The Roundie - 1973 BMW 2002

[DeltaAlpha9]

Other than the Renown 100 being to deep for your driving position how did you like it? I've been eying them up lately and was about to pull the trigger.

[bwwaaaa]

Wheels: Part One

This weekend I spent some time working on the new set of wheels for the Roundie. I had originally built a set of BBS RSs for my E30, I ended up making them 15x8, which would have been too wide for this car. But if I put the stock lips back on it would have been perfect. However it's all a wash, because my 2002 has been swapped to 5x120, and my BBS RSs are 4x100. So I put the RSs back in storage. I figured it wasn't really worth the hassle going back to four lug, and I happened to have a set of wheel faces sitting on my shelf that I hadn't figured out a use for.

The tires I could change, but the bolt pattern on my RSs is wrong for the 2002. Shame...

In come my OZ Vega faces. A few years ago I bought a set of faces for $40. I had no use for them, but for the price I figured I could hang them up on the wall. When I bought the Roundie, I realized this was the perfect opportunity to do something with them. They're the right bolt pattern, and Vegas use 30-hole BBS parts. I just so happened to have a set of 1 inch lips sitting around from my RS rebuild.

This is how I got them. Not in bad shape, but due for a refresh.


One inch lips left over from my RS rebuild


I had been looking for a set of OZ Vega center caps for a long time. Happened to snag a set this week finally.

I sent the faces off to get powder coated. I had them redone in a very similar gold. It's tough to capture the color right, in the shade it looks much darker than it really is. But next to the Sahara Beige, it looks fantastic.

Love this color combination.


I wasn't sure on gold at first, I was planning on doing a silver again. Glad I went this route.

Before sending off the lips for polishing, and ordering barrels, I wanted to take a few minutes to test fit everything and make sure I knew what I need. I need 15x5.5 30 hole barrels for sure, so if anyone is selling a set, please let me know. These will ultimately sit at 15x7, and I'll be putting 195/50 tires on them. I may need a small spacer in the rear, but that is to be determined.

This week I drop off the center waffles to get color matched, and the lips to get polished. I'm still on the hunt for some good, used barrels (as new barrels are well over double the cost). I'll get some new hardware, and slap them together soon! I've ordered a few more odds and ends as well, hopefully those parts arrive this week. I had wanted to take the car to Stance Wars Las Vegas this year, but I rather not rush the build to make it there. I'm shooting for Big SoCal Euro as the Roundie's first big road trip. Lots of stuff to sort out between now and then (mainly the cooling system), but definitely doable.

[white out]

Congrats! Love that car

[bwwaaaa]

Nice!!!

man I do love this. keep up the good work look forward to seeing it progress.

look awsome, cant wait to see where this goes

I love it!

Good start

Thanks all!

Currently just playing the waiting game on parts to come in. Hope to have new updates this weekend, if stuff arrives like it's supposed to. Also searching for a set of 15x5.5" BBS 30-hole barrels if anyone has a clean used set of four for sale. More details on the wheel build coming soon

[Dane083]

Good start

[76BMW2002]

I love it!

[C2_mad]

look awsome, cant wait to see where this goes

[Benwalsh91]

man I do love this. keep up the good work look forward to seeing it progress.

[Steven_318ti]

Nice!!!

[bwwaaaa]

Introduction

The Roundie

A few of you might have seen my E30 build thread, which went exactly one post deep before being abandoned. Shortly after posting that up, the real world caught up with me and I found myself with zero time to work on the car. While I wanted to finish the swap, and restore the car to what I had always pictured, it just wasn’t in the cards for now. Unfortunately I decided to part ways with the car, and find something a little more complete that I could enjoy while I made small changes.

In comes my 1973 2002. I’ve had an itch for a 2002 for quite a long time now. A friend of mine has had a number of them and I’ve always loved the little cars. I started the hunt a while back, but had little to no luck finding something that was both in budget, and not a complete basket case. I didn’t think I’d be able to find a Roundie in my budget, but this diamond in the rough popped up.

Taken in Stockton, when I flew out to inspect the car

I actually found this car by accident, just browsing Instagram one night. I shot the owner a DM, and next thing I knew I was flying to Stockton, CA to buy this car and arrange shipping home. The previous owner was incredibly nice, and helped me out quite a bit in getting the car ready to send home. He had had the car for a long time, and had seen a lot of the details of the build through properly.

On it's way home! That E38 pissed oil all over my poor '02.

Here’s a basic run down on the car. It’s already M20b25/G260 swapped (with a refreshed M20), sitting on CAtuned coilovers, with a Kooglewerks front air dam, and a number of other little changes. The previous owner 5 lug swapped the car by modifying the hubs, and it now has a 5x120 bolt pattern. The car isn’t without it’s problems, there’s some rust here and there (most notably in the pedal box), but is largely structurally sound. There isn’t any deep cancer in the areas these cars get hit the most.

This was an important part for me. I knew whatever 2002 I bought, I'd end up dropping an M20 in eventually. This saves me some time long term.


These are actually Firebird wheels. I dig them, but they aren't staying.

The plans are pretty simple. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up with the swap, so I’ll be tackling those first. The interior is a mix of so many colors that I want to redo it entirely. Exterior wise, I’m in the process of building another set of wheels for this car (as my RSs will not fit it), but otherwise can remain as is for the most part. So the changes will be subtle, but worth while. Long term, I'd love to get it body worked and repainted a fresh coat of Sahara Beige, but that's only if time permits.

First Changes

After test driving the car in California, I knew there was a few things that I would have to take care of right away when the car arrived home. Primarily with the throttle pedal. The car has an E30 G260 5 speed, which required the transmission tunnel to be widened. The result was a stock throttle pedal that absolutely did not fit anymore. I struggled to press it, and broke it clean off not 30 seconds after the car had arrived home.

I ordered an Ireland Engineering aluminum throttle pedal, a kit they sell to address these issues. I simply cut out the stock pedal bracket, and bolted this pedal in. The pedal pushes against a roller bearing on the throttle rod, and engages incredibly smoothly. 10/10, best modification I’ll ever do to this car. Mainly because I can actually drive it properly now.

I opted for the black pedal to blend in


This is the worst of the rust. A lot of it is surface, but you can see where it ate through in the corner where they widened the transmission tunnel. The rest of the car is clean, but unfortunately this is a moisture hot spot on these cars. It'll definitely get patched up soon.


For those familiar with 2002s, these are the dreaded nubs.


Skipped a few steps, but here's the finished product. It clears the transmission tunnel, and engages smoothly.

I also ordered a steering hub adaptor from IE, as I had a Renown 100 sitting around from my E30. The stock wheel was in decent shape, but a little too big for my taste. Unfortunately the 100 sticks out way too far on this hub, so I’ll likely need to swap to a Monaco. Otherwise it looks fantastic.

Before. Very clean but a little too big for me.


After. It looks great, but I need to switch to a wheel with no dish.

Before the car was shipped to me, the previous owner spun up the coilovers so nothing was damaged getting on and off the truck. So I took some time to spin everything back down. I discovered the car is sitting on true-rear coilovers, but has no reinforcement on the rear shock towers. So I’ll be tackling that pretty quickly as well.

Hover '02 engaged. Those oil spots came from the beater Accord I keep around, not the Roundie.

I’ve only had the car for about a week now, so there wasn't a lot to report right off the bat. Fortunately I can say there will be future updates on this car, I have parts coming in and some goals to hit this year.