76 Build - The story of a BMW 2002

[pinkboxxjoshua]

So Ive made some progress on the car since my last post.
With the main focus being the new front arches.

I decided that I wanted to fab my own arches and thought that the best way for me to do that was by building up a skeleton of the outer shape.
So I bought some 6mm steel bar and went to work!
To make sure I wouldnt have any rubbing issues, I started with the lower shape of the arch
IMG_3688 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3698 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
Once I had the lower shape nailed down (which took ages!) I made a Jig for the opposite side and copied the shape.
Then I moved to the top of the arch, and welded that into place.
IMG_3701 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3702 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3705 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3706 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

Once that was done, I and I was happy with the overall shape of the new arch I was abel to start building up the arch itself.
IMG_3709 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3711 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3712 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3716 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3717 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3719 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
Its slow work - But it seems to be heading in the right direction and I really like the aggressive stance.

IMG_3773 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3777 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3778 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

Finished shaping the front arch
IMG_3788 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3789 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3790 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3791 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3792 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3797 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3798 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

[Jerome89]

Holy crap this is a cool build! Subbed! keep up the good work!!

[pinkboxxjoshua]

Managed to make a little progress since my last post:

Had to order some parts to help adjust the crazy amount of toe in and camber the lower ride gave me.
So while I was waiting for them to arrive I focused my attentions on some general maintenance on the car, but in doing so I opened up a can of worms!

I thought it would be a good idea to remove the floor mounted pedal box and think about remounting it or cutting into the footwell to get some more leg room. But before I could do any modification, I noticed that the pedal box itself had failed and could fold back on itself any minute...
IMG_3825 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
I assume that joint was supposed to be welded... instead they decided to powder coat it together!
IMG_3827 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
Also, the pivot point for the brake pedal was rusting and looked like it was about to go
IMG_3831 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3834 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3835 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
So obviously that would have to be fixed before I went any further.
But rather than just fix it... I thought it best to take the measurements and make a custom pedal box using all of the existing ancillaries? And on top of that - one that was actually welded together!
So thats what I did:

IMG_3837 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3840 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3842 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3846 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3853 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3857 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3861 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

After that I mounted it to the footwell!
Ill have to wait until I've put the seat back in and bleed the brakes before I know for sure. But otherwise, it looks like its going to work!

So during that fix, the new camber and toe adjustment kit arrived and it was time to drop the rear subframe and get working.
IMG_3887 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

IMG_3888 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

IMG_3890 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

It took a while to make sure everything was symmetrical and even (so much measuring and remeasuring!) Once it was i welded it all up, gave it a lick of paint and threw everything back together and put it back under the car.
IMG_3896 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

IMG_3897 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

IMG_3898 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

Finally I had a change to roll the car out and have a good look at the new stance and front arches!
But obviously it would never be that easy!
The problem: Exhaust was a little too low before I lowered it... now it was stopping me from rolling the car because it was scraping along the floor... note to self 'build new exhaust'.
After removing the old exhaust, I was able to take advantage of a nice day, roll the car out and have a look at the work I've done:
IMG_3902 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

IMG_3906 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

IMG_3907 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

IMG_3903 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

IMG_3904 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

Im pretty stoked with how its looking now.
And I've made a start on the rear arches - I should have some more updates on them soon!

[The Norwegian]

you might get the engine temp down if you switch out the oil cooler with an bigger one

[pinkboxxjoshua]

Cheers for the tip! It is on the list of things to do, just haven't got around to it yet!
Also I'm running out of room in the engine bay - Im thinking maybe running and external one?

[loekaaz]

Damn. I'm blown away by the gnarlyness of this thing. And the decision to try and save this BMW was ballsy.

Somehow I keep on subscribing on others' threads, but lacking progress on my own?

[JHermes]

Liar!

you're a liar!
ow look at me I got no welding experience

You are welding a entire car together man!
it looks f***ing Nice!

keep up te work, im an subbed

[white out]

this thread fu*king delivers.

[OEM+ sluts]

I'm loving this. Good work!

[royalife]

this 02 is bad ass! keep it up.

[spaaals]

holy fuck you are pulling this off

[whyisthernousernames?]

This is insane! I hope to see it at a show when its finshed!

[delvin]

What is the CFM on those fans? If you can source an oem fan of some kind they move much much more air.

Love the build man

[pinkboxxjoshua]

Thanks for all the love buddies! Means a lot!

I should have some more updates soon.
Watch this space!

What is the CFM on those fans? If you can source an oem fan of some kind they move much much more air.

Love the build man

I can't remember the Exact CFM. But I made sure they were superior to the stock M20 fan - or at least they are supposed to be!
To be honest, a combination of an extra fan and the shroud made all the difference! I managed to get everything in control after lots of tinkering...
Also, before the car goes back on the road I'm pulling the engine and remounting the rad. Hopefully I will have a little more room in the engine bay - Might even be able to fit a bigger radiator while I'm at it...

This is insane! I hope to see it at a show when its finshed!

Im planning on doing as many shows as I can this year - maybe a few track days too! I basically missed all of them last year because the car wasn't ready.
My plan is to have the car back on the road by April (slightly ambitious!)

[pinkboxxjoshua]

So I've made some progress since my last post.
Amongst a few other things, I've mainly been focusing on the rear arches but progress is slow!

I got waylaid slightly by a few other projects I've been working on. One of them being a Marquee light I've been making.
Theres a few pictures of it below because its all in the spirit of Fabrication - but I don't want to focus too much on that... because lets be honest - Its all about cars!!

IMG_3951 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3957 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3967 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3970 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3977 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3982 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3986 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3989 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3992 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3997 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_3999 by Josh Parker, on Flickr


All in all it was too hard to build, and once the lettering was all cut out and the holes for the lights where drilled - it was just a matter of cutting, bending and welding 2" strips of sheet metal to box in all the letters.
Im pretty pleased with how it came out and my girlfriend seems to really like it.
I managed to get the light done just before Valentines day which worked out quite nicely.

IMG_4002 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

Anyway back to the 2002!!!

As I said above, the focus has been on the rear arches and making sure they are in keeping to the fronts...
So the first thing to do was to bend all of the steel bar stock to match the curves of the front arches (both inside and outside edges of the arch).

Then I moved onto where exactly I wanted them mounted and how much spacing was going to be necessary to fit the tyre in/under the new arch.

But before I did that, I had to bare in mind that I want the front track to be much wider than the rear (I'm building it with drifting in mind) and obviously the front wheels have to be able to get lock. So in order for the car to be usable, it almost meant that the front arches had a predetermined shape..
So with that in mind and the fact that the rear track is much narrower than the front, (the wheels haven't got anywhere near as much poke about 30mm each side compared to the 75mm at the front!! ) The shape of the rear arches will be slightly different to the fronts.

As the method I used for the front arches worked quite well, I decided to tackle it much the same way. But this time i didn't have to worry about steering lock.

First I mounted the arches at the top dead centre and at both ends. Once I had that figured out and I had the curves fixed It was just a matter of bending and cutting the seat metal to get a smooth and consistent curve throughout the arch.

IMG_4051 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4114 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

Once all of that was figured out, it all went quite quickly! After a few hours I had the front side of the arch all tacked together

IMG_4121 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4122 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4124 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4126 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4128 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4130 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4134 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

Then a few hours later I had the whole arch done so it was time to push the car outside and have a look:
IMG_4142 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4143 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4146 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4147 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4148 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

Im really happy with how everything is coming together now and can't wait to get started on the last arch!!

Having said that. because I've been paying much close attention to the arch and the surrounding area - I can't stop staring at the terrible repair job that I did after I replaced the sill... I was just getting my head around welding and had the MIG up wayyy too hot and welded the panel too quickly. resulting in a horrible wavy panel just in front of the rear arch.
So I'm thinking that maybe a BIG rear brake duct would cover up the problem area, as well as adding to the over all look of the car.

I dont want to simply replace the panel. But I would be interested in what people think about covering it up with a brake duct?

Maybe the opening could look something like this:
IMG_4140 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4137 by Josh Parker, on Flickr
IMG_4135 by Josh Parker, on Flickr

Im thinking it could look cool if the duct slowly tapered back to the new arch. what are everyones thoughts?

Cheers!