The Roundie - 1973 BMW 2002

[bwwaaaa]

Cut Up

Stopped by Axis the next day, and they already had started chopping up my trunk. It's tough to see with this photo, but if you look below the fuel filler neck, that entire section of floor is cut out. It was rotted enough to warrant just making a new one. Tower was cut, rust treated and will be patched. Since the damage was limited to the one tear, it didn't make sense to completely remove everything.

This whole section will be cut and replaced. It is located under the filler neck in the trunk. Water seeps in through the seal and eventually rots out this portion of floor. Non-structural, but disgusting all the same.

Given the progress he's making, the 2002 will be back pretty soon. I have to prep the gas tank to go back in, which I've been lazy about. I'm shooting to get everything quickly reassembled, but we'll see how it all goes. Word is there is going to be another StanceWorks open house in January/February. It'd be cool to have the car back together by then and take it out for that. But that is only possible with absolutely no delays. So we'll play it by ear.

[crf1877]

Finally my kind of car build.

[DawsonLiri]

The shock tower is really bad, glad you find it before doing the job!

Can wait for the return!

[bwwaaaa]

And We're Off

Keep in mind, this was supposed to happen after SEMA. Delays and some mistakes brought us to this point. But as of yesterday, the tow truck came to collect to the 2002 and it's at the body shop.

That's about the most low car friendly tow truck I've ever seen in my life. Love it, super easy getting the 2002 on and off. To recap, the 2002 is basically just going in for the passenger side shock tower, and some gas tank surround metal. The diff support was just fine, and frankly why over spend if the car doesn't need it? Hoping for a relatively quick turn around, though I'm not 100% sure what the timeline is. Once it comes back, it'll get a suspension and brake overhaul, and then finally off for a new radiator support and cooling system upgrades. There is light at the end of the tunnel now.

[oprahhwinfreyy]

Thanks! I used SEM Marine Vinyl Dye and prep. They have a few different shades of black, but I opted for "Ranger Black" which seemed to work well for my application. I included some links below, I'd test it out on sample material first just to make sure you like the finish. For my non-functional rear seat, it works well, but it has a very dry look to it in person. You may want to go with a brighter finish, depending what you are going for. Can't wait to see how it all turns out though!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003QLIW14/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/SEM-38343-Vin...Prep+-+13.3+oz.

I don't use my rear seat either. Thanks for the links!

[bwwaaaa]

That dyed rear bench looks great. In the process of converting my interior to black and is exactly what I want to do with mine.

Thanks! I used SEM Marine Vinyl Dye and prep. They have a few different shades of black, but I opted for "Ranger Black" which seemed to work well for my application. I included some links below, I'd test it out on sample material first just to make sure you like the finish. For my non-functional rear seat, it works well, but it has a very dry look to it in person. You may want to go with a brighter finish, depending what you are going for. Can't wait to see how it all turns out though!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003QLIW14/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/SEM-38343-Vin...Prep+-+13.3+oz.

[oprahhwinfreyy]

Thanks, it'll most certainly be driven hard when it's done!

On a Whole, This is Good

So I did a small amount of grinding to see what we were truly working with. Keep in mind this was done in about 30 minutes just on what was visually the worst areas of the trunk. I learned two things. I do not need a new diff support, and the shock tower is much, MUCH worse than I thought. On a whole, this is good news. to replace the diff support, the body shop would have had to drop the subframe, measure carefully, cut most of the trunk out. It would have be extremely expensive. I took my grinder straight to the visually worst part of the diff support, it had a very thick layer of flaking rust under the paint. What I discovered underneath was solid metal. Perhaps a little pitted, but not rotten through. Underneath the car, the beam is completely clean. I had a few people look at it, to make sure I'm not going crazy, and there simply isn't any cancer on the rear diff beam. This saves me likely thousands on the repair job.

That's a shitty photo of what was visually the worst rust in the trunk since I got the car. Underneath? Seems to be ok. Simply resealing the trunk floor seems to be the go to move here. No need to replace what is otherwise workable sheet metal. I will continue to grind every bit of paint off to make sure it's truly solid, but everything I checked so far has come up clean. Except...

The passenger side shock tower was what prompted all of this. The small grinding we did earlier revealed a hole or two. When I took my new angle grinder to it this time, I discovered some pretty catastrophic rust. This is bad, but not beyond saving. Fortunately I do have that sheet metal for this exact tower. Likewise, I seemed to have lucked out on the drivers side shock tower as well. Zero rust on everything I've brought down to metal.

This weekend I'll finish fully stripping out the trunk and getting the car ready for transport to the body shop. The tow truck comes to get it next Wednesday, and I'm hoping for a quick turn around time. From there it comes home for me to do all bushings and suspension refresh, and makes its last trip to my friend's fab shop for the core support work. We're getting into the thick of it.

I also made the impulsive decision to start stripping the interior. I want to put in that black carpet, so everything is coming out so I can pull the carpet, and when it gets back I'll be swapping that out. "While I'm in there" I'll also tackle some sort of radio solution. That'll at least put the interior in a happy place for me.

That dyed rear bench looks great. In the process of converting my interior to black and is exactly what I want to do with mine.

[bwwaaaa]

Wish I have that space!

But I'm glad you're doing this, this car need to be saved.

And then driven hard!

Thanks, it'll most certainly be driven hard when it's done!

On a Whole, This is Good

So I did a small amount of grinding to see what we were truly working with. Keep in mind this was done in about 30 minutes just on what was visually the worst areas of the trunk. I learned two things. I do not need a new diff support, and the shock tower is much, MUCH worse than I thought. On a whole, this is good news. to replace the diff support, the body shop would have had to drop the subframe, measure carefully, cut most of the trunk out. It would have be extremely expensive. I took my grinder straight to the visually worst part of the diff support, it had a very thick layer of flaking rust under the paint. What I discovered underneath was solid metal. Perhaps a little pitted, but not rotten through. Underneath the car, the beam is completely clean. I had a few people look at it, to make sure I'm not going crazy, and there simply isn't any cancer on the rear diff beam. This saves me likely thousands on the repair job.

That's a shitty photo of what was visually the worst rust in the trunk since I got the car. Underneath? Seems to be ok. Simply resealing the trunk floor seems to be the go to move here. No need to replace what is otherwise workable sheet metal. I will continue to grind every bit of paint off to make sure it's truly solid, but everything I checked so far has come up clean. Except...

The passenger side shock tower was what prompted all of this. The small grinding we did earlier revealed a hole or two. When I took my new angle grinder to it this time, I discovered some pretty catastrophic rust. This is bad, but not beyond saving. Fortunately I do have that sheet metal for this exact tower. Likewise, I seemed to have lucked out on the drivers side shock tower as well. Zero rust on everything I've brought down to metal.

This weekend I'll finish fully stripping out the trunk and getting the car ready for transport to the body shop. The tow truck comes to get it next Wednesday, and I'm hoping for a quick turn around time. From there it comes home for me to do all bushings and suspension refresh, and makes its last trip to my friend's fab shop for the core support work. We're getting into the thick of it.

I also made the impulsive decision to start stripping the interior. I want to put in that black carpet, so everything is coming out so I can pull the carpet, and when it gets back I'll be swapping that out. "While I'm in there" I'll also tackle some sort of radio solution. That'll at least put the interior in a happy place for me.

[DawsonLiri]

Wish I have that space!

But I'm glad you're doing this, this car need to be saved.

And then driven hard!

[bwwaaaa]

Well done mate The only feeling I prefer to the one I get when I finish a project is the rush of starting it

Thanks! If I'm honest it's a little scary to take a car I was driving that same morning, and completely disable it. I always get nervous it's not going to come back together. But I have faith, this isn't a particularly complicated project, just time consuming.

Are you going to dye the door cards or replace them?

At this stage, I think I'm going to leave them Saddle brown. I'm planning on putting black carpet in the car, so I'll have black seats, carpet, dash, and upper door cards, with a little bit of brown to set them off. While I'd prefer an all black interior, door cards are ridiculously expensive. And I've already been chewed out for even thinking about dying saddle door cards in other places, so for now they'll be fine.

[Secretfactoryjapan]

Are you going to dye the door cards or replace them?

[Secretfactoryjapan]

Just read this. Very cool. Front seats look great.

[Fruttolo]

Well done mate The only feeling I prefer to the one I get when I finish a project is the rush of starting it

[bwwaaaa]

Winter Build

So the time has finally come to tear the car apart. I started the process yesterday after one last cruise. That was mostly to get as much gas out of the tank as possible, but it seemed like a fitting conclusion to chapter one of the 2002. At this point the car won't be back on the road for a few months I imagine. I started tearing apart the 2002 in my garage, and then it'll be towed over to a body shop for rust repair in the trunk. From there, it's off to my fabricator to build the tube core support, and get all the radiator upgrades taken care of. Then back to my garage for bushings, ball joints, etc. I'll also be finishing what I can of the interior at that time.

I don't have a ton of space, but it's more than I have had in the past. So I'm stoked on that.


Starting point. Dirty, rusty, not so hot.


I started by removing the tank. The debris there is actually mostly dirt and a foam seal under the tank. But there is a fair but of rust too.


Reminder that this shock tower is the main reason we are doing this.


My stopping point. Suspension, strut brace, battery and fuel tank out.

After some creative shuffling, the 2002 now has a garage spot, and I can wrench in peace for the next few months. So far everything has gone smoothly, but I anticipate a few hiccups in the repair process. I'm actually very encouraged by my tear down. Originally I thought my differential support was toast, there was a thick layer of rust under the bubbling paint. I took a wire brush to it, and a layer of rust came off and it was solid underneath. The bottom side of the car is likewise totally clean. I will be taking everything down to bare metal this week to ensure that it is as solid as it appears, but it is very encouraging that my diff support seems to be totally ok.

On the flip side, I did find a totally rotten section underneath the fuel tank. Fortunately this is significantly easier to repair then the diff support, so in terms of trade off, I came out way ahead. I'm hoping for a speedy turn around. After this round of build, the car will still be ratty, but have a strong chassis and nice interior. Hard to complain about that. If all goes to plan, the car will be ready for some longer road trips this coming Summer.

[slurms mckenzie]

Doesnt get much better than an 02 on RS'