1968 2000 Project (1341378)

[Schnellvintage]

I had a 304 Schrick w/11.1mm lift, with 45 doce and 11.1 CR.  It worked great on track days and was still pretty good on the street.  Just had to keep the revs up around 3k..

Matt

Nice work!!.

 

[duggi]

Today was they day I finally tore down the engine.  I've actually never removed a full engine from a car before or taken apart a full engine (I've disassembled and rebuilt a head/reinstalled in-car), so was fun new territory for me.   I was surprised the block disassembly only took me two hours today, including cleaning up my garage.  Next I need to have the block cleaned and magnafluxed, then if it's good it'll be bored out to first overbore (second, if needed) and put back together.  I didn't see any cracks, but it'll need a professional to make that call.

 

A few photos below with some light comments, you can view the full set here: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0xGgZLKuJI9Go9

 

Before starting:

 

Pan off...kinda dirty in there (remember this engine had milk-shaked in ~1996 and sat like that until 2018):

 

Getting things off...gonna go through a lot of ziplocs with this car:

 

Flipped-over, starting to remove the pistons:

 

Pistons out...Mahle, stock size for a '75 '02 (8.5:1 comp):

 

And all done!!!

[duggi]

I have a quote in-hand from Terry Tinney of Livermore, CA (http://www.terrytinney.com) for the machine work on my block and head.  He's a little backlogged, so work will likely be commencing in June.  The block will be tanked and fluxed, the bored to first-overbore and honed, and decked if needed.  The head will get cleaned and decked (if needed) new valves (incl. guides/seals) and a 3-angle valve job.  I'll be specifying larger valves and will be going with Terry's recommendation as he's built plenty of m10's.  I plan to assemble the engine myself.

 

I've finally settled on what specs I want for the engine: I was debating between building to 2000 Ti specs, but have since decided to go a bit further and am looking at the 1800 Ti/SA configuration as a guide... a "2.0 Ti/SA" so to speak.  I'll be ordering custom pistons from Ireland Engineering, aiming for 10.5:1 compression, and a cam from dbilas, probably somewhere between 292º and 304º...still debating that.  In the spirit of the Ti/SA, I'll be going with the dual sidedraft Weber 45's.  I've done a lot of reading and realize the jump from the 40 Solex's to the 45 Webers means the engine will be much more high-strung, but I think I want that...when I forced myself to think about my goals for the car, specifically how I want to use it, I realized I won't be driving it often or on frequent long trips, so a high-strung engine won't be annoying to me at all.  I'll be driving it on weekends, taking it to car events and drives, and possibly a less-than-once-per-year long-distance (I mean within CA or a bordering state) car event.  I'm even considering taking it to some auto-crosses since it has the sway bars and green springs already.

 

Cost is definitely going up-up-up, though (you all know the drill).  Originally I was hoping the engine could simply be coaxed into life again, but after seeing the evidence of the head gasket failure, I knew that wasn't a reality.  I then switched to searching for a running 2.0 m10, which is possible to get, but not for any kind of money you'd be willing to spend on a bone-stock "used" US-spec engine with unknown mileage (wah wah).  So then I circled-back to rebuilding what I have...and if I'm doing that (and spending nearly $2500 on machine work), I might as well build an engine I want rather than a stock unit, so here I am...looking down the barrel of a $4k+ engine build.  Happy days.  The good news is that the engine can be transplanted into whichever car I ultimately plan to keep (the Chamonix NK is still awaiting my inspection and ultimate decision), so it won't be a loss at all.  Anyway, until next time =)

[NickVyse]

sounds like a good plan to me

[duggi]

So...unfortunately shortly after my last post, 2018 ran me over.  The red NK has been sitting in my back driveway, untouched since last April (like most of my personal life).  Mostly crazy amounts of work ("yay" for having a career...), but family, money, time, etc etc etc, have also all played a part.

 

That said, I'm getting ready to dive back in.  I never got the engine to Terry, just never had time, but still plan to do so at some point this summer.  Meanwhile, a friend recently found a decent (ie: could be running easily) 1.8 from an e21 for $200 for me.  While it's not ideal, it will enable me to get the project moving forward and the car put together while I'm navigating a better engine rebuild with the 2.0 block.

 

I'm also trying to figure out everything I need to rebuild the front suspension/subframe so I can actually put the engine back in...that one's a bit harder because it has some kind of frankensteined front axle mixed with NK/02 parts, but with the single-circuit brake system. Fun.

 

I'm excited to get this moving again!  Things are settling down for me, career is going well (have had two raises in the last 14 months) and so I think it's time.  Not much else to say, just thought I'd make a quick update, say hi, and see what's up around here.

[Bmoreindy]

Looking forward to the updates! 

As the weather improves here in Md, I'm going to be back at mine too.

[duggi]

I started taking apart the front subframe over the last two weekends (https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0x5idkMwEyVHw) and putting together a parts list, as I need to get the front suspension refreshed before the temporary 1.8 arrives.  After the engine is in the car, I'll do the rear subframe.

 

Bushings and nuts/bolts are easy to find, but I'm struggling on what to do about front struts and my mis-matched front springs: I have a green spring on the left and a white spring on the right (green at both rears).  My right-side control arm is pretty bashed-up under the ball joint, to the point that I can't get the bolts out to replace the ball joint, so I'm likely going to replace both control arms since the parts are still available new.  I'm additionally debating whether I should spend the money and get the subframe powder-coated or not, considering how much other $$$ will be needed elsewhere...I could opt to do it when the 2.0 finally goes in, it's not rusty or anything.  I also need to replace the center steering link, as it's bent pretty severely.

 

The good news is now that I have actual BMW reference material (PDF of the blue binder parts list and hard-copy of the blue binder workshop manual) and the subframe is out of the car, I can verify that it's mostly original: early subframe, one remaining green spring (to match the two at rear), NK-specific front anti-roll bar/sway bar, and single-circuit brake system.  It looks like someone just swapped out some "2002" front struts from a junk yard and bolted on the NK brakes and springs (I "2002", because for all I know it could have been another NK mislabeled at the yard as an '02)...although no explanation as to why the single white spring on the front-right.

 

Front Right (blue/white):

 

Front Left (blue/green):

 

 

Also, I thought I'd share how I organize these projects lately...using Apple's "Numbers" spreadsheet application because it allows such free-form work with mixed-media types (literally just paste in images, pdf files, etc and create charts/graphic elements with ability to have floating tables).  Welcome to my madness:

 

[Naz]

I started taking apart the front subframe over the last two weekends (https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0x5idkMwEyVHw) and putting together a parts list, as I need to get the front suspension refreshed before the temporary 1.8 arrives.  After the engine is in the car, I'll do the rear subframe.
 
Bushings and nuts/bolts are easy to find, but I'm struggling on what to do about front struts and my mis-matched front springs: I have a green spring on the left and a white spring on the right (green at both rears).  My right-side control arm is pretty bashed-up under the ball joint, to the point that I can't get the bolts out to replace the ball joint, so I'm likely going to replace both control arms since the parts are still available new.  I'm additionally debating whether I should spend the money and get the subframe powder-coated or not, considering how much other $$$ will be needed elsewhere...I could opt to do it when the 2.0 finally goes in, it's not rusty or anything.  I also need to replace the center steering link, as it's bent pretty severely.
 
The good news is now that I have actual BMW reference material (PDF of the blue binder parts list and hard-copy of the blue binder workshop manual) and the subframe is out of the car, I can verify that it's mostly original: early subframe, one remaining green spring (to match the two at rear), NK-specific front anti-roll bar/sway bar, and single-circuit brake system.  It looks like someone just swapped out some "2002" front struts from a junk yard and bolted on the NK brakes and springs (I "2002", because for all I know it could have been another NK mislabeled at the yard as an '02)...although no explanation as to why the single white spring on the front-right.
 
Front Right (blue/white):

 
Front Left (blue/green):

 
 
Also, I thought I'd share how I organize these projects lately...using Apple's "Numbers" spreadsheet application because it allows such free-form work with mixed-media types (literally just paste in images, pdf files, etc and create charts/graphic elements with ability to have floating tables).  Welcome to my madness:
 

I used Por15 on my subframe rather than powder coating. Works great.







Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[duggi]

Lots of parts came in last week which got me excited to continue working on the car:

• New main front rubber bushings
• NOS control arms with bushings
• New ball-joints for the ends of the control arms
• New mounting hardware and rubber for the front ARB from W&N

new old stock from Istanbul...$300 shipped for the pair with bushings!

the little "Meyle-Teile" boxes are adorable!

 

I'm still waiting on the main subframe hardware kit from W&N, but had more than enough disassembly and cleanup to do.  I started by getting the front subframe entirely disassembled, leaving the steering box and idler arm attached for now.  I focussed on the front ARB; considering how hard they are to come by, I'm happy to have it already installed and was doubly-pleased to see some remnants of factory-red paint on it.  A simple wipe-down with a cloth soaked in 1:1-diluted purple degreaser a few times cleaned it up nicely, and I went at the rubber bushing surfaces with some wire brushes attached to my Dremel - this killed my Dremel...RIP.  I then spent several hours degreasing the subframe with some wire brushes and said degreaser, and got about half of it done.  I'll go at the second half this coming weekend when my wrists have recovered.

 

So far I'm surprised with this car, every bolt has come off without much issue, even though almost all of them are original from 11/1967 when the car was put together at the factory.  That said, all the rubber bushings have just disintegrated as I remove them, so I'm glad I've decided to pull everything apart and replace it all.  And critical parts are more available than I originally thought, it just takes a lot of work to research for these cars.

 

I did get a laugh when I was taking some time to inspect the rear of the car...the rear guibo-thing is definitely past its useful life!

 

But for those of you curious, the undercarriage is really clean:

 

 

 

 

 

And finally here are some pics of the actual progress...you can catch a few glimpses of my husband's 2019 M3cs over there if you have a keen eye.

 

Starting point:

 

Left strut assembly and steering linkage removed:

 

Everything apart!

 

Cleaning up the ARB:

some factory red paint!!! (I dunno, I live for those remnants of details...)

 

 

 

all half cleaned up!

 

Until next time, friends.

[PDWebb]

Great updates, fun seeing the progress!

[duggi]

Not much has happened since my last post.  Lots of new parts have come in for the front subframe and steering, including new idler arm bushings, new tie rods, a new center link (mine was very bent), and W&N's packet of new zinc plated mounting hardware, which will make installing everything very nice.  That's not going together quite yet though, as I've decided to have the subframe powder coated and haven't yet had time to do it.  Figure the car deserves it if I want it all to last, so worth the slight delay.

 

Fun news though: new front & rear roundels have arrived!  I was not convinced when BMW's current catalog suggested that both front & rear roundels are the same part no. 51145480181.  After some research into the original parts list, I've found that the rear roundel was originally 51145081751, which has been superseded by 51145480181, but that the front was originally 51145081747, which BMW lists for the e9 coupes. I went ahead and ordered 51145081747 for the front, and now that it's arrived I can confirm it matches my original front roundel ?  Not sure if this is common knowledge, but for those of you ordering roundels for these cars, it's a good thing to note that BMW is advising the wrong part.  Anyway, that's all for now, some pics of the roundels for your enjoyment...pics of the 51145480181 installed on front as well as 51145081747 next to my original at the end...you can see that xx181 doesn't even fill the void in the hood.

 

Sans roundel

 

51145081747 installed

 

 

next to my husband's M3cs

 

51145480181 installed in rear.  The holes had been sealed-up and painted-over long ago while it was still in the UK, so first time it's worn a rear roundel since it's been in the US (at least 1973/74).

 

51145081747 left and 51145480181 right in the following series

 

 

 

Original front roundel vs 51145081747

 

 

Original front roundel vs 51145480181

 

51145480181 installed on hood...note it doesn't even fill the void properly

 

 

[Bmoreindy]

Very nice!!

[HBChris]

It’s smaller because the front Roundel originally had a separate base.  The replacements do not.

[MOJOJOY]

Yes, early NK roundels are 2 piece! 

[duggi]

Oh neat!  I saw in the catalog that it looked like it had a trim ring which is NLA, but the two-piece thing makes sense.