2,002 things to fix on this car (BMW content)

[readfrost]

I've decided to start a thread on my current project, mostly to help me keep track of everything. Here's a little background to start you all off:

In this past September ('14), I was spending countless hours looking through classifieds, eBay, craigslist and all that, searching for a BMW 2002. Specifically I had been looking for a early model with the round tail lights ('73 and earlier). Now, being on the East Coast, the pickings were very slim. The car I gravitated towards ticked all the right boxes: 1972, factory sun roof, Atlantik Blue paint, and was only 1.5 hours away. The only issue was it was listed as a parts car, the frame rail had rusted through. Nevertheless I contacted the seller and arranged to go and see the car that weekend.

The car was essentially as he described it, besides the fact that it wasn't running, and the chrome grilles were removed, and the interior wasn't too pleasant... Okay, so his description was very off...

But being the over ambitious and impulsive teenager I was (less so now ) I settled on a price and went and got it the next weekend.

Now for some pictures from the when we got it home:





Look at those sun rays, rad


Sat down in it was felt like I was in a different decade:


After the initial buzz of having bought a car, I started to get buyers remorse, and rightfully so. This thing needs a lot of work. I ended up trying to sell it for a few months, and after probably the 5th potential buyer backed out the day before he was going to pick it up, I said “Screw it, I’ll do it myself.”

That was just over a week ago, and I’ve been stripping it down to get a better idea of what needs to happen.

Heres some pretty pictures of that process, which is almost done:


Did I mention I don't have a garage? Welcome to 'The Hut':


DSC_0281 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0286 by readfrost, on Flickr

Bye bye gas tank:
DSC_0284 by readfrost, on Flickr

A little rust underneath those front fenders (it gets better)
DSC_0288 by readfrost, on Flickr

It seems the two ends of the frame rail had a fight and broke up :
DSC_0252 by readfrost, on Flickr

The patina on the air filter cover might just make up for it (not)
DSC_0267 by readfrost, on Flickr

The PO said that no bondo was anywhere near the car, false:
DSC_0294 by readfrost, on Flickr
Looks like the left rear quarter panel is going to be interesting once I start stripping paint...

Starting to pile up some parts:
DSC_0328 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0330 by readfrost, on Flickr

Heres something funny, the PO was super proud too.. Instead of patching the whole in the floor pan, he epoxied a license plate to the floor...this guy needs a medal, or three
DSC_0325 by readfrost, on Flickr

And here is how it is sitting after tonight:
DSC_0320 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0310 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0322 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0309 by readfrost, on Flickr

This rust is probably because the sun roof gasket wasn't installed after the roof was resprayed
DSC_0313 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0314 by readfrost, on Flickr

Some rust on windshield sills:
Front
DSC_0312 by readfrost, on Flickr

Rear, a lot of that is just flakes i need to scrape off to get a better idea:
DSC_0315 by readfrost, on Flickr

More rust, everyone loves rust. And Mondays. And taxes...
DSC_0317 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0295 by readfrost, on Flickr



So basically as I see it, in order to just get this thing running, I need to:
- Replace the driver’s side frame rail
- Patch the passenger side frame rail
- Possibly reinforce the shock towers, fingers crossed for little to no rust (HA)
- Get the motor running, or swap a new one in
- Repair rusted rocker panels, and other major rust

But because this is S/W, bare minimum doesn’t cut it. So here’s the eventual plan:
- Patch all rust
- (Possibly) Mrk I fender flares
- New paint, original color
- (Semi) shaved bay
- M20 swap (there will be lots of goodies for this one, looking for reliable power)
- Redone interior (E21 Recaros, and other period goodies)
- E21 LSD
- Some type of period motorsport wheel (think BBS E30)
- Roof rack of some sort, because they are rad
- Probably other fun surprises, but I’ll save those for later

And because everyone loves over ambitious photoshops of cars that will not be done anytime soon:
render by readfrost, on Flickr

Phew, glad thats over, I suck at writing stuff down..

[FilthyLittle02]

Whew best of luck man, looks like a lot of work, I've been grinding the rust out of an '02 myself. Funny mine had a license plate holding the floorpan together as well haha. Let me know if you have any questions or need any parts. I've got a roundie parts car (its pretty much a pos but you never know). Looking forward to seeing yours come together.

[readfrost]

Little update:

Got a few more things out, like the windshield wipers and the heater box, fuel lines, basically everything left in the interior that is not required to turn and stop.

DSC_0338 by readfrost, on Flickr

Found a rat's nest, it was only a matter of time...

DSC_0368 by readfrost, on Flickr

That actually goes all the way to just above the peddle box, you can sort of see some of it here

DSC_0369 by readfrost, on Flickr

I then put the key in the ignition, and turned it to unlock the steering (that actually took much longer than you'd think). I rolled it down the drive, and started to spray it down:

DSC_0389 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0395 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0398 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0402 by readfrost, on Flickr

Just about everything looks better wet:

DSC_0403 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0406 by readfrost, on Flickr

Then I bailed out my floor pans, good thing there's holes on both sides

DSC_0410 by readfrost, on Flickr

Dried
DSC_0416 by readfrost, on Flickr


Then I didn't know what to do, I can't drop the subframes until I have level ground to sit the car on jack stands. Then I remembered, I don't have any jacking points that aren't rusty...

The area in question:
DSC_0463 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0466 by readfrost, on Flickr

Oh, whats this?
DSC_0467 by readfrost, on Flickr

Dug through most of that..
DSC_0471 by readfrost, on Flickr

And then starting cutting away what was obviously rusted out
DSC_0473 by readfrost, on Flickr

And then I found this, which was a patch done by a PO. Not only was it under a think layer of bond (~1cm) but it was only held on with spot welds. On top of that it was just tacked on top of a rusty area, to cover it up essentially.
DSC_0478 by readfrost, on Flickr

So out it came:
DSC_0480 by readfrost, on Flickr

I then cleaned up the rest of the metal, not much pictures of it finished.
DSC_0483 by readfrost, on Flickr

And then I sprayed it over with self etching primer:
DSC_0484 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0485 by readfrost, on Flickr

It's still wet in those photos, thats why it looks like it isn't covering everything. We've having a cook out, and everyone wasn't too happy about all the noise, so I had to cut my cutting short.
That primer should protect what little metal is left until I get back to it.

[MkI]

bloody hell!

goodluck mate, dont give up, it will be well worth the effort once you have done it. It will probably take longer and more money than you expect, but again, it will be worth it when you're cruising the streets in something different and cool that multiple generations appreciate!

[_shim]

Damn, that's a lot of rust. Good luck dude.

[FunfGang]

Good luck tackling it all! Good to see people reviving these instead of scrapping them.

[readfrost]

Small update, continued what I'm calling 'Exploratory Stripping', or, 'Find the metal under the bondo'...

Continued with the rocker panel, go me some more supplies:


DSC_0486 by readfrost, on Flickr



This is where I left off, you can see the dents more clearly now that the primer has dried


DSC_0487 by readfrost, on Flickr



Started to strip back more of the rocker, finding some metal underneath a thin layer of bondo, it started to get thicker as I got closer to the B pillar. And you can see that rust poking through in that second photo.

DSC_0489
by readfrost, on Flickr


DSC_0493 by readfrost, on Flickr



Underneath this section was fairly pitted, along with the areas around the holes


DSC_0495 by readfrost, on Flickr



And under that filler mentioned before was this ugly joint, so i decided to cut out that hole section.


DSC_0500 by readfrost, on Flickr


DSC_0503 by readfrost, on Flickr

Removed:


DSC_0507 by readfrost, on Flickr


DSC_0504 by readfrost, on Flickr



I'll end up using the shape of the piece I cut out when I bend the metal for the rockers in the future, if I don't by a replacement panel. So I primed it, no pictures of that.

Stripped a little more paint off, finding some fairly clean metal, which is a nice change of pace.


DSC_0508 by readfrost, on Flickr


DSC_0513 by readfrost, on Flickr



Inside it is a little uglier


DSC_0511 by readfrost, on Flickr




I then took a break from all that and looked at the rear passenger side, the side I was pretty sure was the cleanest of the two. Got that stripped down and found a few dents filled with bondo:


DSC_0514 by readfrost, on Flickr



And then this, I don't know where the filler ends and the rust begins, all I know is there is no clean metal in there


DSC_0517 by readfrost, on Flickr



Started to rain, so I cleaned up and primed everything to keep it from rusting further. It's nice to know what is beneath the paint, even if it is not good. I guess it just gives me a better and better idea of the work that this poor car needs and never got.


DSC_0520 by readfrost, on Flickr


DSC_0523 by readfrost, on Flickr

[Robitussin]

Great work doing everything right! hope to see a perfect 02 in a few years

[readfrost]

Little update:

Continued the stripping for the rear end () and got it just about all to bare metal. Had to cut out a lot of the valence/bottom of rear panel because it was rusted to bits.

DSC_0656 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0657 by readfrost, on Flickr

You can see the bumper bracket poking through:

DSC_0659 by readfrost, on Flickr

Other side:

DSC_0662 by readfrost, on Flickr

A little note that I found on my roof:

DSC_0665 by readfrost, on Flickr

Full shot with more paint/bondo stripped:

DSC_0670 by readfrost, on Flickr

And cut that all out, gonna clean it up later:

DSC_0718 by readfrost, on Flickr

This quarter panel was patched, as you can see, it runs all the way to the rear fender. But sadlyI can't trust any of the repairs done to this car, so it will have to come out. If it's still clean I'll be able to reuse most of it, which is nice.

DSC_0681 by readfrost, on Flickr


That dent from before was cleaned up further, you can see they tried to hammer it out, but didn't to it properly, and just filled it.

DSC_0725 by readfrost, on Flickr

The rest of the rear end stripped and primed. Gonna sand it to find the low and high spots and bang them straight at some point.

DSC_0729 by readfrost, on Flickr

Also: I've used flap disks and wire wheels and all sorts of stuff to strip this down to metal, but these things are incredible, I suggest you get some if you are doing something like this:

DSC_0730 by readfrost, on Flickr

Thats all for now, I ran out of primer so when I get some more I'll figure out how I'm gonna sand it down and bang the dents out. I'm also working on finding someone to help me TIG new frame rails onto the car, but first I need to get a level surface to work on it (my driveway is sloped horribly). Thats why I'm messing around with bodywork, once I am able to jack it up safely and pull the motor, I'll get the frame rails sorted.

Thanks for lookin'

[readfrost]

Not a whole lot of progress, still figuring out how to go about replacing the frame rails. Probably going to bring it to a friends shop to do the jacking, cutting, welding, and priming. Then do a decent amount of the patching myself, or send it out for proper bodywork.

Also bought a Renown wheel that I will ultimately run on this car, but I got a hub adapter for my daily so I can use it on that for now. Should all be in that car in a few weeks.

Pulled out my 50mm lens and took a few pictures:

DSC_0390 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0398 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0402 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0406 by readfrost, on Flickr

DSC_0413 by readfrost, on Flickr

Hopefully more stuff will happen soon

[white out]

You have done a lot of work and are not even started. Good luck.

[readfrost]

So a decent amount of progress over the past few days... I'll start from the beginning:

Started by removing the sound deadening. If you are not familiar with the stuff they had in the 70's, its basically tar. And its VERY tough to remove. I decided to try both scraping it off with a heat gun, and dry-icing and then chiseling it off.

Here you can see the floor pan that I scraped off:

DSC_0857 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0856 by readfrost, on Flickr

Overall it was straight forward, just very slow, especially with my old heat gun.

Next I picked up some dry ice and threw it in some old pillow cases. I crushed it up with a hammer, and then laid it in the floor pans:

DSC_0854 by readfrost, on Flickr

It got super cold, and started frosting over. After about 10-15 minutes over an area, they were moved and then we just chiseled away at it. It came up in big chunks like this:

DSC_0860 by readfrost, on Flickr

One area just about finished up, most of it is just swept off and its fairly clean. Note large holes

DSC_0864 by readfrost, on Flickr

After about 2 hours, the majority of it was all off:

DSC_0866 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0868 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0869 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0872 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0878 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0879 by readfrost, on Flickr

Around this time I also pulled the sad carburetor off along with the busted radiator:

DSC_0886 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0897 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0883 by readfrost, on Flickr

Then we got ambitious...

This goes here:

DSC_0932 by readfrost, on Flickr

This goes up:

DSC_0940 by readfrost, on Flickr

This slides out:

DSC_0946 by readfrost, on Flickr

And you are left with this:

DSC_0949 by readfrost, on Flickr

Basically, we disconnected the whole subframe and engine/transmission. The subframe only had three bolts connected to the body (the other side was not attached, remember?). The drive shaft was disconnected from the transmission at the flex joint/guibo, and then the body was lifted. After that it just rolled right out.

Heres the side of the subframe that was attached:

DSC_0953 by readfrost, on Flickr

And this is the other side:

DSC_0952 by readfrost, on Flickr

A lot of that metal is supposed to be here:

DSC_0955 by readfrost, on Flickr

You can see all the oil everywhere, even in the trans tunnel:

DSC_0959 by readfrost, on Flickr

Next the engine was detached from its mounts and hoisted up:

DSC_0964 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0966 by readfrost, on Flickr

Surprisingly, this motor is the original engine for this body, so I really want to keep it. Might go with twin sidedrafts or something cool like that. Still a long ways away from building the engine.

Then we leveled her out after I realized that hanging it like that was dumb, and then bolted her onto my engine stand:

DSC_0974 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0976 by readfrost, on Flickr
DSC_0979 by readfrost, on Flickr

The transmission is covered in oil, I'm going to have to power wash both the motor and the trans as well as the underside of the body. I scrubbed a little of it off though:

DSC_0981 by readfrost, on Flickr

Clutch was actually not worn too bad:

DSC_0983 by readfrost, on Flickr

And last but not least, this big hunk of wood help us jack the front of the car up. Its an old piece of our house, which was built in 1885 (Marty, we have to go back! ). I want to include it in a roof rack of sorts as the wooden slats, might be sweet.

DSC_0984 by readfrost, on Flickr

I then packed it all into the tent, I have to clean everything out because it was a mess, but that is for another day (probably tomorrow). I really want to soda blast the whole body before I do anymore on it, so that is coming up in the list of thing to do.

[R0biin]

i can see now why this was a parts car. good luck

[mpower5266]

This is amazing. If anything it makes my long term (pushing 8 years) 02 resto look more doable. To be honest with you, this car is probably not the best restoration candidate but if youre anything like me, that wont stop you.

[readfrost]

Thanks guys! Cars are just big Legos really, take one part off, put another back on. You just gotta have it all aligned and attached in the right order. Thats how I look at it at least. They don't make these little cars any more, so if I can save her, I'll definitely try.