Project Trudy

[bluedevils]

Well, after driving the shit out of her (VIN 278****) over four years, time has come to make her beautiful again. She is a 35 years old Malaga tii lady wearing a 318i EFI make up. Despite her wrinkles and loose skin, her bottom is very strong and tight (5-speed, LSD, sport shocks, ST sway bar etc); she managed to give me goose pumps and tremendous pleasure every time I rode her (no pun intended). She even won the Iron Butt award at the recent Mid Fest. I found a solid sunroof shell from a fellow 02er and will bring her to a level she deserves. This probably will be a complete swap, and her usable parts will be used to help other 02 to stay on the road. She will not be a beauty/garage queen, will have fat/wider tires, roll cage and modern A/C, will be driven regularly. Stay tuned. I will start the surgery after V&V.

[justinevert]

Looking ofrward to you work, I hope to learn some more tricks of the trade.

BTW What size are those tires??

Keep us posted.

Justin

[bluedevils]

Tires are 205/60/13, I think. They are fat, on Enki (or whatever) e21 alloys. Wrong offset. Rear fenders had been pulled (ugly) for clearance. No rubbing at the fronts but springs are heavy duty stock height.

[HarryPR]

Sounds like a cool project. Please keep us updated on its progress.

[bluedevils]

Update: 76 sunroof (auto) shell arrive today. Thanks Frank. It is in great shape, only minor rust in non structural areas. Will clean and patch the rusty spots tomorrow and Wednesday. Doors, hood and trunk lid are also in great shape. Needs a passenger side fender. Overall, I am very lucky that I found a shell like this. Even the headliner and sunroof are in very good condition.

[bluedevils]

More pics.. While Frank was towing the car from High Point to Durham yesterday afternoon (05/25/09), he saw bunch of nice 2002s on the road, one being a red touring, it was Mike Pugh (and some other friends) driving back from V&V.

[MikeinNC]

Jeffrey and I passed your new car on the way home yesterday from Winston Salem Thought you would like this picture Good luck on the project

[bluedevils]

That is sight you don't see very often, what are the chances of that, a coupe with a 2002 being trailed side by side? Thanks Mike, it looks like I hit the home run this time around.

[bluedevils]

Project is under way, stopped because of rain. Only few small holes to weld up, very solid metal. These are the results of 3 hours cleaning.

[72Golf]

Lookin' real good Al. You are making better progress than I am, the new ones are still in Madison but hope to fetch one this weekend or next. Keep posting pics.

[bluedevils]

I patched the passenger side inner fender holes. Hopefully, I will attack the rockers and other small holes this week, depending on the rain status. I forgot to cover the sunroof, it leaked during heavy rain, and headliner board damaged. I should have installed new sunroof seals.

[bluedevils]

Updates: Front job is almost done. Delayed about two weeks due to heavy rain. Found some rot between the gas tank and passenger side quarter panel, not sure how to tackle that, any ideas? In the mean time, enjoy the pics of small but steady progress. Had to repair my welder, replaced the entire trigger/gun with cable.

[bluedevils]

More pics. I am using 16 gauge steel for the non-cosmetic repairs, a little difficult to work with but damn strong. I will go over the rough spots later. Will use original rocker metal from a CA car for small patches on the driver side rocker panel. Little Lincoln welder is doing a great job. Next up is trunk, and floors, yea baby! The primer is Eastwood's rust encapsulator, in red oxide, very nice coverage. I also sprayed inner panels with Eastwood's anti-rust wax, it works!

[FrankF]

I wish I had a fancy car hauler like that instead of my tractor hauler. Heck I don't even have the JD Tractor anymore. That is a great shot.

Al your doing a great job on the car.

[bluedevils]

Thanks dude, email me soon.