1972 BMW 2002 Build

[mini67]

Hey everyone,

I am a long time lurker and have now decided to finally do a build thread on my 72 BMW 2002. Up in Canada clean 2002’s are not easy to find so I consider myself very lucky for ending up with this particular car. The previous owner’s uncle bought it new and it remained in the family until I took ownership. It came with the original keys, manuals, and is a factory air conditioned car. Needless to say I am quite pleased! When I first came out to look at the car, it had been sitting, unrunning, for 15 years in a garage. It looked a little sad. Since its a 2002 it does come with rust, but overall its a very straight unmolested car! Exaclty what I wanted. My goal for this car is too have a more powerful, reliable, cruising car that I can drive the wheels off of. This is how it was sitting for the last 15 years..





Cleaned the engine up and put a new fuel pump in and it runs beautifully! So needless to say I had to drive her around.




Here is some of the rust issues. Although old, the paint is in good condition and after polishing should look awesome. I am grateful that the rust is concealed to areas that aren’t on the the main body panels and therefore I have less bodywork ahead of me!




Picked up some 15'' BBS Rims that I think should look good. More to come....

[MrViicc]

Love a good 2002 project! I'd love to find one that clean in Ontario that won't break the bank.

[mini67]

Just finished up some rust work in the trunk and rockers so may as well show progress. The strut towers on these cars rust from the inside out so I had to cut out way more than it looked like but the inner tower was super solid so I did not touch it! I fabricated the patch from the roof of a scrap car and am pleased with the results.







I also got all the nuts and bolts zinc dichromate plated which I highly recommend to anyone else dealing with rusty bolts!


Also notice that hideous steering wheel? It was necessary to replace it with the legendary Momo Prototipo. This car actually would originally have had a thin three spoke wheel but it was long gone!




When everything was nicely apart I decided it would be a good idea to polish the paint. It would have been repainted 20+ years ago but it looks amazing! Heres where it sits as of today. I still have to get the BBS RM's redone. I'm thinking of going with a gun-metal metallic. What do you guys think? Should I stick with the black?

[lmerani]

that o2 is turning out beautifully!

[Gurv ///M]

coming along nicely!

[Nagah]

Black is not a good mesh color for BBS RS. You dont see anything of the wheels which means you could run any other wheel too. Give them some shine!

[DeltaAlpha9]

Holy shit that paint looks damn good after only a polish.

[gusgus714]

loving the interior! great updates.

[Maikkeli]

Great job so far. I would maybe go with a white centre on those Rs's..

[Przemek]

love this car

[white out]

Looking great!

[mini67]

Here is a little video I made to show my progress so far. Hope you guys enjoy! I am not sure how to make it embedded in the forum.

[media=youtube][/media]

[floridabmx]

Damn. Awesome work!

Very impressed with the rust repair.

Also much respect for all that filthy cleaning!

I know it sucks.

Rs will look great. I agree you should get them refinished in silver!

I really want to know what you paid for the car though.

[Fons]

And another 2002 on it's way to being saved, you're doing a great job!
Cheers

[mini67]

Some of you who watched the video might have noticed a subtle battery bracket and hold down clamp in the trunk. I figured there might not be room in the engine bay after the engine swap so I decided to mount it there. At the moment I am just getting all the rear suspension components painted and ready to be installed. The diff on the left is a 3.91 Limited slip out of a E21 320is. The diff itself bolts in, however to do the swap you have to take the cover off a 2002 and adapt to the bigger CV joint holes. My 72 had an unvented cover, so I took a vented cover off a 75. Next you have to drill holes to mount the CV or change half of the CV’s to that from the E21.The e21 diff has m10 bolt holes and the 2002 cv’s are m8. See the problem? I am going to drill in the diff, this way I can always buy new cv joints and just bolt them right in, instead of having to make “special” CV joints out of a e21 and a 2002. Also I am going with the e21 rear drum brakes as well. They bolt right on and are 250mm which is an improvement over the 230mm stock 2002 drums. As you notice ALL the nuts and bolts went to the plater, and I mean ALL. I did get a little carried away but it is so shiny!







Here is the limited slip on the left, If you look super carefully you will notice that it is incredibly gross. Notice the vented cover on the 2002 diff on right. And of course the magical S on the tag! Last picture is an unvented cover.





I had the parts sandblasted and then brushed on POR15. I have heard only good stuff about the product however I am not totally happy with the look, but if it holds up that is more important! I am sure if it was sprayed it would have turned out better. Here is the stock 2002 drum inside the e21 drum







Here is the finished Limited Slip. Pretty happy with the look, I did go a little crazy with getting bolts plated….





Christmas presents to myself are the best! How did I know? Recaros…. The interior is slowly coming together! More to come...