CubbyChowder finally got a BMW 2002 - it's project time

[CubbyChowder]

Time for a tacky display-new-parts-on-a-towel update:

Just received my package from BluntTech which consists of a bunch of genuine BMW goodies. Included was:

First picture:
(2) inner control arm bushings
(2) outer control arm bushings
(2) compliance bushings
(4) trailing arm bushings
(2) rear subframe mounts

Second picture:
(1) trunk seal
(2) black "Turbo" windshield locking strips
(2) quarter window seals (driver and passenger side)




Going up to work on the car tomorrow, so more will come then.

[MartinsElerts]

Christmas time came early!

[TeckniX]

Kinda off topic but what pressure washer do you have? That thing is killer at cleaning the crap accumulated by the car.

Keep it up, it's looking pretty good! (and almost rust free) haha

[CubbyChowder]

Kinda off topic but what pressure washer do you have? That thing is killer at cleaning the crap accumulated by the car.

Keep it up, it's looking pretty good! (and almost rust free) haha

haha it's just the $99 one from Home Depot. Make sure you keep the receipt and switch it out for a new one every few months (my dad's philosophy, not necessarily mine). They crap out pretty quick if you don't take meticulous care of them.

As for rust, it's never gonna be 100% rust free haha. It will, however, have WAY less rust on it than it did before.

[e12anthonee]

amazin!

im lovin how much detail your doing, changing everything that needs to be done, not putting it off.
i just bought a 79 528i, an im ganna try an do a lot of what your doing, im ganna follow you throughout this whole build cause its amaizing what your doing here.

[abefuentes]

looking Real good man! It'll be a fine quality whip once completed!!!!

[CubbyChowder]

Thanks guys! The comments are appreciated.

Got back to work today. I'll just explain as I go, I take a lot of pictures...

Got this out:



Took it to this (trailing arm bushing):



Which led to this:



And I ended up with this:



All out:



Pressing the new bushing in:




And there we have it:




So since the car has previously been in an accident on the left side, the left trailing arm mounts were a little bent up, pictured is the outermost mount. It had previously been fixed (kind of), and I decided to weld two thick washers on either side to close up and reinforce the metal. I measured where the bolt should be and welded everything up. Beware, the final product looks a bit ugly, I'm still getting used to welding. For some reason my wire feeder kept seizing up and would stop feeding wire while I was welding which was really messing me up. I didn't realize this until I was about done with this mount, so the welds look pretty terrible, but I figured it's not in a visual spot and I still penetrated the metal a good amount, so I'm confident that it will hold up. Like I said, it's not the prettiest thing in the world...

Before:




After:



Then I started on my CV boots. I noticed that one of my CV joints is different than the other three, must've been wrecked in the accident and replaced. Not sure whether it's aftermarket or OEM, but it seems to be working just fine.

I took the joint all apart and cleaned everything real good:



Put everything back together, greased it all up...



All sealed up and ready to go. A comparison shot with the other axle.



Going back tomorrow to finish up the other 3 CV boots and finish up the rear suspension rehab. Hope you all enjoy! Peace

[Riley_J]

looking good, i posted up the intro to my "build" getting the car on good friday

http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28924

[CubbyChowder]

looking good, i posted up the intro to my "build" getting the car on good friday

http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=28924

awesome man! Very cool car. Can't wait to see what you do with it.

[willis]

I keep seeing 2002s and I want one bad! Love the progress on this one.

[Rubens]

Great!

[e12anthonee]

love all the 2002's looking good

[deutschman]

Wow! How did the control arm tabs get so fubar'ed? Thats nuts!
Good progress! The welds you are doing are about as good as welds on thin sheet metal can get with a MIG welder like the one you have. Try using a small wire like .024-.023 and then instead of welding in a strait line skip around so you let spots cool down before going back to them (kind of like many spot welds). You can also control your heat a bit by changing the distance between the weld surface and the tip of the gun. You can also take some compress air and cool down your metal between welds. The trick to welding thin sheet like ours is just taking a long time and welding slowly.

[CubbyChowder]

Wow! How did the control arm tabs get so fubar'ed? Thats nuts!
Good progress! The welds you are doing are about as good as welds on thin sheet metal can get with a MIG welder like the one you have. Try using a small wire like .024-.023 and then instead of welding in a strait line skip around so you let spots cool down before going back to them (kind of like many spot welds). You can also control your heat a bit by changing the distance between the weld surface and the tip of the gun. You can also take some compress air and cool down your metal between welds. The trick to welding thin sheet like ours is just taking a long time and welding slowly.

I'm assuming it happened when the car got in an accident. Pretty much everything on the left side has been replaced. I suspect that it got hit in the rear quarter panel area because that's where the worst damage was. Thanks for the welding tips by the way!

[CubbyChowder]

Haven't made much progress on the car lately, we had a very unfortunate event. My best friend since first grade passed away on Saturday after a hectic year-long battle with cancer. He was such an awesome dude, and I'm going to miss him so much. He died much too young at the age of 21. The past couple of days have been really cool though, hanging with his family and all of our friends a bunch has been great help in dealing with the whole situation. Rest in Peace David King!

Got a chance to finish up the other 3 CV boots, so the axles are ready to go:



And also received all of my stereo stuff. I'm not really an extremist when it comes to car audio, so I bought some pretty basic stuff. I based all my purchases off reading product reviews, and tons of people were really happy with these speakers and receiver so I figured I'd go for it. Spent a little under $300 for everything and I feel it will perform perfectly fine for my standards. I'd like to focus more of my money on different aspects of this build:



I also bought a set of wheels! After spending HOURS (seriously, HOURS) researching what wheels I want, I could not come to a conclusion. I'm going for a certain look, and being very picky on sizes and fitment, so there really weren't many options for me. I got a PM on VWvortex for a set of wheels which I was considering for a price I couldn't refuse, so I jumped on it. They are coming from Northern Europe, so shipping is going to take a while. 15" BBS RM's:



I told myself I didn't want BBS RM/RS', because they are simply everywhere. However, I much prefer RM's over RS' and I like that I can build them how I want, so they are going to be wide. Probably along the lines of 15x8.5 up front and 15x9.5 out back. I am going to refinish them myself to save on cost and they are going to look almost exactly like these:



That's it for today. I will be going up on Friday hopefully to work on the car, I feel like it's been forever.