1971 BMW 1600 Project

[CorvallisBMW]

I love this project!

[phreshkid]

Well, some more progress happened today.


I forgot the keys to the m3 in the ex-gf's rental last night, so I was kind of carless for the first half of the day. I did manage to make it to the warehouse but the guys were busy at work doing all the cool stuff I was hoping to document. Bummer for me.

This is what I get in to:



The old engine is sitting in the middle of the warehouse, and my mechanic friend is replacing things and attaching things to other things. I wasn't able to get shots of the engine being inserted from the bottom, but it happened.

Proof:


I was hoping I'd have a few hours to deep clean everything in the engine bay, but I kind of blew that with the misplacing of the keys. Girls, man. Either way, the bay was very clean to begin with and I can still take my time and tidy it up the right way.

As we were replacing the ball joints, we realized that this car never had it's ball joints replaced. We actually had to grind out the rivets from the original control arm, just to remove the old ball joint. Notice the deep gray color of the control arms and suspension components. BMW would alternate between black powder coating and this gray powder coating. I really like the gray over the black but I don't know why.



We pop out the old gear and get the new joints installed. Our replaced parts pile is starting to grow.



Here are the replaced ball joints:



I sat them alongside a new set of control arms sans ball joints. Notice the color difference. I had to pick up a new set of control arms because the original ones were shaped like bananas aka they were bent once or twice throughout their long, miserable lives.

I didn't actually have replacements until I called my friend Erik at Coupeking. He just happened to have a set or 10 of BMW 2002 control arms laying around. Good thing he's 2 minutes away from our warehouse.

Look at that bend:





A year or two ago, I bought a bunch of 02 parts from Blunt. One of the things I bought was this suspension bushings replacement package. Basically every rubber bushing needed to completely overhaul your 02's suspension. I was actually saving all of this for the silver car. Scope creep got a hold of me in a bad way. I don't mind it though. If I'm going to partially restore a car, I should probably make it safe and driveable.

A few more replacement parts: Old vs. New:



Had an extra set of poly rear subframe bushing inserts from Ireland Engineering. 5 minutes later and they were inserted into their new homes. This will stiffen up the rear subframe bushing a bit. BMW doesn't make them as solid as they used to so unfortunately, these are somewhat necessary.



Another Ireland Engineering piece. One of their aluminum radiators that are replacements to the stock units. Some people hate them, some people like them. I still have no opinion on these radiators. I'll let you guys know if it breaks or overheats the engine. I did notice that the mounting holes don't line up very well. I will have to drive a few extra holes in the radiator mounting plates. Not too stoked about that but it has to be done.



Oh yeah, I also replaced the front bumper with another unit I had laying around. The previous bumper was bent in on the bottom... probably from a minor fender bender in the past. It's good to have a few extra parts. And it's not too nice that it was make the rest of the car look like shit. It's just the right amount of wear.







Tomorrow is another big day. I'm hoping to have all new shocks, struts, springs, camber plates, lsd, rear bbk, and whatever else I have laying around for this car.

I'm hoping to have more parts arrive in the mail soon, too. Whatever my original budget was, I passed it about 8 times now. I should have bought a new car.










Just kidding.

[zumjosh]

You Romos do great work! Hope all is well and I hope to see you at my meet again up in Sac sometime!

[CubbyChowder]

edit: nevermind, I reread and understand now. Deleted my original comment. Nice progress dude

[phreshkid]

Updates today.


Today was a rather important day for me and this car. I realized yesterday that this 1600 had no front or rear swaybars. Swaybars were options on the 1600 and seeing as this was the most basic model, it basically had no options at all. The good news was that it has the right provisions to allow the addition of swaybars with no modification to the front or rear subframes.

Where to start.... I got to the shop today and the guys were busy on the car. We removed the driveshaft and differential, in preparation for the lsd unit. We needed to change out the driveshaft's center support bearing but didn't have the right tools. I figured a driveline shop can do this for under $100 but then I remembered I have a rebuilt unit from La Jolla Independent somewhere in the warehouse. I got pretty lucky when I found it.

Lets see here, picture time.

I had to swap out the rear plates from the 1600 diff onto the e21 diff if I want to mount it, so I snapped a shot of the e21 lsd unit (on top) and the 1600 non-lsd 4.10 short neck diff.



Naturally, I didn't have a gasket so I called my friend Erik from Coupeking again. He had a few things that I needed so I headed his way to pick them up. Little did I know that he was on his way to my place to drop them off. We miscommunicated and ended up at eachother's shops. We suck. He also dropped off these little pins that I needed to make the 320iS brakes work in the rear. He's a super guy. He saved me 5 times already. Bless that man.

Pictures of the new gasket on lsd and 1600 rear cover:



See where the screwdriver is pointing to? I was missing four pins that hold the shoes to the backing plate. I can't believe the kit I bought didn't come with them.



Why go for the 320i drum upgrade in the rear? Well for starters, the 1600 rear drum brakes measure 200mm diameter. That's as big as my head, or a small pizza...a really small pizza. And besides, just look at the picture below:






Remember that pile of replaced parts that I started yesterday? It's starting to grow:






Time to play with the front suspension and install the new Spax struts, springs, and new upper strut bearings with IE fixed camber plates. But first, look at how clean the inner front fender is. I love this car. Almost zero rust.






I didn't know it, but we had a fancy spring compressor designed my make my life simple. This tool is so nice to use for a project such as this. This is a photo of the original strut housings, original springs and mounts. All coming apart for the new gear:






And here it is, all the new stuff installed and going back together. I would have taken my time to clean better and paint, but I had friends helping for a very limited time. Next time I suppose. Don't judge me.






Parts pile is still growing!









Rear Springs and shocks are in, along with a look at the fresh IE rear subframe inserts. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that you can flip the rear subframe mounts to gain camber correction for lower 2002s. I'll look into this. I have a feeling that I'll be pretty low with this new suspension.




We took the rear brakes apart in an effort to modify a piece internally. The e-brake cable isn't long enough to accommodate the new brakes, so modifications must be made. I have a new set of cables, Will snap some photos tomorrow.




Here is the clutch system on the 1600. That pressure plate looks archaic and alien to me. Well, all mechanical car parts look pretty alien to me. I've come to the conclusion that without help from others, I'd be stuck 20-30 times per day.




Front suspension is all bolted together and swaybar is installed. I can't believe this car didn't come with swaybars. Blows my mind.








Here is how I left the car today:



I'm beat for the day. I almost didn't want to type all of this, but I do have some strength to see this through.



More to come tomorrow. Waiting on parts in the mail. Hoping to drive this thing next week.




Oh, I have a really nice 13" Wilwood BBK from IE, purchased a year or so ago. It's sitting 450 miles north in CaTuned's shop in Sacramento. Hoping to run up there around Easter and install it soon after.

[phreshkid]

And then there are these things....just sitting in the garage. I should do something with them. Build them maybe. Sell them maybe.






I'm all sorts of confused.

[LJ851]

Don't throw that 3 finger clutch away, they are NLA and someone will love to have it at some point.

[CorvallisBMW]

This build gives me a tingling sensation south of the belt. I love it :)

[CubbyChowder]

Loving all the thorough documentation, you're making me wanna go make progress on my '02

[silence]

very cool project

[phreshkid]

Another good day here in the Long Beach warehouse.

I spent the first hour of my morning running to Harbor Freight and another hardware store in search of various cotter pins to button up the suspension. Among what I picked up, I bought these:



I had no idea Harbor Freight carries Meguiar's products. I'm preparing to give the car another run or two with the no. 7, then finish it with the no. 26. I'm not going for perfect paint because this car is so far from perfect. Just presentable, with definite patina. More "preservation" if you will.




I found a big freezer bag full of various fuses, so I went ahead and replaced them all. One thing I noticed is that on the official BMW sticker on the inside of engine bay states thatthere should only one 16A fuse. The rest are 8A. I just replaced them all as they were before. I may change them to meet stock configuration.

Before:


After:


Bonus, you can see the bullet's trajectory through the firewall and cowl.




A shot of two 4-speed driveshafts. One is from the 1600, the other is from a tii. The tii has a better center support bearing, so we will be using that one.







Some more shots of the completed rear suspension.

All buttoned up:


Different angle. You can see the new shocks, struts, swaybar, rear subframe inserts, bbk, and half shaft connection to the LSD unit.



The old brake lines were rubber and practically brand new, but I had these laying around. Why not?



Shot of rear diff (e21 lsd) with the 1976 2002 output flanges. Everything bolted up with no gaps. I consider this a great alternative to the redrilling and spacer combo that everyone seems to think is the only way to go.




Overall shot:







Here is a shot of the front set up. Can't wait to get the front Wilwood BBK installed. I chose to stay with the single-line system for the new BBK. I'm not sure why. Actually, I had no idea what I was doing when I ordered the parts.







Then we double checked everything, and threw the wheels back on and set her down. The front suspension seems very firm and will settle more. I surely don't like how high it's sitting now, but I was assured that once I drive the car a bit with the giant bolt holding the control arm loosened, it will settle. Then with the car on ramps, retighten the bolt. The suspension needs to be preloaded. At least this is what I am told.

Front height:


I grabbed a quick snapshot of how the spring is sitting in the front:


In the photo above, the spring almost looks over-compressed. I hope this isn't an issue. I don't know of anyone else running Spax suspension. I hope there isn't a good reason for that.


Rear height looks much better. Very sporty. I need to roll and pull the fenders if I am to pull this fitment off. I'm kind of scared that it will be too low. I'm sure a 3 dot pad will help some, if needed.







A few random shots.

I snapped a quick photo of the engine bay from directly above. Still a lot of work to do in there, but I am well pleased with the amount of progress happening these last few days.




A shot of the IE radiator along with their 12" electric fan. The fan came part of a kit that they sell. They have great stuff and quality looks good on everything I've purchased so far.


I'll probably mount this Monday-ish


I'm not really sure what's going on here. This is the drain plug location on the oil pan. I'll do some more digging on this tomorrow. I hope this isn't mickey mouse work.




I also grabbed a few things from a buddy. All IE pieces. The dizzy is one of their proprietary tii-curved mechanical advance units. I hope it works well with the motor as it is. It's a temporary thing until I get the Megajolt set up. Next up is their water splitter. This piece gets rid of that side nipple that runs to a downdraft intake manifold. And there is an extra hole or two for other sensors...like say, the water temp sensor that will be aiding the electric fan! And last, a heavy duty tranny mount. Likely a 7 series mount.






Things. They're happening.

I may actually be able to drive this car soon. Fingers crossed.



Oh wait, I completely forgot about the exhaust. That's kind of a big deal.

[rturbo 930]

That oil pan drain plug looks sketch as fuck.

Been following this build for a while now, love that you're embracing the patina of the car instead destroying its charm by making everything 'perfect'. Wheel choice is on point - though, I think it would look better with a narrower tire. They look just a bit too fat on that wheel IMO. A narrower tire would also help with fitment issues.

[phreshkid]

That oil pan drain plug looks sketch as fuck.

Been following this build for a while now, love that you're embracing the patina of the car instead destroying its charm by making everything 'perfect'. Wheel choice is on point - though, I think it would look better with a narrower tire. They look just a bit too fat on that wheel IMO. A narrower tire would also help with fitment issues.

I don't like doubting myself, but I prefer a skinnier, stock tire on 2002s as well.

This car here is on point as far as tire width and fitment goes:


You're right. But I like the look I'm going for too. I'll make it work.

[phreshkid]

A few things today. Less then yesterday, but more than tomorrow.

Firstly, we removed the current tranny mount bushing in favor for an IE "HD" unit. I still think it's a 7 Series mount, possibly even an e21 mount. The old mount had waaaayyyyyy too much movement and would let the engine move a good 1.5" laterally. I didn't accept how much movement this mount was allowing so the first chance I got, I swapped it out.

Old mount. Notice How much I am able to force it out of shape WITH MY FINGERS. Terrible.



New "HD" mount. Much better. This was an after photo, even after we replaced the CSB and guibo. The guibo didn't need changing but I did it anyways.




Between those two photos, We re-removed the driveshaft. I wasn't happy with how brittle the rubber had become on the CSB, so apart the driveshaft came and replaced the CSB became. We made sure to mark the orientation of the how the two pieces came together. Twice. Everything went smooth.



Fresh Guibo while we were at it.






A quick shot of the infamous "S" on the diff:





Replaced parts pile is still growing. There are still a few things that still aren't pictured. This car really got the works this week.







Yesterday I bought the guys in the warehouse lunch, which required me to leave and pick it up. When I came back, this was replaced. I didn't want the rubber unit replaced with a poly unit because it was still in good condition and I prefer rubber bushings as much as possible, but whatever. I'm not going to tell them to switch it back. They were just doing good work. I can't be mad at that. Ireland Engineering Poly Steering Coupling.







Next up was to square this trick little piece away. I preliminarily installed a second temperature sensor. I then went down to the hardware store to find a bolt that would plug that gaping hole. After some digging, I found that the m12 with 1.5 thread pitch was a great fit. I swear, projects like this really make you learn things. Before this, I didn't know how to properly identify a bolt. Half of the time, I got nuts and bolts mixed up.






We managed to get a few more things done but I failed to snap photos. I have more things in the mail now that should be arriving tomorrow and Monday, so that should speed up the process as well.

Still waiting on the "Tri Y" headers from Heritage Motorsports. If they get here by next Friday, that would be a christmas miracle. That is one of the very last pieces to this puzzle...to get it driving at least. Then the front BBK, an good alignment, and corner balancing, whatever that is. I just know I want it.


More next week.

-Ryan

[CubbyChowder]

This thread reminds me of back when I was posting lengthy, thorough updates on my '02 build every other day. I haven't posted a solid update in months... I'm lame.

Just calling it right now, you're gonna end up giving this thing a top notch paint job