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So a few months ago, my father came to me with a mission. My mission was to find him a fun investment car that didnt need a ton of work. Having restored a few airplanes with my dad we decided that we wanted to avoid major work that would keep it off the road for a while, we adopted the mantra of "we arent taking the wings off" which pretty much grounds a plane for a year or two. So after a few weeks of searching I came across a decent little 1973 BMW 2002. I have a 74 but due to budget issues, the purchase and renovation of a home, the purchase of a pretty clean 97 m3, and working constantly it has been pushed to the back burner, so I figured a running driving 2002 would be fun to have around. We went and checked it out, and while it was in good shape it did need a little love and was not worth the asking price. We low balled the guy honestly hoping he wouldnt accept.....he did, quickly might I add. And then the slight panic set in for my dad, he was tight on time and space, so I volunteered my time and part of my basement to get it running. I decided since I am doing this I should keep a journal of the rejuvenation. I am copying and pasting this from another forum, we have had the car a few months now. the first few posts might read a little off but we will get caught up.
Here it is at the previous owners house.
Thankfully the cat was not included.
Interior is in decent shape, the dash isnt so hot but we will address that eventually.
I drove it about 25 miles back to the house. It runs and drives great, but has some issues. The speedo just bounces at 30mph, the throttle pedal is way too stiff(I think its the wrong return spring), shifter bushings, and it heats up a little. All stuff that we are going to take care of over the next few weeks. Once I got it home I had to move my M3 to get the 02 in the basement, it seemed like a good opportunity for a few quick pics.
When I was jacking the car up to put it on the dollies I noticed a chunk of something stuck in the drivers front wheel. So I already took care of my first repair...... weave removal.
I think my basement is officially full.
At this point I got to really inspect the car, and it did have a few little issues but all and all I think we came out ok on this one.
I started with removing the a/c compressor, we werent sure if it even works and since it wasnt hooked up there was really no reason to leave it in the car. It was going well and then I ran into these two bolts, I **** these two bolts.
I couldn't bust them loose with anything I had, so I had to make an emergency run to Harbor Freight. This is actually surprisingly nice.
Finally, its free. Its going to get boxed up and stored until we figure out what to do with it.
After that I decided to go ahead and work on flushing the radiator. Judging by the way the hose is bent I dont think this is right radiator for the car.
Upon inspecting a radiator I had sitting around, the radiator in the car was wrong so I pulled it out. Im going to have this one tested and I hope its good because Im not going to put an incorrect radiator back in.
I went ahead and flushed the system while it was all apart, from the looks of the "coolant" it needed to be changed.
I made a huge mess.
I cleaned and oiled the airfilter.
I also cleaned up some of the grime in the engine bay, far from perfect but much better.
Then I tried to figure out why the center kidney grill was up side down, looks like someone broke the stud on the top mount. I think I can cut this out and epoxy a bolt back in there but Im going to weight my options, pre 74 grilles are tough to find.
While I was removing the center grille I noticed that the head light grilles were looking a little rough. Pre-74 grilles are metal with black slats covering the aluminum on 2002's, but the slats are not on the 1600's. I like the look of the polished grills so I decided to remove them, after doing some research and finding that they are still available. Missing, miss colored, and generally beat up slats.
And slats removed and stripper applied to remove the glue.
While removing the grilles I noticed that the p.o. had about 6 different screws holding them in, so I picked up some stainless screws and proper tinnerman clips from work. Thats it until tonight, I hope to finish stripping the glue and put a little polish on the grilles.
I got the adhesive stripped off the the grilles and did a quick polish.
Picked up some stainless screws and tinnerman nuts from work, now all the hardware will match.
Then reinstalled the grilles.
Last night I cut out the broken stud, drilled out a hole, and epoxied a 3/16" piece of aluminum rod. Before I epoxied it in I threaded it to match the other m5x.08 thread. I dont know why it looks crooked but its just the picture.
Tonight I decided to polish and clean up the center grille, as you can see it was kinda cruddy.
After a few coats of Nuvite polish and some compound and polish on the center slats. Far from perfect but looking much better.
Yanked the battery and noticed the tray was looking a little rough. So I scuffed it up, taped everything up and shot some paint on it.
Missing hood latch roller.
Worn out roller.
New rollers on both sides.
Pulled the old dented door trim off.
The new one looks much better.
Installed on the car.
I need to still do some adjustments on the hood but its closing much better.
Picked up the rust converter from my folks and got some oil and engine cleaner for later this week. Theres not a lot of rust on the car but I noticed a few spots of light surface rust while I was laying under the car, so I decided to throw a little rust converter on it.
I hope this is the last of the of the boring updates, all of this is showing up tomorrow.
Last night a bunch of parts showed up, I hope I can figure out where all of this goes.
Removed the water pump.
This is why you dont put that "stop leak" crap in. It was nasty.
Prepped the mounting surface for the pump, dont worry the engine is going to get detailed soon and I will get all that crud off.
Did a quick mock up with the radiator and the new hoses, I think I have it right but Im looking for a hose diagram to be sure.
The I went ahead and drained the oil. One of my customers taught me this little trick using the bags we have at work. They are pretty high quality bags so they will actually catch the oil if you put it around the filter as your are removing it. It saved me from making a pretty big mess, I couldnt get the drain pan under the filter because of the jack stand placement.
While the oil was drained I popped the valve cover off and threw on a new gasket, everything looked pretty clean under there.
And since I had it laying around I used a valve cover that I polished a while back, Ill polish it up a little more when I do the engine detail.
Here it is at the previous owners house.
Thankfully the cat was not included.
Interior is in decent shape, the dash isnt so hot but we will address that eventually.
I drove it about 25 miles back to the house. It runs and drives great, but has some issues. The speedo just bounces at 30mph, the throttle pedal is way too stiff(I think its the wrong return spring), shifter bushings, and it heats up a little. All stuff that we are going to take care of over the next few weeks. Once I got it home I had to move my M3 to get the 02 in the basement, it seemed like a good opportunity for a few quick pics.
When I was jacking the car up to put it on the dollies I noticed a chunk of something stuck in the drivers front wheel. So I already took care of my first repair...... weave removal.
I think my basement is officially full.
At this point I got to really inspect the car, and it did have a few little issues but all and all I think we came out ok on this one.
I started with removing the a/c compressor, we werent sure if it even works and since it wasnt hooked up there was really no reason to leave it in the car. It was going well and then I ran into these two bolts, I **** these two bolts.
I couldn't bust them loose with anything I had, so I had to make an emergency run to Harbor Freight. This is actually surprisingly nice.
Finally, its free. Its going to get boxed up and stored until we figure out what to do with it.
After that I decided to go ahead and work on flushing the radiator. Judging by the way the hose is bent I dont think this is right radiator for the car.
Upon inspecting a radiator I had sitting around, the radiator in the car was wrong so I pulled it out. Im going to have this one tested and I hope its good because Im not going to put an incorrect radiator back in.
I went ahead and flushed the system while it was all apart, from the looks of the "coolant" it needed to be changed.
I made a huge mess.
I cleaned and oiled the airfilter.
I also cleaned up some of the grime in the engine bay, far from perfect but much better.
Then I tried to figure out why the center kidney grill was up side down, looks like someone broke the stud on the top mount. I think I can cut this out and epoxy a bolt back in there but Im going to weight my options, pre 74 grilles are tough to find.
While I was removing the center grille I noticed that the head light grilles were looking a little rough. Pre-74 grilles are metal with black slats covering the aluminum on 2002's, but the slats are not on the 1600's. I like the look of the polished grills so I decided to remove them, after doing some research and finding that they are still available. Missing, miss colored, and generally beat up slats.
And slats removed and stripper applied to remove the glue.
While removing the grilles I noticed that the p.o. had about 6 different screws holding them in, so I picked up some stainless screws and proper tinnerman clips from work. Thats it until tonight, I hope to finish stripping the glue and put a little polish on the grilles.
I got the adhesive stripped off the the grilles and did a quick polish.
Picked up some stainless screws and tinnerman nuts from work, now all the hardware will match.
Then reinstalled the grilles.
Last night I cut out the broken stud, drilled out a hole, and epoxied a 3/16" piece of aluminum rod. Before I epoxied it in I threaded it to match the other m5x.08 thread. I dont know why it looks crooked but its just the picture.
Tonight I decided to polish and clean up the center grille, as you can see it was kinda cruddy.
After a few coats of Nuvite polish and some compound and polish on the center slats. Far from perfect but looking much better.
Yanked the battery and noticed the tray was looking a little rough. So I scuffed it up, taped everything up and shot some paint on it.
Missing hood latch roller.
Worn out roller.
New rollers on both sides.
Pulled the old dented door trim off.
The new one looks much better.
Installed on the car.
I need to still do some adjustments on the hood but its closing much better.
Picked up the rust converter from my folks and got some oil and engine cleaner for later this week. Theres not a lot of rust on the car but I noticed a few spots of light surface rust while I was laying under the car, so I decided to throw a little rust converter on it.
I hope this is the last of the of the boring updates, all of this is showing up tomorrow.
Last night a bunch of parts showed up, I hope I can figure out where all of this goes.
Removed the water pump.
This is why you dont put that "stop leak" crap in. It was nasty.
Prepped the mounting surface for the pump, dont worry the engine is going to get detailed soon and I will get all that crud off.
Did a quick mock up with the radiator and the new hoses, I think I have it right but Im looking for a hose diagram to be sure.
The I went ahead and drained the oil. One of my customers taught me this little trick using the bags we have at work. They are pretty high quality bags so they will actually catch the oil if you put it around the filter as your are removing it. It saved me from making a pretty big mess, I couldnt get the drain pan under the filter because of the jack stand placement.
While the oil was drained I popped the valve cover off and threw on a new gasket, everything looked pretty clean under there.
And since I had it laying around I used a valve cover that I polished a while back, Ill polish it up a little more when I do the engine detail.
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