of amazed how little rust this thing has - rockers, trunk and spare tire well, strut towers, doors and floors are all almost rust free. A few pin holes in the spare tire well which were easily dispatched with some eastwood rust treatment. Did notice a little patch of rust on the bottom of the front valance, likely due to poor drainage of the original design and debris falling off of the battery. Thankfully it's in a fairly non-complex area of the nose that can be easily patched and it's not a structural piece. Paint shows much better in these pics than in real life. It's originally a rare shade of white called Florida - appears to have been resprayed wimbledon white at some point (does not look like chamonix). But it was done decently - ie not a ton of overspray over everything.

The seats are in general decent condition, but the driver side has the typical gaping hole from cracked vinyl. I've already ordered a set of front seat replacement covers from world upholstery. Otherwise the carpets are all in awesome condition - likely newish. The dash is also almost crack free - surprising for a car this old. It's a sunroof model and it cranks perfectly and doesn't leak. The transmission is a slushie - and it's fine for me for now, though a little noisy. Has a bit of a whine at higher RPMs but going to assume that's just part of it being an older car - going to replace the fluid just to be safe though.

Engine has the usual 32/36 weber conversion but has retained the original mechanical fuel pump. Gonna guess that the M10 has been rebuilt not that long ago as it runs for the most part great and doesn't appear to have any blowby.

My list of short term to-does:

Troubleshoot hesitation off idle: From a dead stop the car has a bit of hesitation and sometimes even stumbles before revving. Only happens off of idle and not any other point, so I'm going to guess it's a carb issue. Going to start with a thorough cleaning with some carb cleaner and then go from there.

Recover seats with world upholstery covers: Just ordered a set, should be coming soon

Replace door/window seals: water's getting inside during washes. Prob going to go with FCPEURO

Replace transmission and engine oil

Replace stock steelies with hubcaps with 15x7 Rota RBs ET25 wrapped in Kumho Ecstas in 195/50/15: if anyone local in seattle is interested in the steelies, let me know.

Get a driver quality respray: Going to prep the car myself, remove trim, sand it down, etc. My goal is to make it look pretty nice, but as it's not a super rare or desirable car I'm not aiming for a concourse quality restoration.

Longer term if I have it for long enough and feel like investing more coin in - I'll likely take advantage of the fact that it has a larger trans tunnel to accomodate the slushbox and do the 5-speed getrag 245 mod.

And now of course because any welcome thread is useless without them, on to the pictures. Tell me what you think!

[andrey]

Neat (except for the automatic, ugh). Florida is a super rare color.

[supark]

Neat (except for the automatic, ugh). Florida is a super rare color.

Eh, I've had a manual 02 before and they're fun and all but the 4-speed is no gem either. Way I see it, all 02s are 5-speeds in waiting regardless of whether they start as manual rowers or slushies.

Considering the rarity of the color, do you think it's worthwhile getting it resprayed Florida? My first choice is Chamonix, or as close as I can get to it, but there are a lot out there. I can't seem to find a decent pic of a florida white 02 to determine if I like it.

[supark]

Just took apart the weber carb to see what might be causing the stumble, and the main jet along with most of the other jets were on so loose that you could unscrew them with your fingers... it did seem to be running a bit rich! My amateur hypothesis is that the jets were on so loose that they were leaking gas - so it was running too rich off idle, causing the hesitation.

Took it up and down the road and it seems to run much better and pulls harder. Idle seems a little smoother as well. Love it when all it needs is a couple screws tightened!

[andrey]

Neat (except for the automatic, ugh). Florida is a super rare color.

Eh, I've had a manual 02 before and they're fun and all but the 4-speed is no gem either. Way I see it, all 02s are 5-speeds in waiting regardless of whether they start as manual rowers or slushies.

Considering the rarity of the color, do you think it's worthwhile getting it resprayed Florida? My first choice is Chamonix, or as close as I can get to it, but there are a lot out there. I can't seem to find a decent pic of a florida white 02 to determine if I like it.

The 4-speed is perfectly fine, though having an overdrive is really nice on the highway. 02s don't make much power to begin with and that coupled to an automatic is absolutely horrific, I'd tear that crap out the first chance I got. Heck, at least the transmission tunnel is bigger on automatics so the 5-speed will fit in there properly.

Definitely don't change the color, Florida is a very rare and early-02-only color and it can look really great when it's in good shape. There are a ton of Chamonix cars out there, plus color changes suck... it means you'll always have the other color hiding somewhere and it'll never be right.

[supark]

Neat (except for the automatic, ugh). Florida is a super rare color.

Eh, I've had a manual 02 before and they're fun and all but the 4-speed is no gem either. Way I see it, all 02s are 5-speeds in waiting regardless of whether they start as manual rowers or slushies.

Considering the rarity of the color, do you think it's worthwhile getting it resprayed Florida? My first choice is Chamonix, or as close as I can get to it, but there are a lot out there. I can't seem to find a decent pic of a florida white 02 to determine if I like it.

The 4-speed is perfectly fine, though having an overdrive is really nice on the highway. 02s don't make much power to begin with and that coupled to an automatic is absolutely horrific, I'd tear that crap out the first chance I got. Heck, at least the transmission tunnel is bigger on automatics so the 5-speed will fit in there properly.

Definitely don't change the color, Florida is a very rare and early-02-only color and it can look really great when it's in good shape. There are a ton of Chamonix cars out there, plus color changes suck... it means you'll always have the other color hiding somewhere and it'll never be right.

Eh to each their own - I don't mind the slushy at all honestly. But yeah, the automatic was a conscious choice as I felt like the stock 4-speed was a bit of a throwaway in my old 72 02, and I wanted a car that didn't need "persuasion" in the form of a dead blow hammer to make a 5-speed fit.

[andrey]

You do realize that the 4-speed and 5-speed have nearly identical ratios right? It's not going to perform better, etc. just better MPG and less noise on the highway.

[supark]

You do realize that the 4-speed and 5-speed have nearly identical ratios right? It's not going to perform better, etc. just better MPG and less noise on the highway.

I should have clarified - yes I meant having a freeway cog is important to me. The 4-speed revved higher than I'd like at typical freeway speeds, and I do enough freeway driving that it makes the car limited in its utility with the stock 4-speed.

[bluebmw]

Considering the rarity of the color, do you think it's worthwhile getting it resprayed Florida? My first choice is Chamonix, or as close as I can get to it, but there are a lot out there. I can't seem to find a decent pic of a florida white 02 to determine if I like it.

If you don't like Florida and want to repaint it another color that's up to you, but I'll buy it just to keep the 02 such a beautiful color if you do want a white car.

I know of a white tii roundie local (north seattle) sitting in someones garage that I could hook you up with if florida isn't your thing, trade perhaps?

[andrey]

You do realize that the 4-speed and 5-speed have nearly identical ratios right? It's not going to perform better, etc. just better MPG and less noise on the highway.

I should have clarified - yes I meant having a freeway cog is important to me. The 4-speed revved higher than I'd like at typical freeway speeds, and I do enough freeway driving that it makes the car limited in its utility with the stock 4-speed.

Then you'll love the three speed automatic ; ) Absolutely terrible in the city and on the highway...

[supark]

Considering the rarity of the color, do you think it's worthwhile getting it resprayed Florida? My first choice is Chamonix, or as close as I can get to it, but there are a lot out there. I can't seem to find a decent pic of a florida white 02 to determine if I like it.

If you don't like Florida and want to repaint it another color that's up to you, but I'll buy it just to keep the 02 such a beautiful color if you do want a white car.

I know of a white tii roundie local (north seattle) sitting in someones garage that I could hook you up with if florida isn't your thing, trade perhaps?

Haha I should have clarified - the car has already gone through a color change. The engine bay is still florida white, but the rest of the car including door jambs have been painted a color close to chamonix.

Damn I'm interested in that Tii though!

[supark]

You do realize that the 4-speed and 5-speed have nearly identical ratios right? It's not going to perform better, etc. just better MPG and less noise on the highway.

I should have clarified - yes I meant having a freeway cog is important to me. The 4-speed revved higher than I'd like at typical freeway speeds, and I do enough freeway driving that it makes the car limited in its utility with the stock 4-speed.

Then you'll love the three speed automatic ; ) Absolutely terrible in the city and on the highway...

I don't really care about it being a slug around town, the 4-speed makes your 02 only slightly faster than molasses. I didn't get the 02 to smoke people at stoplights. And the slushbox seems to spin at about the same revs at freeway speed as my 4-speed did - right around 3-4k RPM at 70 mph, so both our cars are equally "terrible" and "horrific" on the freeway.

[bluebmw]

Haha I should have clarified - the car has already gone through a color change. The engine bay is still florida white, but the rest of the car including door jambs have been painted a color close to chamonix.

Damn I'm interetsed in that Tii though!

I understand that the car has been repainted straight white as seen in the pictures, I just love florida... even if it requires a repaint As long as it's the true original color then PLEASE don't paint it anything other than florida!

As for the tii, send me an email if you are interested. I live maybe 2 minutes from the guy! If you ended up getting the tii then I wouldn't mind the 69 as a finders fee haha

[andrey]

Ooh... I like the trade/swap/something that's developing here : )

And yes, the respray is evident in the photos but man, it looks cool under the hood where it's still Florida!

[supark]

Haha I should have clarified - the car has already gone through a color change. The engine bay is still florida white, but the rest of the car including door jambs have been painted a color close to chamonix.

Damn I'm interetsed in that Tii though!

I understand that the car has been repainted straight white as seen in the pictures, I just love florida... even if it requires a repaint As long as it's the true original color then PLEASE don't paint it anything other than florida!

As for the tii, send me an email if you are interested. I live maybe 2 minutes from the guy! If you ended up getting the tii then I wouldn't mind the 69 as a finders fee haha

Damn damn damn - I already have about $1500 in parts enroute for the thing (rota RBs with Falkens, 320i radiator, world upholstery front seat covers). I'll let you know if I decide to sell/trade it. I've owned enough classics to realize what a rarity it is to find an almost rust free car - so much easier to start with that than otherwise, so I'm tempted to just see where this one takes me... thanks regardless.