Back from death- the revival of a 74 BMW 2002

[Tarmac180sx]

always love checking in on this thread keep up the solid work man

[rhoderacer]

this morning I spent some more time on the passenger door. after that, I managed to mount the door, front fender and trunk lid to make sure they fit correctly. it all seems to be pretty straight.





I guess my dad stopped by the garage last night and replied to my message .

[CubbyChowder]

keep the color!

[rhoderacer]

in anticipation for the 60* weather today, I decided to power wash the engine bay and trunk. I ended up getting nearly all the caked on grease and flaking paint off the subframe, tranny tunnel and firewall.
I plan on using POR15 on all the front suspension mounts and components. the control arms are going to be getting modified for more steering lock and I'm in the process of getting a close ratio steering box from a old 1600 racecar.
My plans for the bay are simple. I'm going to be cutting the front cross member out and fabricating a tubular support to keep front sturdy. as for the rain tray, I'm going to cut out the original and move all the fuses and relays mounted on the driver shock tower onto the back wall. I'm going to then mount a fitted steel cover plate over the firewall that can be removed for easy access to the harness. This will give the firewall a smooth shape and hide the harness.


this is the cover I will be using from the last car.


I also started to strip the driver side of the car today. I quickly realized that the full rear quarter was replaced. there was no rust under the filler but I decided to take it all off and refresh the welds and lay new filler. So far, every panel of this car has had some sort of damage during its 40 year lifespan.







The passenger side got another sand and coat of primer before I headed in for the night. I am still deciding if I want to delete the front blinkers completely or find a set of euro blinkers. right now I'm leaning towards deleting them all together.

[CubbyChowder]

weird, my '02 had the whole driver side quarter panel replaced at one point too, and I didn't discover it until I started taking the paint down. Sucks finding shit like that!

[rhoderacer]

I was too excited to wait, I had to mount the muffler up to see the Racekor tips.

[99sil-teg]

Nice that you found a good start for the build. Also... that exhaust... do want.

[rhoderacer]

I spent the better part of the day doing my least favorite thing...Wiring harness.
I pulled the harness out of the fender and also fished the fuse box free. I started mounting all the relays and resisters to the firewall next to the blower motor and wiper box. I want to still have wipers and heat so I left those alone and just trimmed the blower motor fan shroud to clear up some space. I will be building around the face plate and matching the contours to the original shapes. the faceplate will be screwed on so the fuse box and relays are still accessible. My initial plans for this car was just to bring it back to original condition and leave the engine bay stock, but as you can see plans always change.

[99sil-teg]

Liking the idea you are going with. I've cleaned my bay up some but it needs more. Can't wait to see the progress.

[TeckniX]

May need to reinforce the engine bay stuff, not sure how well Sam Adams does with heat and rain

Every time I look at your orange one I want an 02. Then I remember the rust and pain

[rhoderacer]

Tonight I buckled and gave in. I bought 40lbs of wet plasticine and started slingin' playdoe. It started off at 1.5 inches of added fender but quickly got out of hand. before we knew it, it was 4.5" wide. After the last car, it was important to me to build a fender that would never rub and matched the fronts. tonight I only had enough fiberglass to get the center of the overfender glassed. I will be finishing up the rest of the fiberglass in the A.M.

I don't think anyone makes a overfender for a 2002 yet to cover the full rear quarter. also, I don't think anyone makes a 2002 fender this wide other than those group 5 racecar fenders.

[mikey G]

Fender looks great. Now to match the other side

[dillon7]

That m3 sitting outside has made me beyond sad. Like the build though man, keep it up!

[Dylanhat]

Badass

[Frode D]

Great thread. In for more progress!