1972 2002 Racecar

[blitz928]

1972 BMW 2002 Racecar

If interested please e-mail me for pics. or visit the website where the car is located.

From www.smithmotorworks.com website :

This is actually a combination of two cars, a '72 and a '75. The actual shell was a '75 but you'll notice a lot of things that are different about it (like the round taillights)..

The shell was mounted to a home-made rotisserie and completely stripped. All the rust (and there was a lot of it) was repaired, including both front floopans and sectioning in part of one frame rail from the '72. The car painted inside and out, top and bottom. All unecessary metal (every little bracket and brace) was removed along with ALL undercoating. We did this mostly with electric grinders with wire brushes. The frame work on all the hinged panels was cut off and removed. All the hinges were removed and replaced with pins. The sunroof was removed and a riveted panel put in it's place. The nose was minimized and made removable for easy engine servicing. All the glass except the windshield was replaced with Lexan. Weight was the enemy, and I think we won.

The roll bar was fabricated with a manual pipe bender from blemished steel tubing sourced from an airplane material supplier and welded in place to assist chassis rigidity. The trunk floor was cut out and replaced, and a plastic fuel cell (sprint car swap meet) resides where the heavy steel tank once was.

I painted the car (my first time) with a budget HVLP gun and a gallon of Kirker paint (Ebay). Lots of sanding and hand buffing later it doesn't look bad. We wanted the 'sponsor' decals to all be the same color. Since we didn't have any money left to have them made, they were cut out by hand from a sheet of black vinyl. Ditto the flag graphics. The front air dam is actually a windshield visor (damaged) that came off Denny's pickup with custom welded aluminum braces.

The entire suspension was rebuilt using cut Eibach springs, Bilstein sport struts (both came on the car), and urethane bushings. Custom sway bars were made from aluminum sprint car steering links (swap meet). Brakes are stock except for braided steel lines. Hoosier autocross tires reside on the stock rims. Rear diff was welded, and traction is not a problem! The pedal assembly inside the car was custom made to rid it of the moronic floor mounted pedals (that, and the pedal box was totally rotted). The steering wheel is quick release (yet another sprint car swap meet purchase) and the 'horn' button is a butchered BMW hood logo.

The entire wiring harness was made by hand to replace the non-functioning stock one. There is an MSD ignition unit in the glovebox.

The engine is, of course, the heart of the beast. Basically, a stock 2002 engine with a T-Bird SC Eaton supercharger (Carlisle GM show) attached to it via a custom welded aluminum intake. The overkill belt drive bracket and tensioner are completely home-made. A 2v Holley truck carb was used, but sits on the intake the wrong way so can starve for fuel in some turns. There's a Stahl header on the other side (came on car #1) and a huge 3.5" exhaust system that exits out the right quarter panel after running through a custom chamber in the floor. This had to be done for ground clearance after lowering the car. The radiator is a VW unit and the water pump drive is an electric motor. The heating system was completely removed. There's a Nitrous Express system to add a little extra to the 14lbs of supercharger boost we have normally.

If you haven't read the magazine stories about the car, it did win the event, though with a slipping clutch and an exploding crank pulley that really didn't allow us to show our real potential in the quarter mile. Before the car was sold, I did drive it on the road a bit while it was being photographed for Roundel magazine and it's a real hoot--loud, fast, go kart reflexes and really, really uncomfortable. The interior is an echo chamber and the Kirkey seat (yup, sprint car swap meet), combined with the solid (home-made aluminum) drivetrain mounts and stiff suspension, can be brutal.

How The car stands now:

National winner of the Grassroots Motorsports Challenge in 2002, this car has been featured in both G.R.M. and BMW Roundel Magazine. Originally constructed to be entered into the Grassroots Motorsports Challenge. Although emerging from the contest victorious, practicality was not implemented in the build process for a car that would be campaigned regularly as a road racecar. Therefore the following improvements and updates were made to increase the car’s efficiency and competitive quality as a race car.

Being a supercharged engine, the first changes that had to be made were under the hood. The two barrel Holley carburetor was removed to make room for the Holley Pro-Jection EFI kit. Because of the car’s cult-like following, we opted to use a throttle body setup in order to retain the originality of the factory engineered system. This system is easily programmed via personal computer friendly software, which interfaces with the now upgraded wideband oxygen sensor.

Now that the carbureted fuel delivery system had been eliminated, we had to facilitate the throttle body setup with a new custom fabricated aluminum fuel cell, incased in which is a walbro high output fuel pump. All of the car’s factory fuel line was replaced with new stainless steel hoses, aluminum hard line, and AN fittings.

With the engine’s longevity in mind, the supercharger pulley was replaced with a lower boost producing one (9-10p.s.i). The existing ignition system was then upgraded to include all MSD components, which include: MSD Blaster coil, MSD crank trigger, MSD 8mm spark plug wires, MSD spark amplification box, and Mallory distributor.

Next to be improved upon was the interior, which is now fitted with an Autometer tachometer, VDO Water temperature, and oil pressure gauge. In order to maintain a desirable oil pressure the car then saw a new accusump system which controls the amount of oil pressure in the engine if it were to drop below what is needed.

The drive train was updated to include an aluminum light weight flywheel. The clutch was replaced with a Stage 2 single plate clutch by Spec. The brakes were upgraded with larger and more powerful Volvo calipers, which are the largest that would fit behind the factory 13” wheels, and new rotors which now would be clamped with high performance racing brake pads. To give the driver better control, a Wilwood adjustable brake bias controller was installed. When the new braking components were installed, all failing or worn parts were replaced, including the rear wheel cylinders, wheel bearing, and seals. The welded differential was replace with an open differential since the car is now street legal. Also included are two sets of wheels, aluminum street wheels wrapped with Toyo 185/70TR13 , and a set of magnesium racing wheels fitted with 185/60/13 Hoosier r6 tires.

A few miscellaneous upgrades include a new starter, and new strut mounts. The Kirkey racing seat was also moved to the passenger side, and in its place is now a more comfortable Momo racing seat.

Price:

$13000

[blitz928]

(nt) SOME PICS>>>>

[blitz928]

more pics

[ibjettin]

Kudos on building a building a very nice racer! I really like the other parts you sourced like the airdam that was a sun visor! I was wondering what type of flares those were? I like that they are not as large as the turbo flares and are really subtle.

Good luck with the sale!

Cheers,

Brian

[eurotrash]

... I was wondering what type of flares those were? I like that they are not as large as the turbo flares and are really subtle.

Good luck with the sale!

X 2

[blitz928]

BUMP! and price drop. $13000

http://smithmotorworks.com/item--1972-BMW-2002-Racecar--BMW_2002_Racecar.html

[blitz928]

Now on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190395689347&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT