My '73 Roundie Revival [BMW 2002]

[CubbyChowder]

YES!! Progress!! Dude I love your car, your spirit and mindset. Keep up the great work. It's so cool to see others with ability and same passion I have for fabricating doing what they love!

Thanks man! I'm happy you can understand where I'm coming from

So glad to see this build moving again and things working out for you.

Keep up with the updates!!

I am very glad to see progress happening as well, updates will be flowing in from here on out!

ahh wow!! Im so happy for you man. Cant wait to see this done.Keep up the hard work and don't get discouraged!

Thanks dude, things do get discouraging at times but that's all part of the process.

This is by far my favorite build. You are building my dream, can't wait for more progress!

I'm honored to hear that! Stay tuned, there is more to come

[serdar255]

Loving this thread!

Nice progress good sir.

[AwakenNoMore]

Those wheels give me a naughty feeling. This car is going to be insanely cool.

[Zreberlcoe]

Dude your skill is remarkable. Damn this is cool!

[Addison325ix]

Fantastic job, keep up the good work

[CubbyChowder]

Thanks everyone, expect a big update within the next few days. Been putting in a lot of work!

[Zreberlcoe]

Thanks everyone, expect a big update within the next few days. Been putting in a lot of work!

Thank god! I'm excited!

[NickL]

This makes me so happy haha. Exact same process as the fronts on my E30. Awesome job dude.

[CubbyChowder]

This makes me so happy haha. Exact same process as the fronts on my E30. Awesome job dude.

Thanks dude :up:



Progress.

So I was in a bit of a dilemma about the rear fitment. In order to get it to sit where I wanted when aired out, I had to run a 20mm spacer. This meant I would have to run extended wheel studs as well. Extended studs and a pair of 20mm spacers would run me about $100 total. This got me thinking. The negative camber while aired out was pretty extreme, more than suits my taste. Instead of going that route, I decided it might be a better idea to kill two birds with one stone. I thought it would be a good idea to pull the rear subframe again and put that $100 towards weld-on camber adjustment tabs so I could add some positive camber back. This would theoretically eliminate my need for extended studs and spacers and bring some functionality back and give my tires some more life at the same time. Seemed like the better option, so that's exactly what I did.

So once my mind was set, I ordered the tabs and pulled the rear subframe again:



I notched out the original trailing arm mounting points in preparation for the new tabs:



Lined everything up and started welding:



As you can see with the new tabs welded in, the top half is not reinforced at all, so I thought it would be a good idea to box them in. To do so, I created 4 of these:



These filled the empty space, as shown in this picture. Notice that I purposely set the new camber tabs so that the lowest mounting point is about 1/4" higher than the original mounting point. I did this because it didn't seem like these camber tabs provide too much adjustment, so I wanted to make sure I could add enough positive camber to straighten things out:



Welded them up and then prepped/painted the whole rear subframe:





Once that was all done, I removed the bottom spring perch on the trailing arms by drilling out the spot welds with a spot weld cutter drill bit. This is where the bottom of the rear bags will mount:




And then ground everything smooth. You can see I drilled a little too far with the cutter on most of them. I've never done this before so it was a learning thing for me. I don't think it'll be an issue, I'll most likely reinforce that whole area anyways:



Got the whole rear subframe/trailing arm/differential assembly back together and ready to install (I temporarily bolted the spring perches back on so I could install the stock springs again because I need to get the '02 off the lift to work on a friends car this weekend):



Once everything was bolted up, I had the opportunity to see if all that work was worth it. To be honest, I thought it was going to make a bigger difference, but I am still happy with the end result. Here are a few pictures showing the differences between full negative camber (left) and full positive camber (right) at the aired out height:




As you can see, it's not a world of difference, but it definitely helps. I think I will still run a 5mm spacer to get the lip out a tiny bit more, and I won't have to run extended studs that way, so that's a plus! Hopefully my tires last a little longer this way as well. Keep in mind, these pictures are when the car is aired out, not at the height I will be driving.

With that squared away, I could focus on the fronts again. My replacement shock which I ordered from BagRiders arrived (ruined shock on left, new shock on right):



Was super nervous welding it the whole time but everything worked out fine:




Lastly, I welded on new tabs for the brake caliper line bracket to bolt to and then prepped/painted those. Super happy to see both fronts completed and painted up :)





So that's where I'm at now. I just ordered new brake rotors and calipers for the front, so those will get installed as soon as they show up. Once I'm done working on my friend's car and a "customer's" Jeep I will get at it again and get the brackets for rear bags fabricated and get those mounted up! Stay tuned!

[AwakenNoMore]

Looking great!

[LJ851]

Toe is what wears your tires quickly, camber mostly just makes the wear uneven. I would recommend you add toe adjusters to the subframe to help this. You could pull the pivot bolt out of that side of the trailing arm when aired out and move it back half an inch or so to see if you like the change visually before you purchase and weld.

[semaj4712]

Looks great so far, couple questions for ya, where did you get those MK1 fenders from, cant seem to find the rears from RabbitParts.com, also I think in one of your first pages you talked about getting the rubber seals for the windows, where you buy those from.

Thanks

Also, how much space do you have on your wheels on the inside, I am trying to run 9.5s in the rear and your outside fitment is perfect, just curious about inside clearances

[knuklehead92]

Looks great so far, couple questions for ya, where did you get those MK1 fenders from, cant seem to find the rears from RabbitParts.com, also I think in one of your first pages you talked about getting the rubber seals for the windows, where you buy those from.

Thanks

Also, how much space do you have on your wheels on the inside, I am trying to run 9.5s in the rear and your outside fitment is perfect, just curious about inside clearances

http://mtmfg.com/vw/2497/Volkswagen-Rabbit-Cabriolet-Sheet-Metal-I-1975-84-Golf-I-Rabbit

flares can be found here

[semaj4712]

Oh dope even cheaper than I expected, are you guys running large or small sizes?

[CubbyChowder]

Oh dope even cheaper than I expected, are you guys running large or small sizes?

I don't think there actually are sizes, I wonder why it suggests that. Just buy four rear wheel arches, 2 driver's side and 2 passenger's side.