'72 tii rebuild - update - 3/22/08

[ibjettin]

Working on the front end a bit more last night until I was distracted by this! This Black Widow set up house right under the front fender. It must have been there the whole time when I was tearing apart the steering.

[ibjettin]

I 've only been able to steal a few hours during the week to rebuild the front end. Progress is being made, but not as quickly as I had hoped. It doesn't look like I'll be anywhere near ready to drive her to the Palo Alto show.

I will still be at the show tracking down as many parts as I can

Here's a few pics of my progress... I am waiting for brake parts, spring pads and strut insets before I can bolt it all together. At least I have all the bushings and ball joints installed... Removing the rusted out ball joints was a major pain in the a**.

I posted a couple more pics on my blog...

[ibjettin]

All the Black Widows!!!! I came across 2 more last night! YIIIKES!

I was under one of the parts cars and the big black mean a** spider was right there! I can almost swear it winked at me and the flipped me off before it darted back to its hiding place. I was under there thinking "I hope I don't see a spider" luckily I didn't crack my head on the oil pan.

I need to bust out the high pressure washer and go to town on the undercarriage on all the cars...

[ibjettin]

I'm hoping to get some pics posted soon on my rebuild. I just need to pull out the left rear and replace the bushings, brake line and cylinder and then I'm finished with the suspension! WhooooHooo

Here's what I've done so far:

Replaced ball joints

Replaced tie rods

Rebuilt the brakes

Installed steel braided lines

New pads

New rotors

New bearings

Installed Bilstein struts

Replaced strut bearings

and replaced all front bushings...

I also ordered 2" lips for my BBS RM's. So when they arrive I will be assembling the wheels. 120 bolts each means a lot of tightening and torquing

[ibjettin]

Brake and suspension are completed! I finished up pretty late last night and to be honest didn't think it would take so long...

Now I will move on to the battery relocation, rust and rear strut brace...

[ibjettin]

I rolled it out of the garage for the fist time since I brought it home... It looks pretty bad and I really need to hang in here and not feel too overwhelmed with the repairs. I am starting to look into body shops here in the Bay Area to take care of a lot of this... I'm just a bit nervous about how much it may cost me...

Anyone here been down this path already? Care to share roughly how much you paid? I know I'm in the thousands, I just don't know how many

[Alpine003]

For the kind of money needed to bring that body back, wouldn't you be better off buying a decent shell and transferring all your parts to it?

I almost fell off my chair when I saw the bondo pics. If you are going to be shopping for a shell, bring a magnet next time.

[ibjettin]

I did bring my magnet I just thought it didn't work since it wouldn't stick to anything hehehe

I do have a (very straight) '69 shell that I have been heavily debating using, but since I am going with turbo flares I'd rather not cut it up. The tii body is already pretty bad so it's not terrible for me to cut out the wheel arches and then pull out the rest. I think whoever did the body work before didn't even try to pull anything out

It looks bad, but we've all seen worse

[Alpine003]

I guess if you don't mind putting in the work, more power to you.

BTW, I noticed you got the speed blaster gun. How is that working out? I was thinking of getting one from Harbor Freight for those jobs where I can't fit into a blast cabinet or don't want to take anything off.

[bmw1602.com]

damn...............

that is ALOT of work!!!!!!!!!!!!

good luck,

[ibjettin]

Ouch even hearing it's that bad from you after seeing your project and the work you are putting into your 02 has really made me worry about this particular project. I didn't realize the rocker and front end rust until I started removing parts and poking around with a screwdriver. I know it's pretty bad, and now I have to rethink what to do here ... I may have to move this post to the for sale section

[TMK-001]

Sure is a hard one... didnt you buy the car off a friend!?! Damn, some mate he is!!

I hope you come to a decision that you are happy with... this one looks like you have a truck load of work ahead of you though!

My panel shop laughed at me when we found bondo in the front section on my car... I say bondo over it and sell it as is to some punk like Dutch who doesnt know shit from clay :-P

[ibjettin]

He's still a really good friend of mine the car sat in his driveway for 6yrs, so it's not like he even realized how bad it was. He bought the car and drove it, never built it. The price was still very fair and I can't complain (which by the way I hope none of my post sound like I am). I have alot of thinking to do and as much as my wife supports my craziness, I have to remain realistic in my time and money and what I want the car for...

As far as selling it, at least any buyer would be 100% aware of what it needs.

[ibjettin]

Okay, so I was pretty bummed about the amount of rust I would have to take care of on the '73. I came across the '72tii shell F4ight had posted in the Parts section of this site. Long story short the car is now on a trailer in my driveway! Thank's to F4ight for selling the car to me and ash00 for letting me use his trailer and helping me load her up!

Here's the only pic I have for now, but you can see more in F4ight post in the Parts section

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,50/page,viewtopic/t,275470/

[TMK-001]

Sweet news mate, good to hear you got it sussed now!

I hope there is no nasty surprises with this body.

Todd