General opinions: I’m about to make my first BMW purchase

[02Les]

I believe this car is for sale in Portland. You might consider messaging the '02 guys in the Pacific Northwest Group (here on the board), maybe one may be willing to accompany you to view the car.

[AceAndrew]

Hey, we all get excited.  Buying a 2002 is not a rational choice, but rather a life-enriching one.

 

You are on the high-dive; you are going to either jump, or try another day.  What we keep saying is that the clincher for most of us (given the benefit of hind-sight) would be to make the decision based off of the amount of rust present.  Mechanical is more or less straight forward, rust repair is a different animal.  You can learn rust repair, but it does require a large time commitment (welding/panel patching) are not learned over-night.  The 2002 is a GREAT car to learn on all things considered, it just depends how much time/money you're able to throw at it.

 

If you go back to look at the car, here's a checklist of places to look at.  As mentioned, bring a flashlight and a magnet.

 

Rust inspection areas:

-Front frame rails (underneath and on top over on the brake booster side)

-Lower section of front nose (lots of moisture-prone minutia can get caught on the inside)

-Front Firewall (behind pad. in heater box area)-Rockers

-Floor Pans (especially by the pedal box and drains)

-Front Fenders (just rear-ward of the wheel well up along the inner A-pillar [on the inside and out]) 

-Bottom of doors (little tell-tale bubbles in paint)

-Rockers (along the length, but close attention to the forward parts and the rear parts [near the rear subframe mounts])

-Rear fender inner seam

-Rear shock towers

-Spare Wheel Well

-Pinch seams directly inside the perimeter of the hood and deck-lid

-Window frames front/rear (leaky sills)

-If sunroof is present, all the metal surrounding the the sunroof.

 

**EDIT: If the car is in Portland, you have Boyd Motorworks that is local and would provide a decent PPI.  Shoot, even a couple of the guys at Ron Tonkin know the '02 decently enough.

Edited February 19, 2019 by AceAndrew

[CoastalCrush]

For what it’s worth, this car has been on CL Portland for quite a long time. It started with a 15k ish price tag and has slowly been dropping for the past 6-7months 

[saaron]

I'll be honest, I don't think you should buy it.  It's a modded car; it's a tii. 

 

You don't know what / how it has been modded, and tiis are more complicated, so they are their whole own little world.  

 

I could see you being in a confused and potentially expensive world for a while.  I'm foreseeing lots of posts saying "is this supposed to be like this, because I don't think it is..."

 

And the rust - always bad because if you DO end up having to put money into it, you'll never get it out because a rusty car is not worth much to a savvy buyer, no matter how well it runs.

 

I just think for a newbie this has bad news written all over it.  I don't mean that in a condescending way, by the way.  

 

You can probably find a pretty solid '74-'76 for $7k to $9k that is more a "known" than this car.  

 

If you proceed, get an inspection, so you know what you are buying.  Inspection doesn't necessarily mean "world famous BMW inspector"; someone that can tell you what kind of rust it might have would be a huge plus.  

 

Scott

 

 

 

[NYNick]

2 hours ago, Cmalensek11 said:

I do not have any background with cars nor do I know anyone who does. I’ve been trying to learn myself.

For me, this is your deal killer. This particular car presents as if it could be a ball of trouble. It might not be, but I'm guessing it is.

 

Why?

Price.

 

A $7,000 Tii is cheap, as I said before. There's good reason why it's cheap. My guess is because it needs everything done to it. That will EASILY triple or QUADRUPLE your $7,000 investment. It will.

 

For someone who is a newbie to cars, to 2002's and to someone who $7,000 is a bunch of money, I'd recommend a nice, rust free non Tii. If you haven't figured it out by now, rust is the killer for these cars and normal 02's are a lot cheaper than Tii's. You'll have just as much fun learning, wrenching (and driving!) a carbureted model anyway.

 

Drop this deal and start your search for a rust free, decent paint, good body, regular 2002. It's a perfect car to start your classic car hobby. Simple. Fun. Easy to work on.

 

Just remember: RUST FREE!!!

Edited February 19, 2019 by NYNick

[Cmalensek11]

Also forgot to mention it does have the original fuel injector. My plan for the car is a long term project. I have a 2002 Audi for my daily driver so wanted something I can work on without worrying about screwing stuff up (which is a high % but that’s the best way to learn in my opinion) and be left with no car to drive. Love BMW and love the 2002 model. But I think I got carried away and let seeing a 2002 tii in person really mess with my judgement. The more a actually think about it the more I realize this particular one isnt for me. Can’t thank you all enough for the valuable info! Looks like my search for the right 2002 continues  

[NYNick]

5 minutes ago, Cmalensek11 said:

Also forgot to mention it does have the original fuel injector. My plan for the car is a long term project. I have a 2002 Audi for my daily driver so wanted something I can work on without worrying about screwing stuff up (which is a high % but that’s the best way to learn in my opinion) and be left with no car to drive. Love BMW and love the 2002 model. But I think I got carried away and let seeing a 2002 tii in person really mess with my judgement. The more a actually think about it the more I realize this particular one isnt for me. Can’t thank you all enough for the valuable info! Looks like my search for the right 2002 continues  

Check the classifieds on this site.