My '73 Roundie Revival [BMW 2002]

[CubbyChowder]

Got this out:



Took it to this (trailing arm bushing):



Which led to this:



And I ended up with this:



All out:



Pressing the new bushing in:




And there we have it:




So since the car has previously been in an accident on the left side, the left trailing arm mounts were a little bent up, pictured is the outermost mount. It had previously been fixed (kind of), and I decided to weld two thick washers on either side to close up and reinforce the metal. I measured where the bolt should be and welded everything up. Beware, the final product looks a bit ugly, I'm still getting used to welding. For some reason my wire feeder kept seizing up and would stop feeding wire while I was welding which was really messing me up. I didn't realize this until I was about done with this mount, so the welds look pretty terrible, but I figured it's not in a visual spot and I still penetrated the metal a good amount, so I'm confident that it will hold up. Like I said, it's not the prettiest thing in the world...

Before:




After:



Then I started on my CV boots. I noticed that one of my CV joints is different than the other three, must've been wrecked in the accident and replaced. Not sure whether it's aftermarket or OEM, but it seems to be working just fine.

I took the joint all apart and cleaned everything real good:



Put everything back together, greased it all up...



All sealed up and ready to go. A comparison shot with the other axle.

[CubbyChowder]

Dropped the rear subframe. I ordered a bunch of new OEM rubber bushings for the suspension to freshen things up. Decided to go OEM rubber over urethane just because this car is going to be a comfortable daily driver, and didn't feel urethane was necessary. I also ordered 4 new CV boot kits as the current ones are starting to crack and are on their way out. Just waiting for everything to come in the mail!

I was a bit nervous dropping the subframe by myself, didn't really know what to expect when lowering it down but it went smoothly:



Both rear subframe mounts are lookin' kinda sad, these will be replaced:




All the trailing arm bushings are shot, they all look like the one pictured. These will all be replaced as well:



These bushings still look good, won't be replacing them.



Needs a good cleaning!



Also received this in the mail, a new carpet kit made by Esty!:



All black to keep it classy, the whole set isn't pictured, just to get an idea of what it looks like. My cat was all over it, he thinks it's a quality set:




Just a small update. Received my 4 new CV boot kits in the mail. Got most of the rust in the trunk area taken care of (didn't take any pictures yet) and started taking apart the rear suspension so I can clean and replace things.




And this is random but I thought it was rad. I turn 22 on Monday and my girlfriend made this bench for me for my birthday, she's awesome.




Time for a tacky display-new-parts-on-a-towel update:

Just received my package from BluntTech which consists of a bunch of genuine BMW goodies. Included was:

First picture:
(2) inner control arm bushings
(2) outer control arm bushings
(2) compliance bushings
(4) trailing arm bushings
(2) rear subframe mounts

Second picture:
(1) trunk seal
(2) black "Turbo" windshield locking strips
(2) quarter window seals (driver and passenger side)

[CubbyChowder]

Making more progress, got a bunch of pictures for you guys.

Started getting at the trunk area for rust repair and general clean up:



Got the gas tank out:




Worst rust spot in the trunk:



Didn't get very far with the trunk as my dad had time to help me pull the engine, so we started on that. Driveshaft out:




Shifter assembly out:



Tranny out (yuck):



Engine is ready to come out:



Engine out. My dad sold his engine hoist and mount a few months back so we had to improvise a bit haha:









This is the only progress I made on the trunk area so far:



My awesome dad:



My parts room is starting to fill up!



After a thorough pressure wash. Still need to get at some places:





Going back for more tomorrow! Enjoy dudes.

[CubbyChowder]

Although updates have been pretty slow, I've been working on the car a bunch. I'm just mainly doing rust repair right now which isn't super picture/update worthy after every time I work on the car. So I'm just going to pile a bunch of pics I've taken over the past couple of days.

Before I post some pictures, I need to say that I realize this isn't the absolute ideal way to deal with rust, however I'm doing the best that I can. I'm learning everything as I go, and I don't feel comfortable cutting out and rewelding in certain spots (such as the rear windshield area).

I started off with grinding away as much surface rust as possible, and I almost got everything back to bare metal. I did repair a few spots in the floorpans, but for the most part everything was solid. You will notice in the pictures there are a few tiny rust spots here and there, but the rust bullet paint should take care of that.

This is my welder, it's a Lincoln 180HD which I got for a super good price brand new off craigslist, and I just got a 141 cu.ft. Argon/co2 shielding gas setup for it so I can get at the really thin metal.



This is the section of the driver's side floorpan that I cut out:



Replacement metal, cut from an old Chrysler Sebring in my dad's backyard :rofl



Welded up, please bare with me, it was my first time welding thin metal:




Passenger's side floor pan. Only had to replace a small area, getting it ready for Rust Bullet:





This is where the new quarter panel was welded in. Everything was a little rusty all around the seams but I got it all back to bare metal and ready for rust bullet:





This is where the rear windshield sits. It's all dented up with bondo everywhere. Took it down to bare metal as good as I could. Ready for rust bullet




Top of the windshield area, all of the rust ground down, ready for rust bullet.




Rust Bullet applied:


















I know in some of the post Rust Bullet pictures, it looks like there is still rust all around it. That's mainly a mixture of dirt and the "Colorado" orange color which is the color of the quarter panel that was welded in. There is no more visible rust anywhere on the floorpan (except for the pedal box area, which I will be taking care of when I remove the box). Happy with my progress so far. Like I said, I know it would be ideal to replace every bit of rust with new metal, but I feel like I'd drive myself crazy doing that. I've read good stuff about Rust Bullet so I'm sure it'll hold up. Thanks for viewing!

[CubbyChowder]

Not a very exciting update, but making progress! Got the rear end taken apart and started on some rust removal. Since the rust really isn't that bad at all, I've decided that I'm going to grind away as much as possible, fix the areas that have rotted through, and cover all the previously rusted spots in Rust Bullet and overcoat with Herculiner. I will be doing the wheel wells, floor pans, trunk area and possibly engine bay in Herculiner. I know some will say its unnecessary and overkill, but I want a clean, durable, consistent look throughout the car. Anyways, onto some pictures!

Rear end taken apart:




Post pressure wash:






Started grinding away at the rust throughout the body. Please note that I am not finished in some areas, which is why it may seem that it's a sloppy job. Getting rid of rust is my main priority right now and I want to do it as good as I can:






My only real before and after from today:

Before:


After:


Ordered Rust Bullet today, so it'll be a few days before I can apply it. I still have a lot of random rust spots to take care of in the trunk area, driver's side rear wheel well, floor pans, and other miscellaneous spots throughout the car. Slow progress right now, but I want to make sure rust is taken care of before I start on the fun stuff :D

[CubbyChowder]

Got a little bit more done today. Met up with my friend Derek who is the main sales guy at AccuAir Suspension, and we talked air suspension on the 2002 for a bit. I have a pretty good idea now of what setup I will be running, but it's going to be a little bit before everything gets ordered. I basically need to find the wheel setup that I will be running and base everything off them.

Brought it back up to my Dad's house and continued on the dismantling process. I got the whole front end taken apart today. As usual, bondo everywhere, it almost seems as if the entire body has a layer of bondo. Kind of a bummer, but oh well, fuck it! Sorry if some photo's seem unnecessary, I'm just trying to document the build as good as possible



rear driver's side


rear passenger's side


front driver's side


front passenger's side




dirty


OEM hubcaps in good shape, wonder if they're worth anything?




Stupid idea in my opinion, just had to get the ol' grinder out.



Inner fender, barely any rust!


Passenger fender, ready to be cut


cut

[CubbyChowder]

Got to work on the car a bit more today. Continued to dismantle the interior to see how much rust I am really working with. After getting the interior bare, I was glad to see that the rust really isn't that bad. Mainly surface rust, however I will have to repair a few small spots. I came across some very half-assed fixes, but overall nothing overwhelming. I also found a couple cool little artifacts from the 80's! Let's get onto some pictures:

First off, there are a few spots on the car that have a ridiculous amount of bondo, mainly the rear driver's side fender. Luckily I'm making my own fenders so most of that bondo will be gone. Look how thick it is!



The driver's side door (which has been replaced) had a pretty half-assed door panel solution which included welding it to the door. Got my grinder out and got it off:





Don't really know what happened here, I just need to re-weld it up again:



Passenger side is clean:



Then there's this thing. I'm assuming it's some sort of aftermarket air conditioning unit. I'll most likely end up selling it and make my own center console:



The wiring for the stereo was absolutely terrible. My cat could've done a better wiring job than this:




Some before's, during's and after's of the interior dismantling. I removed all of the sound deadening. Hopefully this stuff isn't sought after because I pretty much ruined all of it. I wanted to make sure the floorpans were solid:






As you can see, the rust really isn't that bad. Majority of it is surface rust, but I do need to do little repairs here and there. And here are some of the cool little artifacts I found from the 80's:

JFK matches:



Shell Gas Card expired 1988. Maybe I should try to use it :)

[CubbyChowder]

Hey guys, I figured I'd post my project build in here since there are a few other 2002's and I love E30's as well.

I bought this 1973 2002 in late February 2012, and have been working on it a bunch.

This build includes a healthy mixture of mutilation/restoration/stancification/personalization/modification/etc.

Let's get started:














Then I did a little bit of work, took some interior stuff out and removed some trim. Didn't really accomplish too much today, just spent most of the day coming up with a gameplan:










And here's one my girlfriend took of me about an hour after buying it :D