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

[DeepDishTimmy]

FAG all the way dude.
I'm just curious, what was the most difficult part about the build so far? On a "pain in the ass"-scale from 1 to infinity

[CubbyChowder]

FAG all the way dude.
I'm just curious, what was the most difficult part about the build so far? On a "pain in the ass"-scale from 1 to infinity

I'd have to say that welding the inner fender back together was by far the hugest bitch job so far and had me more frustrated than any other task yet. Sanding all the body filler around the fender was pretty gnarly too, that took forever. It's all in good fun though

[DeepDishTimmy]

Thanks for answering, i can well imagine that. What kind of welding machine do you use? I will get an e28 in a few days which is in a similar condition as your 2002 and I'm getting a little confused about the different welding devices and methods that are out there. Any recommendations? There will definitely be parts of metal that I'll have to cut out and weld. Just looking for an amateur-friendly way.

[CubbyChowder]

Thanks for answering, i can well imagine that. What kind of welding machine do you use? I will get an e28 in a few days which is in a similar condition as your 2002 and I'm getting a little confused about the different welding devices and methods that are out there. Any recommendations? There will definitely be parts of metal that I'll have to cut out and weld. Just looking for an amateur-friendly way.

You should go for a MIG welder and incorporate some shielding gas if you're going to be welding thin metal. The gas also makes your welds look a lot cleaner. I have a Lincoln 180HD which can be bought at Home Depot and I use an Argon/CO2 75/25 shielding gas, which I think is pretty standard. It's pretty easy to learn and get used to

[CubbyChowder]

kind of a dinky update, just want to show that this build is still alive.

Started off yesterday by gathering my swaybar linkage hardware/bushings that I pieced together a few weeks ago:



Got them all greased up and tightened down:



And then I had a weird urge to get started on the front fender, so I bolted it up and said my last goodbyes:



Then started chopping:



Just to give you an idea of how the 15x8 et0 lines up with the original fender (with the lip cut off). This tells me that I won't need too big of a spacer to get the fitment I'm going for:



This was as far as I got, although it doesn't really look much different, this is the result of a few hours worth of mocking up, making measurements (which were mostly made by eye) and cutting little by little until I got the desired amount cut out. It is basically ready for welding now, just need to prep the area. I have some time on Friday to work on the car so that's when the next fender update will be happening:



Also, I made a video last week about my friend Shea's 1972 BMW Bavaria and the work we did to it one day. It's a temporary situation as it's going on air soon but the car turned out awesome. Plus, I got a PM from the dudes at StanceWorks and they wanted to feature it on their main blog page! I was super hyped on that, and felt honored to have my work on their front page. Not sure if you guys have seen it or not, but here it is, watch in 1080p!

[C-Hutch]

Had no idea you had made the vid. Good work man. And the car looks to be coming along nicely as well!

[dvsmethodz]

Awesome vid.

[DeepDishTimmy]

Had no idea either. I do photography for a living, are you a professional by any means? I was already happy to see quality build pictures, but this video is even better. I'd absolutely love to see a short feature about bulding the car.
Thanks for the tips about the welding device, definitely helped me. Getting my e28 tomorrow, so excited.
Keep it up

[Zic]

Wow, what a nice video. one of the few i don't skip forward all the time. very entertaining all the way through.

Will be awesome to see the car back on the ground were it belongs.

[NorCalFocus]

The video was awesome. Seeing you cruising through Avila was great.

[CubbyChowder]

Had no idea either. I do photography for a living, are you a professional by any means? I was already happy to see quality build pictures, but this video is even better. I'd absolutely love to see a short feature about bulding the car.
Thanks for the tips about the welding device, definitely helped me. Getting my e28 tomorrow, so excited.
Keep it up

Cool man! Look forward to seeing what you do with the e28. And no, photo/video stuff is just a hobby for me. I've done 2 video jobs for random people but nothing crazy. I've considered doing some sort of video stuff while I'm building the '02, I think I'm going to do a time lapse while I work on the fender next time I'm up there.

Thanks everyone else for the comments!

[CubbyChowder]

So for today's update I thought it'd be cool to switch things up a bit and make a video rather than take photos. I got the front fender welded in place and I'm pretty happy with the results. Now it's just time to grind the welds down, smooth it out with some filler and it'll be good to go! Watch in 1080p for best quality.

[Kochiro]

Love it! Super jealous of your workspace too.

[Kielan]

Those flares, damn they look good.

[SheaMoose]

That video makes me excited!

I've been following your build from the beginning on 2002 faq.
It's definitely one of my favorite builds. Ever.

Keep up the good work man!