1972 BMW 2002 Build

[mini67]

Hello,

Finally got the M42 all together and it looks awesome. I do think that the engine should look nice in the 2002, not too out of place! Some people sand the raised lines of the valve cover and that looks good in my opinion however I also like the solid black. What are your guys thoughts? Thanks

[mini67]

[mini67]

Got the old M10 out! Now to clean the engine bay and stick the M42 in. Can’t wait!

[royalife]

I love all the new bits and pieces and attention to detail, gonna be a good one once finished. keep it up.

[mini67]

Update! I got the M42 bolted in! For me at least, this is crazy progress. I made some relatively rough measurements of the m42 in the subframe outside the car. Then proceeded to make engine mounts and bolted it in! I had to change the mounts a little to get the engine to exactly where I wanted, however overall wasn’t too complicated. There definitely is satisfaction to building something yourself. I made sure the M42 was exactly where it needed to be then made transmission mounts, shifter brackets and driveshaft mounts. Then tore it all out to clean and paint! The engine bay I am leaving original paint. I want this car running and driving in three months and do not want to have to strip fresh paint to weld a bracket or something like that. Three months is coming up quick! Hopefully it’ll be going by then….












This is the current state of the 2002. Lots of work ahead…

[Chapstck]

This thing is gonna be mint. Good shit man

[mini67]

Small update.

Just got some parts from the powder coaters. Super happy with the work! If you are in Calgary AB go to Topgun Powdercoaters! I por15’d the rear suspension components so It’ll be a good test to see which holds up better. I suspect the powder coating will. I also spend many hours scrubbing down the inside of the hood and touching up the engine bay. Its ready for a final install. Can not wait!





Here is the before of my engine mounts



Here you can see them in the top



Putting bushings in. Always put the rubber part in first…




Nice and original engine bay. Not bad for 45 year old paint.

[white out]

Quality build.

[kristianbolster]

this is insanely nice

[mini67]

Hello again,

This past weekend was full of activity. I have the M42 officially bolted in, hopefully for good! The transmission and driveshaft are also bolted in and my shifter is finished as well. Here are some pictures of the process. I didn’t take too many pictures of the shifter build but it was a lot of work! I used the original 2002 shifter housing and shifter but had to shorten the housing about two inches. I then cut the linkages in half and used half the e30 linkage and half the 2002 linkage and shortened it the same two inches. The original E30 shifter mount was too high and I didn’t want to weld the tunnel…. so I cut off the E30 shifter mount and now had to somehow bolt this new assembly on. There was two holes beside the shifter selector shaft that I tapped holes in, made little adapters and bolted the whole thing together! I am quite pleased with result! My transmission bracket also requested some creativity as I didn’t want to weld any brackets to the body but instead use the original mounts. The original e30 mount didn’t work at all, so naturally I cut it up. I used only the mounting holes off of it and welded a piece of metal bracket underneath to support it. I couldn’t use the e30 or 2002 rubber mounts so I decided to use the original sway bar end link bushing. I think it worked out great! Speaking of sway bars, I purchased a much thicker Ireland engineering one (22mm). However the original sway bar actually mounts in front of the engine and this aftermarket one is underneath. The m42 is a tall engine and I was nervous to do the install… It didn’t fit. If the engine was a smidge further forward it would be fine. That would demand recreating all of my mounts and shifter linkages, so naturally the only other way is down! I added a small spacer to the sway bar mounts and shaved my oil pan a little. Its very close still and I will have to have the car running before I can firmly decide wether or not it’ll do, but for now I am very happy with it! It was such a pleasure to use basically all new/ clean/ redone parts. Everything bolted together smoothly and even my “custom” shifter lined up beautifully.

Here is my shifter, the linkage on top is half 2002 and half e30. And here is the entire assembly dissembled.











Here is my transmission bracket, and with the sway bar bushing installed.






The engine all ready to go in! Can’t tell you guys how happy I am to be at this stage.










Its close!




Now to mount my radiator and wire it all in.... Thanks for watching!

[Fons]

Such a quality build! Really love the attention for detail.

[Nixxon]

^^^^This.

I have a question: is there a particular reason you didn't paint the transmission? It looks like the only part not made to look like new (not that it looks bad as is).

[mini67]

Such a quality build! Really love the attention for detail.

Thanks man!

^^^^This.

I have a question: is there a particular reason you didn't paint the transmission? It looks like the only part not made to look like new (not that it looks bad as is).

Good question! E30 transmissions have a tendency to pop out of first after years of use/abuse. I am not sure if this is a good transmission so I didn't wan to paint it just in case I need to rebuild it. I decided to just clean it for now, it doesn't look to bad in my opinion.

[mini67]

Everyones favourite part! Wiring…

This is my first engine swap and believe it or not I was actually excited to be at the wiring stage. There is many write ups on wiring and I read my fair share. At the moment I believe it is 100% wired in. Key word “believe”. I haven’t put power to it just yet. I’m still waiting on a few things. Also I want the car on four wheels before I attempt to start it. Since I used the entire M42 wiring harness there is basically only a few wires to plug in.

Main power to starter
Ignition switch
Tach
Ground
Fuel Pump
Alternator Charge control
Oil pressure

Also bought Hella H4 headlights and redid my grill. Just black trim paint for the slats and for the anodised aluminium I used super fine steel wool and wd-40 to polish it. It still has lots of pitting but I am very happy with result.











I will tidy up this connection, but for now I have to make sure its correct!

[mini67]

Hey guys,

I got the front suspension together and installed! Bilstein sport shocks and ireland engineering Stage 1 springs. Also installed new wheel bearings and brake rotors. I have yet to install the brakes as I will be rebuilding them but I couldn’t resist lowering the car back on its wheels once again. In my next post this car should be running! I still have to make an exhaust and I need your advice. I am going to be using a performance “stock 2002” exhaust and them just modifying the headers to fit. Has any had experience with this? Should I go stainless or mig weld them and get ceramic coated? Let me know what worked for you!