Tied the last few ends up today. Installed the dome light, doesn't work...but at this point I don't really care! Washed the 1600 to see if there weren't major leaks from the new seals. None that I could see. Now getting it ready for the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival on September 6. My kids and their significant others will be in town for the festival and I have 3 cars to get ready for the Glenora Run! The 1600, the 633csi, and the Mustang. Hope everyone enjoyed the blog!
Today I was able to accomplish quite a bit. Reinstalled the rear vent windows without too much trouble. Then onto the rear passenger compartment, cleaning and fitting. I guess I have not paid much attention to the ash trays in the back because as I was cleaning the passenger side, under tissues jammed in, were about a dozen cigarette butts, yuck. Then on to the rear view mirror and sun visors. Visors were a bit fiddly but eventually got them in. Only 1 bit left to do: the dome light! Wish me luck!
More time today, was able to install the drivers side rear window seal without too much trouble. Trimmed a little off the backside. Still was difficult to press in, but not as hard as the first one. Then had time to put the drivers door seal in and started on the rear pop out window. Problem with that was I needed 3 hands, 2 hands and 4 paws just didn't cut it! Hoping to get both windows in tomorrow and start reassembling the interior.
Had a little more time today so I was able to install passenger door seal and the pinch trim. It all looks pretty good. Unfortunately, the door does not close flush so I will have to look into it. Hoping to have one of my buddies help me with the drivers side rear window seal tomorrow. Hope to get it all done soon!
Unfortunately, due to domestic responsibilities and an ongoing family emergency, not much done over the past week. I did have a little time and got the passenger side rear window seal in. Only took me 5 HOURS! What a miserable job that is. I did post about it in the general forum and have some new ideas about how to do the drivers side seal more efficiently. Most everyone that responded said this was the WORST job they have had to do on their 02's. I agree! I finished the seal 4 day ago and my hands STILL hurt. Hoping to have some free time at the end of the week to tie everything back up! Fingers crossed!
Following Clay W's advice from his headliner diy article, I am leaving it alone to dry for at least a couple of days. Unfortunately, with the humidity here in the Finger Lakes hovering in the low to mid 90's, the glue is going to take a looooong time to dry. Moved on to the passenger seat however. I managed to break a bolt in the Recaro as I was climing and crawling through the car and had time to look at it. One of the bolts that holds the seat back on the frame had broken In half. I had to drill it out, then once removed, a quick trip to Champion Fasteners in Elmira. They found the correct size bolt and I was soon home and had the Recaro fixed. Tomorrow some domestic duties to perform but am hoping I have the time to adjust the valves in the 1600, been meaning to do it for several years. Hoping that forcing myself to do the valves will give extra time for the glue to dry.
Productive day today. Started off by reassembling the sunroof. Took my time and it all seemed to go in pretty well. No pinching and slides back and forth easily. Got a great surprise after that. My brother-in-law has a buddy that installs glass. I was able to get him to my garage today and he installed both front and rear windshields in about an hour and a half! They both look awesome, especially with the chrome locking ring in the center. Now it's on to the door seals. Tried one today and I couldn't get the door to close. Will worry about tot tomorrow!
Finally decided to take some of the binder clips off to see my work and then trim off some of the excess headliner material. Glue seems to be holding well and it all looks pretty good. I took off all of the clips except from around the sunroof. I am going to do that tomorrow and reinstall the sunroof at the same time. Also waiting for a local windshield installer to call me back and install the glass.
So not much done today. Trying to be patient and wait for the glue to dry a little more. Even though the temperature has lessened here in the Finger Lakes, the humidity is still around 90%! So wait until tomorrow ad see how it is. Did adjust the valves today though. Did trim just a few small pieces off the headliner, glue still a little tacky.
Well, a new day and a fresh look at the c-pillars. Started work on them this morning and got them sorted out in about an hour. Then moved on to the gluing portion of the day. Took my time, tried to smooth out what I could, changed gloves often and didn't get any glue on the headliner! Then moved on to the sunroof frame. Actually had to go to staples and get more binder clips, 288 was not enough. Actually ended up using 358 in all with the sunroof. It all looks pretty good so far. My next issue will be getting the glue to dry. Humidity in the southern finger lakes has been at 92% all day! Maybe it will dy by September.
So I attempted to put the headliner up today. Nothing like working in my garage with 90 degree heat and 80% humidity🥵! It all went pretty well, although very slow. I had to start at the back because I only have 1 headliner bow, it being a sunroof model. So I started there, and did the c-pillars next, they looked great. Little did I know they would cause me so many problems. I worked my way forward slowly, eventually getting the entire headliner up and secured in place. It was all a little saggy until I cut open the sunroof and clipped that up. I then worked front to back, stretching and adjusting until I got back to the c-pillars. That's where the fun started, there werewrinkes at the top and as I straightened them out, the wrinkles transferred all the way down, no matter what I tried, I couldn't get a smooth surface all the down. I spent more time working on the C-pillars than the rest of the headliner. And got no where! So I gave up for the day. Had a couple of beers, grilled a steak, and now I've moved on to Bourbon. Guess I'll try again tomorrow. 🥺
Last picture is with my helper Lola, who gave up halfway through and went back inside to the tile floor and air conditioning. She is certainly smarter than me!
Day 3, put some new foam back up on the ceiling of the 1600. All seemed to fit pretty well and looks pretty nice. Spent a loooooong time scraping and trying to remove as much of the nasty old windshield gaskets. Got it as clean as I could. Put the 1 cable tie mount in the back and am going to make my first attempt at installing the headliner tommorow. 😳
I managed to get the whole headliner out of the 1600 today. What took me the longest was getting the sunroof out first. It's been about 35 years since I have had to work on the sunroof so it took me a little while to remember and figure out how it all went. However, once free of the restraints of the sunroof, a big surprise! Apparently a rodent had gotten up there at some point and made a big nasty nest. It must have been several years ago, but still...yuck. A lot of the foam was in really good shape,especially in the c-pillars so no need to replace it. The foam where the rodent was is pretty much ruined so I went to Jo-Ann fabric and was able get the foam needed for replacement. The one difficulty I seem to be having is removing all of the nasty old dried remnants of the windshield gaskets. So if anyone has any suggestions, please leave in the comments. I was also able to remove the gaskets around the rear vent windows and from the b-pillar. They pretty much disintegrated in my hands. But thanks to Carl Nelson at LaJolla Independent BMW Service, I have new ones on the way! Thank you Carl! Below are some of the pictures of today's endeavors. Tommorow if I get the gasket material cleaned off, I plan on replacing the damaged foam and possibly starting in on the headliner. Wish me luck!
Pulled out all of the glass today. All of it came out pretty easy except for the front seal of the rear vent windows. It also looks as if I will be taking out the rear seats, package tray and rear seat interior panels. I think I will be taking the trim off the outside of the rear vent window as well. Unfortunately the door seals were glued in so it looks as if I will be purchasing new seals almost all the way around the car. Tomorrow, the headliner comes out!
