Saving a 1970 1602....

[Johnson]

Well, I was in for a bit of a surprise when I got home tonight. Smoke!!! Coming from the passenger side rear brake. I`ll get the drum off tomorrow for some exploratory surgery. Hope for the best....

UPDATE:

Pulled the drum off(which was easy for once), and to my surprise everything looked fine....

The wheel bearings are good, and I can`t find anything wrong with the brakes either. Lubed up all the pivot points and put it back together. Had a bit of smoke after a drive, but that may have just been the extra PB Blaster burning off. I`m gonna keep an eye on the brake fluid level, and if it goes down I have a leaky wheel cylinder.

[Johnson]

So, I got Saturday off unexpectedly. We(my girlfriend and I) took the opportunity to go see Karl. I think we spent more time talking cars than negotiating parts. It was good to talk to somebody about `02s that did more than just put up with me talking.....

But I came away with the front clip I went for, along with a bunch of other parts. The previous owner`s father also stopped by to give Karl some parts for my BMW while we were there. So Karl gave me those too. I`ll get some pictures tomorrow when I head to the garage.

Thanks again for the hospitality Karl! Hopefully I can stop by again, in my `02 next time.

[Johnson]

Ok, so here are all the pictures I didn`t feel like uploading the past few days. A couple of installed pictures of the Nardi wheel I got from Karl have been edited into the post above to save some space. First off, my car has the "turn signal indicator only blinks once" thing going on. I opened up the flasher to do the fix listed on this site, and this is what I saw:

Any idea if I can still do that fix with this flasher(and how if so)? I either need to fix it or make my turn signals self cancel....

Random night picture of my car:

Then I started tearing the front clip down(and yes, there is a steering wheel on it to turn the front wheels). Third picture shows just how screwed up my passenger side fender is, even after I tried to straighten it:

[Johnson]

So, me and Gary ended up installing the replacement hood I got onto the car, knowing full well it wouldn`t fit quite right with a jacked up core support. With use of the factory adjustments, and some leverage, we got it on pretty well. That opened the way to finally having a passenger side wiper. First picture is at home, the other three are at work:

Another item that Karl decided to part with was this shift knob. Admittedly a bit rough, I think it is a perfect fit for my car. The old one however, did not agree. We got in an argument and I had to evict it with the grinder. There will be a service held in the next couple days for all who would like to attend:

The new-to-me wheel and shift knob are the biggest changes in driving feel since I bought the car. I also now have a good wheel like the car had on it, should I feel like I want the school bus wheel back. For right now I am more than happy with the progress I`ve been making. I`ll say sorry again for the picture quality, dealing with a cellphone camera right now.

As a side note, if anybody needs anything from that front clip that I don`t, you guys can feel free to "contribute" to my progress(for sale ad going up soon, clip is `68 1602).

-Jake

[a54atii]

Glad to see those parts are getting used! I'm lovin' the extra space in my garage. Good luck sorting out the turn signals.

Karl

[Johnson]

So, I have been driving the Chevette recently, as the `02 has decided to leak coolant. Should have it fixed as soon as I can get this POS Pontiac I`m working on for a friend out of the garage.....

In other news, I began tearing that front clip down more. Took the valve cover off to a big surprise. It`s super clean underneath! May have a score, but I won`t know until further investigation.

[Johnson]

Decided to swap the nose piece for my "good" one while the car is down. Thread here: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,50/page,viewtopic/t,381328/start,0/postdays,0/postorder,asc/highlight,/

Pictures of some parts and the front clip I`m using as a donor in my sale thread: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,50/page,viewtopic/p,995417/#995417

Working on the car tomorrow, so expect some pictures of nose-less `02s tomorrow or the next day.

UPDATE: It seems I`ve been too busy working on the car to post about the car. But I have taken pictures, and they will get a new post as soon as I get some time off.

[Johnson]

So, I finally hit enough of a roadblock to stop and post pictures. A local radiator shop has my radiator(have to weld the drain hole shut, I`ll explain further down). I gave it to them yesterday, and I probably won`t get it until tomorrow around noon..... Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures.

Taking everything apart, made slightly more difficult by the crash damage:

But I got it off without much more damage to the car itself. The clip didn`t fair so well. While it was apart I changed the water pump(the reason I took it apart initially), and adjusted the valves. The pump and valve cover were unnecessarily painted hammered copper, and the pulley and oil cap were painted a cast gray. I`m not happy with how the valve cover paint turned out, so you guys don`t get a picture of that. The bottome picture is the first time a fairly straight passenger side fender had been attached to car since I owned it.

[Johnson]

Then some mockup took place. But the mockup pictures from this time got mixed up with next time, so I`m gonna wait and post them all together. Long story short, I found I could not weld the nose on. A combination of physical damage, a bad previous repair, and a small bit of rust on the nose prevented me from getting on to my satisfaction.

New plan. So, I decide I`m going to bolt the nose on(yes I know it is a part of the structure). A plan forms in my head to accomplish this. I know I need to brace the strut towers and the front frame(the "crossmember" bit of the nose was not going to help much, if any). So, a tube needed to go here:

I determined this could be done. I didn`t want any standard hardware on the car to make me angry later, so I determined the sizing I needed and went on the hunt for metric drill bits. You know what Chillicothe, OH does not have many of? Metric drill bits. Eventually Fastenal saved the day and found me two 6mm and two 8mm bits hiding in the back. The plan ended up being to bolt the clip where it overlaps the inner fenders, and up the seam from the framerail. Mockup pics:

Above picture is of one of my prized 8mm drill bits. After much staring, thought, and most of all hammering, I decided this plan could actually happen. I drilled the holes, and everytime I brought the drill to the sheetmetal I cringed. After all was done, I put that process out of my head and got to work on the frame brace. Fastenal once again helped out, providing a bent 6' of tubing for $20. The tube was tacked in place with the clip on. No pictures of that, it was an awkward position. A new person to you guys, Will, is doing the welding in these pictures. He says "hi" in the last one.

[Johnson]

And here is the brace and mounting surfaces cleaned up and painted. Before anyone asks, yes I can still get the belt on and off. No, the stock fan doesn`t fit(whoops):

And then Gary(in the green shirt) and I primed and painted everything. Watching paint dry:

Some more shots of it. This time the nose and fenders are mounted solid, permanently. The water pump pulley and belt are on as well. The hood and grills are just there for the pictures, they will actually go on last. I had to remove the drain plug to make the brace fit on the frame, so my radiator is being welded. I also got a 10" electric pusher fan for it. I already have the fan controller.

I`m still going to be running front bumper-less, as I don`t have enough parts between the two I have to make a presentable one. I got most of the dent in the passenger side fender lip out as well. I`m really itching to drive this car, but I`m going to have a friend of mine make me a strut brace from the remaining tube before I really put the hammer down again. Again, I realize that is not the preferred way to replace the nose, but it should end up stronger than how it would have been welded on. I suppose you`re caught up again....

-Jake

[Johnson]

Ok, so I busted out a whole bunch of work on the car recently. But, I`ve been "in the zone" and mostly the only one around, so pictures have been lagging. I got the car back together and driving after the nose job. It still made valve noise, but not as much(think I missed one), and it still leaked coolant! The coolant turned out to be a hose that my buddy didn`t get on quite right. Here`s a few pictures of it right after I got it driving, including the first one which is the roundel under 1/4" of ice the first day I drove it to work:

I`m not totally sure, but I`m kinda digging the interior with no headrests. It still had issues at that point, like me having to manually hook the electric fan up everytime I wanted to drive. But I`ve sorted out most of them, and took yesterday off from doing hard things to knock out some small stuff. A bunch of it isn`t picture worthy; turn signals self cancel, horn works(on switch, I don`t have a horn button), re-adjusted valves, etc. I also cleaned a good bit of the interior up, and stripped the old stickers off the back window. I forgot to get a picture of the new sticker, it`s a small-ish "Respect Your Elders" one. I also got a thermostat installed for the fan. Nice to not have to worry about it. While I had everything apart trying to fix my radio, I also cleaned up the instrument cluster and made one working one from mine plus a parts cluster. It`s amazing how dirty the glass lenses get after forty years, lol. Since I have spares of everything, I played with some custom paint on the bezels. It`s nothing spectular, but I like it better than the faded/chipped chrome. Plus it matches my engine

No pictures of it installed yet, but to my surprise I got the speedo and tach to work. And the speedo is almost dead on....

A mishap with the dash pad has made the decision for me about where my aftermarket gauges go. They will be in the dash between the glove box and the right heater control. Probably not the best place, but they will be better than a hole in my dash.

And I have some nice stuff on the way for the `02. An aluminum strut bar and a Korman airdam. Long post in the empty hallway of my thread, oh well.

-Jake

[dasfrogger]

Love the progress! Can't wait to see it in person. I'm thinking removable nose will be the way to go on my build, do you have any more pictures of how you did yours?

[Johnson]

Not really too many extra pictures, they can be found here(and in no particular order, one thing that annoys me about photobucket): http://s160.beta.photobucket.com/user/scout5039/library/1970%20BMW%201600

I think after I get my strut bar on, the car may actually be a good bit stiffer than factory. And certainly stiffer than how it was when I bought it, since the old nose practically fell off after I unbolted it. As far as doing it again, I know I would use a smaller diameter tube(probably 1"). I had to ding a small section of the tube to clear the tank on my aluminum radiator while still allowing the belt to come off. There wouldn`t be a way to really run the stock mechanical fan with the brace there, so you need an electric fan. I don`t think I would do this mod on a show car, or even a really nice street car. With how easy it is to drop the whole subframe out of the bottom of the car it probably isn`t necessary(and yes, the crank will clear still on my car to drop it out).

Any particular reason you want to do it? I will say it was really easy to work on the engine with no pesky sheetmetal in the way....

I wouldn`t hold your breath on seeing it in person. It`s not as nice as the pictures would lead you to believe. But it is getting there, and that`s the important part, right?

As a side note, I should probably join the RGB facebook group at some point...

[dbmw2002]

Right on dude, you are getting an amazing amount done in short time, love the steelies on front, just love the old school look. Did you drive much in the snow, had a blast myself in the snow this winter. Body work looks good in pics, its nice to see her gettin her face on again, had my doubts the first time I looked, now I am a believer!

[Johnson]

Thanks Dave. I`m not driving with the steelies up front by choice. I still haven`t gotten one rim back from being repaired yet. I was told it would be done in 1-2 weeks. That was two months ago. Unfortunately it is a friend of a friend kind of thing, getting fixed for free from the guy my buddy bought them from so I can`t complain too much.

I had way too much fun in the snow, both in this and my chevette(snow is the only time you can slide a stock chevette with winter tires around). Now I`m more worried about the rocker panels than the nose. Got my strut bar and airdam in today, super pleased with that. Got a set of turn signals on the way as well, have an idea for them. Pictures soon, I promise this time....