1971 BMW 1600 Project

[phreshkid]

Sign this car over to me before you jump off any more cliffs.. and get me specs on those wheels!

Ah sorry I didn't respond earlier! I believe the wheels are 14x6 et18. Enkei Apache V id the official make and model. They are copies of the BBS E30 Wheels. Originally 3 piece, but the barrels were welded to the lips, making them one piece wheels.

There were larger unsuccessful drops?

Have you ever been seriously concerned that your butthole ripped apart because of how you landed in the water? Well I have. Let me tell you, those are some of the scariest moments in my life.

[E30_Pare]

would be the quickest way to get an enema.

[phreshkid]

I'm beat. This last weekend I attended both Legends of the Autobahn in Carmel, and Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance in Pebble Beach, Ca. Between those two events were many more smaller events (dinners, bbqs, sightseeing, reckless driving, etc.). Overall the weekend went well.

Over a thousand miles of driving and I'm happy to say that I had very minimal problems.


Here are a few photos of the weekend and of today, where I decided to begin assessing my tail light assemblies and prepare for a refresh of sorts.


About 118 miles into the drive back home, my speedo stopped working. It wasn't until this morning that I found the culprit: broken speedo cable. How does this happen? No idea, but it did. Have a new one on the way now.





Before the speedo cable broke, we took a nice little cruise down PCH from Monterey to Huntington Beach and I snapped this shot along the way. Not pictured were two 3.0 coupes, both with 3.5-3.8l m30s. Serious cool cars.





I have a few more photos of the trip, I just need to find them.






Now back to today and the tail light refresh. I took apart both assemblies to assess the current condition of the lenses, bulbs, and housings. All could use work. Unfortunately for me, I am unprepared. I am ordering new gaskets, High Output bulbs, dialectric grease, either chrome paint or mylar material (for the reflection on the housings), and some good plastic polish.

For now, I just took everything apart and cleaned it with alcohol and plastic cleaner and put it all back today. Today was more of a "assessment day".

Photos:

This thing is broken, I should buy another one. It's on my list.









Driver's side tail light with a disintegrated gasket. All bulbs will need to be changed. None are out, but all are pretty dim. This is likely contributed by the bulbs themselves and the conditions of the housing which over the years, has lost its reflectivity. I'll remedy all of this very soon.







After I cleaned the first one, I started on the second one. Same scenario, though the gasket is in slightly better condition. This car really is a survivor.








I threw everything back together and removed a sticker. The amount of dirt and grime I removed from the assemblies was amazing. I can't wait to redo this with all the proper parts. I'll probably have everything by early next week at the latest.









And now I'm here. I'll go through and replace the oil this week, along with the speedo cable. I'll start putting together a new list of things I need to address. I can finally start taking care of the more "detail oriented" projects on this car.






Oh yeah, I have started on the other 1973 BMW 2002 project I have in Sacramento. When purchased, it was white. When I dug a little deeper, I found the original color to be Polaris Silver, but I have a really bad it to paint it Colorado Orange. Who knows what I'll end up with. Either way, that project has begun rolling and is gaining momentum. Up first is bodywork and paint, then suspension, then everything else. I'm actually kind of scared of that one, as it will be much more involved than this car.



Until next time,
Ryan

[rzerob]

Are you going to start a new thread for the 1973 02? If you are, could you post a hyperlink in this one so I don't miss it? My 3rd E30 should be gone by the end of this week. I plan on looking for an E10 after I get my finances straight.

[LJ851]

About 118 miles into the drive back home, my speedo stopped working. It wasn't until this morning that I found the culprit: broken speedo cable. How does this happen? No idea, but it did. Have a new one on the way now.

The kink in the outer cable housing eventually fatigued the cable and it broke.

Not pictured were two 3.0 coupes, both with 3.5-3.8l m30s. Serious cool cars.

Got any audio or video of the M30 cars in action? You know how i get about built M30s.

[phreshkid]

The kink in the outer cable housing eventually fatigued the cable and it broke.







Got any audio or video of the M30 cars in action? You know how i get about built M30s.

I have a video but the coupes are too far ahead of me to hear anything. I can still send you the video if you'd like.

As for one of the coupes, you may recognize it. Both cars in the photo below belong to the same owner. He built both cars, the 2002 of which is for sale in the current Roundel magazine. Both cars are fast, but the 02 is ungodly fast. It's shy of 400 horsepower with perfect 50/50 weight distribution.

[phreshkid]

Decided to revisit the paint issue.

The idea is to remove the current wax, wash the car with Comet and abrasive Scotchbrite pads, then reapply wax. I wasn't happy with the first wash over a month ago so I wanted to give it another go. I figured while I'm in there, I might as well touch up a few spots with touch up paint.

Photos:



Both DD cars together getting washed. The m3 got the regular stuff, the 02 gets the Comet. I like the way it turned out. Much cleaner and more consistent than the previous wash/wax.




And here she is, cleaned, but not waxed. The wax will make the current paint much deeper and darker in color. It will look good from 20' away, and I'm ok with that.






I'm going to wait until it's a little bit cooler to start waxing with the buffing machine. I want to make sure the car is nice and cool. Oh, and to let the touch up paint dry a bit. I might just wait until tomorrow now that I think about it.

[ak-]

Your '02 makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. How were the roads on HWY 1?
Haven't visited them in years and want to take a trip up north with Sebo and whoever to be all romantic with the scenic view and stuff with our cars.

[phreshkid]

Your '02 makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. How were the roads on HWY 1?
Haven't visited them in years and want to take a trip up north with Sebo and whoever to be all romantic with the scenic view and stuff with our cars.

How far up north are you talking? Highway 1 and 101 are both very stance-friendly. Both your's and Sebo's cars will be fine on all the roads we took (literally just Highway 1 and 101 Freeway). I hope you invite me. Where else am I supposed to use all of this Abercrombie Fierce cologne except with my e30 pals?

[LJ851]

Where else am I supposed to use all of this Abercrombie Fierce cologne except with my e30 pals?

lol

[phreshkid]

Well I went ahead and started waxing tonight. Got the first coat done and let me just say that I'm super impressed with how it has turned out. at least 13 times better than last time.


For those who asked why in the hell would I use Comet and Scotchbrite pads on my paint, let me first say that my paint is destroyed. How can that be you ask? Here, let me show you. All three photos are of different parts of the car. I believe one is of the hood, another of the trunk lid, and a third of the driver's side quarter panel.












So yeah, paint = wrecked.








But I have faith. Meguiar's No. 26 Super Wax is the makeup for cars. This stuff could make a Catfish look like beautiful Mahi Mahi.

Here is the hood after a single layer of wax. I was stoked when I saw this.




And then two more shots of the car completed. Just one layer of wax.











Stoked. You can put makeup on a Pig and it becomes a better looking Pig.

[freeride53]

Yes!

also: abby plz come north to le bay. and u phreshie too.

[rzerob]

Wow, it looks a lot better. I am always blown away when I read what you are going to do to the paint next. And then for the finished results, I am speechless.

[CorvallisBMW]

So fucking awesome! That satin look really fits on this car :up:

[robrez]

Confirmed. You are Japandrew's evil twin.