Strorg's 1971 2002 Project

[strorg]

I had a '69 2002 back in the '80's (showing my age here) that slipped through my hands. I've always wanted to have another, so when my brother phoned me about one on the side of the road with a "For Sale" sign in the window, I took the plunge.

I've ended up with a solid little project car, complete with original bottle caps, owner's manual, and 35 years worth of service tickets. The original owner bought the car for about $4000 (I have the sales ticket) and kept it until 2003. The second owner kept it until 2005 and sold it to the third owner who kept it in a garage for two years, never getting around to a planned restoration.

A stack of $100 bills later, I'm the 4th owner. I plan to do a slow restoration job while keeping the car on the road as a weekend cruiser. I plan to keep the look fairly stock (although I think a nice set of alloys will be needed), with some minor performance enhancements.

The car is pretty solid with no major rust in the trunk or floors. The front rockers need to be replaced, but that should set the stage for a decent paint job.

Interior needs some work - front seats are shot and carpet is worn, but intact. Headliner is in great shape, dash and door panels are OK. I think I will upgrade the seatbelts.

First order of businees is steering/suspension and brakes since I plan to drive the car frequently. I'll get under it today and make an assesment.

So now I'll ask for some input on a couple of topics:

Should I keep the color original?

Car had A/C but compressor is gone - any advice on replacement?

I'll use this post to track progress, but feel free to chime in.

Thanks...Tom

[brentspud]

nice little project you've got yourself there! i say definitely keep the original colour. ive got a 74' 2002 sahara, and at first i thought i'd probably repaint it, but the colour is growing on me due to the fact that i havent seen that many 02's in sahara, so i think ill keep it! the fact that yours isnt one of the really popular colours like polaris or verona makes it in my opinion a touch more unique. and besides, its a nice colour =)

[HarryPR]

love those early cars.... Good luck with your project!

Regarding the a/c compressor, hopefully you still have the bracket used to attach the old York compressor to your engine. You can then buy another bracket that attaches to it so you can use a Sanden 508 compressor or an equivalent. The bracket will run about $35 or so and the compressor about $200.

In addition to the above, you would also need to replace the expansion valve and drier. I will be installing A/C on my car in the next week or so and will post additional info when I'm done.

[strorg]

Thanks for the tips on the A/C and the color...good advice no both.

Just replaced center link and both tie rod assemblies and put some new tires on - drives much better. Front tires were shabby and one joint on the center link was completely shot, so figured all new joints was the way to go.

On to the brakes next...

[fazeShift]

definitely a keeper color... more pictures! =)

[post71]

Is that riveria or pastelblau?

Looks like our cars are cousins? I like the blau/blue so I vote for original color too.

[strorg]

Specialty color - Faded Riviera.

;-)

[strorg]

new master cylinder, remanufactured calipers, rotors, pads, bearings, and stainless steel brake hoses. the left front was sticking, but i didn't realize how much and what an impact it was having on the car's handling and accelelration. of course it only makes sense...

rears are for later, i want to drive it for a while as it's been on jackstands for 4 weeks.

[strorg]

This from Andreas Harz (Andreas.Harz@partner.bmwgroup.com) in response to my VIN query.

Dear Mr Host,

Thank you for your email.

The BMW 2002 US VIN 2571397 was manufactured on March 4th, 1971 and delivered on March 9th, 1971 to the BMW importer Hoffman Motors Corp. in New York City. The original colour was Riviera, paint code 036.

We hope this information is helpful for you.

Yours sincerely,

Andreas Harz