1968 BMW 1602 in Australia

[hamish.com.au]

Background: My first and only BMW was actually a car that I borrowed from a friend to do a bit of travel around the North Island of New Zealand. As soon as I got behind the wheel of the “Electric Red” 1991 E36 325i (sedan/manual) I realised that I had been missing out on something during my previous years of motoring.









Unfortunately, I also managed to have my first and only accident driving the E36 north of Auckland. To cut a very long story short, I ended up agreeing to buy the BMW and repaired most of the damage myself. Best thing to ever happen to me

Fast forward a few years, I left NZ and sold the E36. For months I combed various car sales websites hoping to find a bargain E36 M3 but most that were cheap also generally had some terrible modifications or had been driven around Australia 178 times. I took an instant liking to the 2002 after searching for other manual BMW coupes. Eventually I settled on a 1602 that was mechanically average but had very little rust. Here she is shortly after delivery.











I rely on professionals for most of the work, as I am average with the tools and my single garage was built out of asbestos 70 years ago with no natural light or power. I will try to take better quality shots for the rest of the build process. Enjoy!

[Expire]

Very clean 2002, interested to see where this goes!

[hamish.com.au]

Bits and pieces have been purchased! Rota does not have the best reputation within the automotive industry. They are known for producing very similar wheels to bigger players but using cheaper materials and production methods. I based my decision on finding something basic, with an offset of 25 based on other 2002 owners feedback for fitting new wheels. At this stage of my build, the emphasis is on getting the car moving again legally rather than going nuts.

Rota RB15
Size: 7x15
Offset: 25
PCD: 4x100
Colour: Royal Lip Silver





I will try to post daily updates until I catch up to the current state of the 1602. There will be plenty of pointless photos of parts, as I am not normally around when work is being done on the car. That will change with the next stage of the build.

[hamish.com.au]

Alright more bits and pieces I have purchased for the 1602. First up is the King Springs.

Front: KBFL-21
Rear: KBRL-22

It is a little tricky to find good intel on these springs, even harder to find what they look like installed on a BMW 2002 or similar. They are a lowered spring, which should drop the ride by 30mm according to most reports I could find.







Next is the Wilwood big brake kit. Completely over the top but I like the idea of having quality brakes/suspension. Ordered from Ireland Engineering along with a few extra bits and pieces. I opted to go for the 320i single line master cylinder, Wilwood BP-20 brake pads, and drilled/slotted rotors.





















Finally for this update I got the Bilstein Sport shocks... I am not sure what the part numbers are but from looking at the IE website, I assume BIL 025 and BIL 118 might give you guys some clues. Hopefully the Bilstein struts pair nicely with the lowered King Springs, from what I can see they should be a good match but I have been wrong on the odd occasion.

[hamish.com.au]

Gave the beast a bit of a clean out, she was hiding some treasures… mainly rubbish in the form of old parts, spare seat belts, packaging, coolant, oil, and some random tools. Thankfully there was plenty of documentation, which is always good. Looks like the original owner was an engineer of some sort as the chap had created some hand-drawn graphs dating back to the 1970’s.

Found this old BMW brochure from 1968/69 when going through the documentation. Also enclosed was a copy of the warranty from the dealership who sold the 1602 as a secondhand vehicle in 1972.





These are just cheapies from eBay, I think I prefer the stalk type but will get these on the car and see how I feel after a few months. Should at least match the overall look of the 1602 with all of the white and chrome.



The local Tyreright hooked me up with some sort of tyre made by GT Radial that is only produced for Tyreright. Never heard of it previously but seems to have all of the good bits in it and were relatively cheap as well. They were Runway Enduro816 tyres.

I actually asked for 195/50/15 if possible but they seemed to have ignored that. Not sure if they will fit in the guards, as I read that 195 were the biggest without needing to roll the guards. Time will tell.



The 1602 is off to my local workshop this afternoon. Getting all the goodies installed and seeing if it passes the roadworthy test so I can at least start driving it around. Hopefully all goes well, it started first time after sitting in the driveway for the past 6 weeks.

From what I can see, the brakes will need most of the attention. I have concerns about the brake master cylinder not being correct as I purchased this going off what I thought would be a good fit. Also not 100% sure if the wheels/tyres will fit under the guards without rubbing.

[hamish.com.au]

The workshop called today and did not sound very impressed, there were issues with the 1602 and I “needed to come down and have a look.”

Thankfully it was not bad at all, the most concerning was a bit of rust in the passenger A-pillar which would need attention before obtaining a clean bill of health AKA roadworthy certificate. There were also bushings split or worn all over the place, and the front control arms and ball joints are also in need of some repair. Ireland Engineering got some more loving from my credit card.





Probably the least exciting photos I have ever taken, but here is a shot of some bushings and control arms etc that were delivered from Ireland Engineering to please the crowds.







Finally... the front end is seeing progress. Snapped a quick shot of the BMW when I dropped off some handbrake sleeves, please excuse the terrible image quality as I did not have my DSLR with me.

The front end has been changed over to the Wilwood big brake kit, Bilstein sport shocks, and King Springs.

[hamish.com.au]

Another quick visit this afternoon to check on how the BMW was progressing and drop off a few more parts. Rear subframe bits have been removed, cleaned, painted and tidied up where needed.













Once these updates are complete it will be straight over to a panel beater to clean up some rust patches and give the body a light going over.

Some JVC audio gear arrived - notably two pairs of 6.5" component speakers from the DRVN range along with a bluetooth single din CD receiver. There are better quality components out there, but in my experience the JVC equipment is both cheap and of good quality, will do the job nicely.

[white out]

I like where this is going.

[hamish.com.au]

I like where this is going.

Thanks, I do not want to modify it too much, but I do like driving a comfortable/reliable vehicle so most things will not really be performance related.

That being said, I might have to soften the ride a little with the stiffer Bilstein struts and King Springs

[hamish.com.au]

Front springs have been reset to sort out the ride height, minor tweaks required to camber. Unfortunately the clutch master cylinder also decided to blow so a replacement was organised.









Needed a new accelerator pump, so ordered this carb repair kit from eBay for around $20 USD.

[hamish.com.au]

Finally locked and loaded for the last stage of the journey... getting the rust and panels cleaned up, along with a fresh coat of paint.

[epearce]

Finally found your thread Hamish!

Good to see the some of the before photos.

[hamish.com.au]

Finally found your thread Hamish!

Good to see the some of the before photos.

Thanks mate, slowly catching up... pretty keen for the weather to improve so I can start pulling bits off in my driveway, still no council approval to get things happening with the new garage. Eyeing up that EFI kit and distributor-less ignition system - basically all the things that will completely drain my wallet.

[hamish.com.au]

Just a quick one showing the body work. LOTS of bog/filler removed, like bucket loads, and rust cleaned up... plenty of stripping back to metal and cutting rust. Good progress. Also fixed up a big crease in the drivers door. Rolled the guards and removed a bit of trim.

















Might be worth noting, I am not going for show quality or making it perfect - this is just a quick clean up so the old girl can roll along for several years without needing attention... I will do a complete strip for a showroom finish in the next 3-5 years.

[laBeef]

Awesome man!!