1971 BMW 1600 Project

[delatlanta1281]

Is Jason shipping that motor to you? he didn't include the headers did he?

[phreshkid]

Is Jason shipping that motor to you? he didn't include the headers did he?

Jason is shipping the motor.. should be on a pallet tomorrow and picked up on Friday. The headers weren't part of the sale unfortunately.

What are your thoughts on the motor? Anything I should watch out for?

[ak-]

Danc02, when are you Sebo and I getting Burritos?

[delatlanta1281]

Jason is shipping the motor.. should be on a pallet tomorrow and picked up on Friday. The headers weren't part of the sale unfortunately.

What are your thoughts on the motor? Anything I should watch out for?

I've never seen it run and I wasn't around when it was built. It's a pretty motor to look at, hopefully it runs as nice as it looks. A lot went into it.

[phreshkid]

Danc02, when are you Sebo and I getting Burritos?

Any day dudes, any day.

I've never seen it run and I wasn't around when it was built. It's a pretty motor to look at, hopefully it runs as nice as it looks. A lot went into it.

That's what I'm hoping for!

Still thinking of throwing dual webers on this engine. Functional? Meh. Does it look cool? YUP! For the exhaust, I was considering running a 2002 turbo system with a tii manifold. I wonder if this is feasible. Will do some research on this.

I probably have another $3k to spend before the motor goes in. I'm about 90% committed to a 5 speed swap as well.

[phreshkid]

A few updates worth mentioning:

I haven't been working very much these past few days. Mostly just ordering parts, looking for things (cars) to buy, and playing in my local environment.

I went ahead and started on the paint restoration. This isn't one of those attempts at bringing the paint back to perfection, because that will never happen. This is more of a preservation of the current patina, while giving the paint much needed nutrients, allowing for a longer life-span in its current condition.

My Meguiar's buddy recommended using old school methods to bring the paint back. He suggested starting with Meguiar's No. 7



I was instructed to hand polish the paint, essentially feeding the dry paint with fresh oils. I will have to massage the car three separate times over the next three days. Once I am satisfied with this first step, I will likely touch up a few of the larger chips in the paint, then wax and seal in the current Patina. This is and will all be done by hand. No machines, no orbitals polishers.

Here are a few photos of the first coat. This stuff isn't easy to work with. And whatever you do, DON'T let this product dry. Super hard to remove once dry.


Oh yeah, before using No. 7, I had to wash the car and get it clean. Obligatory ass shot. I like ass so much.



Now for the first go-around with the No. 7:









The right side of the trunk lid was "polished". It doesn't look like much of a difference, but again, my goal is the "feed" oil to the dry paint. I'll do this two more times.





Obligatory butt shot: I only managed to massage the left cheek before I had to leave for a meeting.





That's pretty much all I have for today. I still need to take the suspension apart and sand blasted. Deciding on whether I want to Powder Coat or not.

I believe the engine finally went out today, but will confirm with the seller.



-Ryan

[CorvallisBMW]

Very cool, I've never thought of using a super light polish to actually maintain a patina, but it looks neat! :up:

[phreshkid]

Minor updates today:

I am balls deep in the planning stage of this car's suspension build, engine swap, and general cosmetic rehab. For suspension, I plan on running a custom coilover set from Catuned designed specifically for my car. Should be pretty cool. Pretty much everything underneath the car will be refreshed.


I watched a video last night on aluminum trim restoration. In the video, the guy used this stuff called Hair and Grease Remover (can be found at Home Depot). This product strips the anodization off aluminum trim. If you are looking to remove the anodization, chances are that you trim's finish is FUBAR, like mine. After the chemical strips the anodization, you are left with a raw aluminum. I then used Mother's Mag Wheel Polish to achieve a finish that I thought was comparable to the rest of the Patina of the car. I like the results.

Here are a few photos to show what I'm talking about.

I removed the aluminum trim piece that connects the two tail light bezels:



I got to work:



After Mother's Mag Wheel Polish:



Another Angle:



Reinstalled:



I am satisfied with this piece of trim, but it will require a clear coat. POR-15 sells a nice clear coat meant for "polished metals" such as polished aluminum and chrome. I'll order some and try it out.


I switched gears for a second and started working on the carpet. If you recall from an earlier photo, I received the car missing the driver's side carpet that covers the floor. My buddy Mike had a few extra pieces from parts cars and gave some. I cut it up to fit, and used an adhesive to bond it to the metal floorboards. Then I threw the new Coco Mats down. Much better.

Before photo of how I purchased the car:



With that original carpet piece installed:



With new Coco Mats:



Rears (Sorry for Potato quality):




Then I switched gears again and was playing with the Polishing compound I mentioned before. This time, I used a polishing machine. This was the result:



I don't like it. The paint is too far gone with deep scratches, rock chips, overspray from who knows what to try to rehab it and make it shine. I'll likely try to even out the paint and then coat it with wax once I'm happy with the matte appearance of the patina.

I think I'll work on disassembling the suspension tomorrow.

Andrew, I need a set of brake lines for this car.

[fresh_TD]

i likes

[Oats]

I can't wait to see how this turns out... Keep up the good work! Sub'd.

[phreshkid]

Progress Update:

I had the urge to spend more money today.

Went to a friend's secret underground lair where he offered me a set of wheels at a good price. I had to pick between these:



I was originally looking for 13x6 Minilite wheels in 2002 offset. These are the wheels in the top left location. I really like the 13x6 Alpina-looking wheels to the right, but they are e21 offset. They won't work so well with 2002s, especially if lowered, so those were out. I like mesh but I wanted some lippage.

I ended up going with the Minilite Specials





I managed to polish and mount the lower rocker trim. They look nice. Car is looking better and better.



Then I started playing with the front suspension from the Polaris Car. I hate rusty nuts and bolts. I used PB Blaster on everything. I still hate it.
My intentions were to have these refinished with all OEM rubber bushings and fasteners, and swap-n-slap them on the blue car.





This was hell for me. I'll pay someone good money to rebuild this all for me.

I managed to start separating things, but then I lost interest so I set them aside for later.




I went ahead and threw the car on the lift to see what was going on underneath. This is the first time I've done this. I have no idea what it looks like under there. I do expect it to be clean though. I didn't pay Dr. Detail to steam clean for nothing.

Let's start with the front half:

Do you see the stripes on the front spring there? This is how BMW would mark their springs for identification. 43 years old and they still look good. Bravo BMW, bravo.


Passenger Side:


Rear shot of tranny. Mounts look new. Tranny is new (1993 that is). Doubt the car has been driven much since then.



This is where things get a bit funky. The factory new tranny that was replaced in 93 (of which I have receipts for) is the early style tranny with Porsche synchros and a mechanical clutch. This is wrong for a 1971 BMW 1600. They stopped using the Mechanical Clutch system back in 69 sometime. Oh well. It shifts great, looks great, and has no issues. I'll likely leave it in.




And now let's move on to the rear end.



Very clean. I'm impressed actually. Everything looks amazing for such an old car.





So there it is. I'm surprised more and more every day.

As a Valentine's Day gift to myself, I bought a set of these. Toyo Proxes RA1s in 205/60/R13



Booyah.

[dirtbag30]

Progress Update:








Booyah.

looks awesome.

even the pinch welds are still strong enough to raise the car from, impressive.

[SkiFree]

So I've looked and looked and came up dry on that 1600 engine, sorry.

Great progress, I better get moving on those lines. FYI somebody replaced those front control arms at one point. The originals wouldn't have the little bends on the ends and were quite a bit more diminutive.

[phreshkid]

So I've looked and looked and came up dry on that 1600 engine, sorry.

Great progress, I better get moving on those lines. FYI somebody replaced those front control arms at one point. The originals wouldn't have the little bends on the ends and were quite a bit more diminutive.

No worries braddah, I caved and bought a built m10. Should be receiving it any day now.

Now to find a good LSD for the 4 speed. 3.46 or 3.64 ideally.

[2761377]

No worries braddah, I caved and bought a built m10. Should be receiving it any day now.

Now to find a good LSD for the 4 speed. 3.46 or 3.64 ideally.

if you're serious, I can help you with that. And a decent Tii exhaust manifold.