First Post - new '02 Owner - The project starts

[IndyBMW]

First, want to give a little introduction. Just bought a 1970 '02 and I'm still older than it, so that gives all of you an idea of my age. LOL. It's my first '02, but I can remember wanting once since I was 15-16 years old, and have finally gotten myself one after all of these years.

I've got alot of experience in fabrication, sheetmetal work, roll cages, suspension, etc from my days as a 'semi pro' rock crawler in Jeeps. But this is something totally different, so we'll see how much can transfer.

So anyway, the car. It's a 1970 that I bought off of e-bay, completely expecting to get a non-running, uh, turd. I'm no stranger to rust, so I was expecting it. When I picked it up, much to my surprise, the little beast runs like a top!

I brought it the 4 hours back home, and proceeded to clean it up. No, it's not a show car, yes, it leaks oil like no tomorrow. But, I did have it wound out to about 4k rpm and a die hard muscle car buddy and I were having a blast tooling around our road that is closed (no traffic), zipping around some barricades.

Plans, are, well, not sure yet. I was originally going to just completely tear it apart and restore it, but to be honest, it runs so well and I had such a blast in it, I might just put it back into limited daily driver status. Already put a new door on it (that was included in the auction), and removed the front bumper.

Biggest needs are:

1. Hood. The front edge of the hood is rusted through, odd I think, but I need a hood.

2. Rockers. Both need to be replaced, time to break out the Lincoln.

3. A paint job.

4. New carpet. I have a science experiment growing in the carpet, it needs to leave.

5. Grills. The center grill is great, the outer grills crumbled in my hand.

If anyone has any of these parts laying around they'd like to part with, let me know.

Also, I don't know if there is anyone in Indy that could possibly give me any advice, help, etc., but if there is, please let me know.

Anyway, I've rambled enough, here are the pics from when I picked it up, I'll post some more of the 'cleanup'.

[brad_c-ville_VA]

you've got experience in the best possible area---rust fixin'! everything else is pretty simple on the car, as you've no doubt figured out by now.

one thing - it's possible your oil leak could just be a leaky oil pressure sensor, if the oil seems to be dripping down around the back. the sensor is located on the back of the engine with a single wire attached. the copper crush ring can go bad. replacement senders are cheap and if your sender appears to be working, a copper crush ring is even cheaper.

welcome to the club!

[IndyBMW]

Well, I've been a little busy. Not spending as much time as I'd like, probably all told, about 10-15 hours since the last update. I'm married, father of a 4 year old and a 2 year old, so time isn't exactly free in buckets.

But, I have gotten some stuff done. Don't mind the patchwork trunk, the boy and I were discussing 'colors'. LOL

Notice the hole by the pedal box. Only hole in the entire floorboard.....

I think next on the list is to order new rockers, and pull the subframes/motor/tranny. Hopefully I'll get that done in the next month, we'll see.

[Pinepig]

Good progress. I love to see them move along at a fairly rapid pace with limited time spent.

[IndyBMW]

Yea, honestly, the tear down is the easiest. Start unbolting, ripping, etc until it's apart. Save what you want, toss/sell/etc the rest. The interior was completely shot, so that was easy. Once I get the rest pulled, then I'll start the modification and buildup. That'll take me quite a bit longer, because honestly, I'm not in any hurry.

[oz_tom]

Wow, your rocketing along. Good to see you've addressed the rust issue early. Keep the updates coming!

Oh, and your lucky to have a short style rear bar!

Tom

[Biscuit3]

Here's to you and your multi-colored BMW 2002! When boyfriend put the central locking in Karl, I discovered that the left door was from a mint grun 02er which sucks to find out that just the one part is not original but it sure makes you wonder, what the hell happened to it?!

Anyway, now I forgot what I was going to say to you because I'm getting side tracked while I update my "Ode to Karl" (my car) website. If you ever need some ideas or realize that other people have been or still are, where you are at now, it's good for that. I'm glad to hear you finally got your dream car. I always thought my dream car was a 1973 Ford Mustang Boss 302, but then I moved to Australia and inheritated Karl, so that got blown out of the water. I have my dream car now, he just needs some fixing up every now and then. So on behalf of me and Karl and I'm sure the rest of the forum, congrats on the purchase and it's good to see you're getting start into things!

[Biscuit3]

Here's to you and your multi-colored BMW 2002! When boyfriend put the central locking in Karl, I discovered that the left door was from a mint grun 02er which sucks to find out that just the one part is not original but it sure makes you wonder, what the hell happened to it?!

Anyway, now I forgot what I was going to say to you because I'm getting side tracked while I update my "Ode to Karl" (my car) website. If you ever need some ideas or realize that other people have been or still are, where you are at now, it's good for that. I'm glad to hear you finally got your dream car. I always thought my dream car was a 1973 Ford Mustang Boss 302, but then I moved to Australia and inheritated Karl, so that got blown out of the water. I have my dream car now, he just needs some fixing up every now and then. So on behalf of me and Karl and I'm sure the rest of the forum, congrats on the purchase and it's good to see you're getting start into things!

[IndyBMW]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

I got a little done this weekend, although not as much as I wanted. Got all of the wiring pulled out, intake off, steering column out and disassembled. Started working on getting the brake stuff out, but ran out of time.

I'll probably get the motor/front sub pulled out either this weekend or next, then the rear in a couple of weeks, then it'll just be a shell of it's former self.

I did look at a 5 litre (ford) engine (I know, but I'm going to be competing with some Vettes at the track) and started doing some figuring in on whether or not I want to go down that route. I'll keep the original M10 block, considering its the original motor.

One thing of note, found a random piece of paper that had "Spanish" Title work, from Spain. Weird stuff, although admittedly, I didn't study it that hard.

No pics though, no reason to take a pic before and after wiring removal.

Check the parts section for stuff I pulled out, you never know.

[IndyBMW]

Well, I went and done it. Picked up a 5.0 HO motor from a buddy today. He's looking for a Cobra 5 speed for me, he thought he might have one in the 'barn'. Haha.

Anyway, complete, with ECU, all wiring, etc for $250 bucks. He pulled it a couple of weeks ago, and it was running. So, we loaded it into his truck and brought it home. No pictures yet, it's rather greasy, but it'll clean up nice. My two 'Vette' buddies stopped by when they saw the motor sitting out. One of them told me that if I get that in there, he is going to 'think twice' about going to the track with me.

Fortunately, they've been very helpful. They both road race their street vettes (legally, at several tracks), and have a dedicated LS1 powered Vette road race car. They've been giving me a lot of valuable information on suspension design, weight distribution, roll center, etc to consider on the Oh2.

I've still gotta pull the subframes though, I just can't get motivated to pull the greasy things. I've pulled more parts, although I'm just gonna start throwing stuff away. No point keeping it if no one wants it.

I'll try to get pics up soon.

I'm out...

[IndyBMW]

Well, I'm 99% done with disassembly. Unfortunately, I've been outsourced, so I find myself with alot of free time while talking to headhunters. That being said, at least tearing the Oh2 apart doesn't cost anything.....