This is an old pic... see below for current condition...
SOLD!
I HATE to have to sell this car, but life intervenes and she must go FAST! (HEHE!) Either I sell it in the next week or I have to put her in storage for the winter. The reason why I am selling her is because I DO NOT want her to rust this winter. I would rather sell her than rust her. IF you are thinking of driving it in wintertime around here (rust belt), forget it! I bought an e30 winter car but can't afford to keep both. She spent her life in California until about five years ago, then went to Alabama, and only came up here to Indiana this past summer. She has never seen salt and God help me, she never will!
I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours and thousands and thousands (easily $15,000+) on this car over the past seven or so years I have owned her. I call her "Lisa." A quick rundown on her:
- 5 speed overdrive conversion
- Limited-slip differential
- 1.8l e21 320i engine running Weber 38/38 carb
- Recaro seats out of porsche 911 (albeit fairly ratty at the moment)
- entire undercarriage rebuilt/rebushed
- horrible and crappy paintjob but this car still gets stares
and thumbs ups everywhere I drive it.
- a minimum of $15,000+ invested in this car, and much love!
- read on for more...
Please take a look at the following pictures and read my little narratives about what I have done to this car. I NEVER thought I would sell this much-loved little car, and have treated it accordingly.
This is obviously her front end. The airdam is cracked in the middle as you can see, and the paint has flaked off. This is relatively easy to fix with some epoxy and a little sanding and rattle-canning. Honestly this airdam doesn't really fit all that well, as you will see in the following pics. I have it on there because I do a lot of freeway driving and it helps with gas mileage. Function over aesthetics will be a continuing theme on our little tour here...
If you look closely you can see the paint on the nose section doesn't quite match the rest of the car. This is because after I first bought this car about seven + years ago, I painstakingly (emphasis on PAIN) stripped the entire nose and engine compartment down to bare metal and repainted it with rust-killing primer and a topcoat of "appliance epoxy" rattle-can paint. I wasn't too worried about the aesthetics at the time, I just wanted to get rid of the surface rust. The reason why I didn't really worry about the cosmetics is that the rest of the paint on the car was done in such a highly slipshod manner, as you can see from the bits of it that have flaked off on the hood there on the passenger side "style line" or whatever you want to call it.
What you see there in those spots is the original Sahara paint, which the idiot who painted it never bothered to sand or scuff down any so the white Chamonix paint would stick. The Sahara is also visible in a couple of spots next to the driver's side headlight, too, among other places. Those driving lights are mounted in the existing top bumper-mount holes (replacing the stock bolts), so no extra holes were drilled in the bumpers. The lights themselves are rather cheap JC-Whitey ones with 100w bulbs I believe, and are wired to fire with the highbeams. Cheap but effective! The headlights are also JC-whitey H4s sporting 55/100 bulbs I think. That is also the original bumper but it is mounted on '73 mounts, which are 500% more stout than the original '69 mounts, but the only drawback there is the bumper now sticks out from the front of the car a good deal.
You can also see the dual-driver's-side windshield wiper arms with the little wind spoilers on them. Fun stuff. (Normally only the driver's side gets a spoiler.)
And here is the front/passy 3/4 view... I have that missing trim piece for the hood, its actually sitting on the package shelf behind the back seat. I took it off because it had come loose and I removed it to protect it. I was going to order new trim clips for it but never got around to it.
The passenger door is obviously crunched up. The door in this pic isn't actually closed all the way. It closes better than that. Anyway, what happened is, I had closed it just like it is now (thinking I had closed it all the way), and was pulling back out of the driveway in our Alabama house, which is uphill going out of it, and also very bumpy, and the door popped open, caught a fence post, and bent back on itself. It says a lot about the stoutness of these cars that it still closes and locks fine. In any event, you can get a new (used) door for around $50-100 if you look around. I am actually co-founder of the www.bmw2002faq.com website and we have an awesome used parts board in case you don't already know about us.
The wheels you see on the car now are NOT included. I am going to put some e30 bottlecaps on it for the sale. The bottlecaps are clean and straight, and have decent tires on them. Two of the four tires are newer than the other two, and I will put the newer ones on the front.
Here is that driver's front fender rust damage up close. It looks hideous, but the important part is the rust hasn't progressed much once I opened it up, cleaned it, and sprayed rust-killer paint on it. You can see the orange-color rust-killer under the white top coat, kinda. Again, I wasnt concerned with how it looked, just that the rust would be SLOWED so a future restoration could go that much more smoothly. The car itself is kind of dirty in all these pics. I didn't have time to clean it before taking these pics, besides which it was less than 40 degrees out so I didn't really want to either... =p
This is a small rust spot on the driver's side at the trailing edge of the bottom of the rear side window. I've tried to keep it clean and sprayed with WD-40, but really the trim needs to be popped, and the area cleaned/ground thoroughly, then treated and top-coated properly. If you were anal you'd cut out that bit of metal and replace it with clean rust-virgin metal, but that is up to you.
This is a rusty pair of holes that I cleaned and filled with 50-year (white at the time) household caulking back when i first got the car. Not exactly the most brilliant move I've ever done, but it sealed the area from the trunk and arrested the progression of rust in that area. A torch would remove the caulk post-haste and ready it for metal replacement. OR, you could cut the whole arch out and install some Turbo flares, which was what my plans have been for a long time. Search BMW 2002 Turbo on Google images to see what I am talking about, if you don't know already. That speckle dirt on the panel behind the rust hole area is just dirt, it will wash right off.
Ok this is a view inside the front clip, between the front sheet metal where the grilles mount, and the radiator support. When I first got this car, as I mentioned before, I spent probably 100-200 hours cleaning and de-rusting the entire nose and engine compartment. There was a lot of surface rust everywhere, and I painstakingly ground (with a muleskinner resin/abrasive wheel) and hand-sanded all the rust off (and then some), and then primed and painted it with rust-killing primer and that "appliance epoxy" rattle-can paint. I include the above image so you can see how well this has held up in the seven or so years since I did all this work. As you can see, the area is dry and clean, even in the bottom of the "V" where the front metal meets the rad support.
AHH! I just love the way a roundie tail looks... Anyway, here we see a ding in the rear bumper. There was a slight amount of damage to the bodywork, but extremely minimal as you can see. You can also see (look close!) that there is that mis-matched paint thing going on in that rear corner, where I did more de-rusting (around the taillight opening when I changed the taillight gaskets a few months ago), and primed and painted the corner area (both corners actually).
You can also see a small rust spot on that trailing edge of the rear wheel arch, as well as some very small spots on the top of the arch towards the front. All can be eliminated via that Turbo flare upgrade I mentioned above, or just with normal means.
The rear white foglight I installed to get tailgaters off my ass, but it is currently not hooked up. Yes I drilled into the rear bumper for that, which I kind of regret, but it was either that or the body, so I chose bumper. The light itself is a vintage Cibie with a 55w bulb in it. Also you can see the "fourth" brake light which is a $45 Hella rear fog light which is BRIGHT AS H*LL at night and has saved the rear bodywork more than once!! (From idiots not paying attention.) The stock brake lights aren't all that great on these cars even when new, and it SICKENS me every time I hear of one being rear-ended. In the pic the fog/brake light is kind of drooping, which is embarrassing, I shoulda straightened it out and tightened it up for the pic.
Also you can see the ORIGINAL California black license plate! I managed to keep it registered in California despite it being out of the state 5+ years (dont tell anyone! =p) just because i wanted to keep the cool black plates. The front plate is somewhere around, not sure if I have it in storage in Alabama or here in Indy.
The exhaust in this pic as you can see is kinda saggy. The car suffers from some kind of exhaust leak and I have to drive with the windows open or would die of asphyxiation behind the wheel and take out a crowd of nuns waiting for the bus, which nobody wants to see. So, thats probably the first thing on the list for the new owner to fix. I'm not sure what the deal is with the exhaust smell, as there are also some small rust holes in the trunk which may be letting the smell in. I treated the rusty areas of the trunk with POR-15 but neglected to fill the holes as I was in a rush to move up here from Alabama. I also treated the outside of the gas tank, but botched the fuel sender area slightly and there is also a slight gas smell which would be easily cured by fixing that area of the tank where the O-ring sits between the sender flange and the tank itself. It was a stupid thing to do, but again, easily fixed.
The existing exhaust consists of the stock de-smogged exhaust manifold (plugged smog ports) to a straight pipe (no center resonator--beware the stock resonators have a restrictor plate in them!) leading to a stock Bosal muffler with some magnaflow (i think) monza-style tips. It sounds decent, not too loud, but again you will probably want to replace it asap.
hmm maybe i should have ordered these pics better... anyway here is another view of the CLEAN and DRY inner nose area. I suffered the death of a 1000 cuts doing all that hand sanding, believe me!!
Here is the dirty engine compartment. But under the grime is rust-free clean paint. On the far wall you can see some of my custom wiring for this car, which is all extremely heavy duty, but probably will scare the living shit out of anyone not used to wiring. In any event, it can all be easily stripped out and replaced with a stock harness if you want. You can see the relays kind of falling out of position. I really should have tidied things up but this is the way the car sits and drives. I've put thousands and thousands of miles in long road trips on this car, and it has been ridiculously reliable. I wouldn't hesitate to hop in and drive it to San Diego, and back, right now in fact.
The engine itself is a 1.8 liter out of a 1981 320i, originally with CIS fuel injection. It burns a little oil but not too much to be noticeable at oil change time. Engine was a junkyard one, with relatively low miles at the time of replacement. If I had to guess current mileage I'd have to say 125-150K. Right now it sports a very recent Weber 38/38 electric-choke carburetor on a "hogged" manifold and a 1984 318i distributor and ignition module (no points). It also has a $350 custom-made racing oil pan I had done by Jack Fahuna when my original plans included turbocharging this sweetie-pie. :) The pan includes about a quart of extra capacity and a system of baffles and hinged doors surrounding the oil pickup so the engine isn't starved under high-G action (either cornering, braking, or acceleration).
I replaced all the coolant and heater hoses, replaced the radiator with an aluminum one from an e21 (twice actually, thanks mr.dubois!), new water pump (Graf OEM), and thermostat. Even in DISGUSTING 100+ degree Alabama heat and humidity, this car never even comes CLOSE to overheating. It stays right at 200-210 max, no matter what. That is optimum operating temp, FYI.
The heater box itself was completely rebuilt by Chris Blumenthal specifically for the 02 FAQ article, so its even famous! The blower fan works, no squeals or other issues. One of the air-duct hoses leading from the heater box to the driver's side defrost vent in the dash was never re-installed (by yours truly), so that little item needs addressing, otherwise heating system is good to go for another 30+ years.
This pic also shows the NEW strut top bearings. I also completely refreshed the entire underside of this car when I first got it. It was in 100% stock and original condition at the time, having been very well maintained over its life, yet unknown to me. Because I was planning on NEVER selling this car (haha famous last words), I went ahead and went through it from end to end, replacing every single rubber bushing on the car with new OEM BMW rubber ones.
This includes, the front suspension lower control arms (whole new arms, not just bushings), thrust arm bushings, new lower strut ball joints, ALL new steering arms (with ball joints) including tie rods and the center arm, even a new "hardy disk" in the steering column (the flexible rubber joint in the steering linkage). Also the rear swing-arm mounting bushings, and any and every other rubber bushing under the car I am forgetting. The rear swing arms are actually upgrades to Tii "boxed" units. Basically, these are factory-welded reinforcement plates that strenghten the stock arms.
I also stripped and repainted the front subframe, installed Ireland Engineering urethane driver's side motor mount (have the passy side one too, just never got around to installing it), stripped and repainted rear subframe, installed new rear subframe bushings, rubber diff hangers, new Redline synthetic gear oil in the diff with new gasket for the cover, new seals for the input/output flanges, new CV boots for the axles, new driveshaft center bearing and SIX-bolt guibo (FARFAR superior to the original 8-bolter), new rubber spring pads front and rear, Redline MTL in the Getrag 245 five-speed (conversion--all transmission seals were also replaced), new SACHS clutch including e30 325i pressure plate, new 323 throwout bearing, resurfaced flywheel, and new rear main seal for the engine.
The driveshaft itself is a rebuild, but it was done before i bought the car.
The shocks are Bilstein HDs and the springs are cut stock "red-dot" ones from a '73, which were the stiffest ones available for any 02. She also wears 19mm front and 17mm rear swaybars on urethane bushings, and the ride is excellent, as is the handling. I cut 1.75 coils from the front springs and about 1 coil from the rears, with the idea of "upgrading" to H&Rs at some point down the road, but it never happened mostly because I never felt the need to. Emphasis on "felt": this car rides and handles excellently!!
Here is the other side of the engine... that is a 65 amp GM alternator. I originally had upgraded it to a 100 amp version but at some point dropped it on the pulley and bent the spindle, so I replaced it. The stud for the adjuster is broken, and you can see that ive wedged some plastic bits between the oil filter header and the alternator to tension the belt. Its embarassingly ghetto, but works (for now). The alternator actually likes a kick in the revs to get it started charging, possibly an issue with the "GM-ness" of the alty itself (it was advertized as a truck alternator when i bought it). The car's battery is a NEW Optima red-top that sits under the back seat and is fed by massive 1/0 gauge flexible welding cable.
The other thing that jumps out is the red coil of the oil dipstick. As I mentioned, the engine wears a $350 Jack Fahuna custom racing oil pan, but the problem with that is the dipstick has to be wrestled into place. Jack and I talked it out a long time ago, and he agreed to make good on the issue with me in a future transaction, but I've never had occasion to do business with him again so I've never gotten to "cash in" on this situation. Perhaps the new owner might do so, but no guarantees there. Jack is a solid 02 community member and I have no doubt he will treat the new owner fairly.
Also in this pic is the e12 or e28 brake reservoir (no blue hoses)... I upgraded the brakes to Volvo 240 Girling calipers and the master cylinder to an e12/e28 (a much bigger car) model. She also sports Brembo rotors for a '77 320 (part of the "big brake" upgrade so popular with the kids today... =p)
**UPDATE**: I forgot to mention that the shifter linkage needs to be fixed at some point. I put a "temporary" fix together for it a few years ago, but it has slowly gotten more sloppy, the result being that you have to be a bit slow and deliberate when shifting. I have also noticed that an air leak may have developed in the clutch hydraulics somewhere, as I got in it the other morning and I had to "pump up" the clutch in order to get it to go into gear. It does have a new slave *and* clutch main cylinders, and line, so I don't know what the problem is. Once it is pumped up, it works fine. Just something that will need to be addressed soon. Probably the best time is when a new exhaust system is put on it... FIXED!
This is the back seat. I covered it with this blanket because the original blue vinyl had absolutely disintegrated via sun damage. That is my five-year-old's internal-harness seat that mounts to the 02's stock rear seat belt hoops, and he straps in via the seat's internal harness. It is good for kids up to 65lbs and I recommend this model for anyone wanting to keep their kid safe in the back of an 02 or any vintage ride without rear 3-point belts. The child seat is NOT included btw!!
View of the driver's Recaro (yes, they are genuine) seat originally sourced from a Porsche 911. WYSIWYG. ;)
that other seat is actually the original driver's seat, which as you can see has suffered the wear of countless entry-exits not to mention sun damage. A good upholstery shop can do marvelous things with such raw materials...
This is the dash obviously. e21 sport wheel, all custom Autometer gauges (I am keeping some of them for e30 I just bought, but just the oil temp and pressure, fuel mix, maybe voltage and water temp...). Sorry for the mess, I just didnt have time to clean her up for pics.
As you can see, the original 3-piece dash is cracked , and I have a black-painted Lexan gauge thingie on the top of the dash there that I designed via computer to hold the Autometer gauges currently in the center console. That gauge holder actually individualy aims each gauge right at the driver's head. Kinda funky but unused at the moment.
Also in this pic you can see some stray wires from a never-hooked-up Autometer gauges alarm system hanging around the center console, and the Dual CD player that does NOT come with the car... it is destined for my new e30, literally hanging around on the extreme left of the pic.
Sparco pedals, and a set of vintage (to the 80s) $460 (when new) a/d/s/ 320is speakers *will* be included, however, including crossovers (which are loosely "mounted" under the dash.
Also you can see a partially installed NEW carpet kit from only02. I didn't FULLY install the kit only because there were some surface rust issues I wanted to address before merely carpeting over them. I am not one to paper-over problems so to speak!
Ahh, back to that lovely buttside... I think I have said all I need to about the back-end. That "third" brake light in the rear window got disconnected at some point, but it works fine. Its a multi-LED one. As I have said before, this is a car I *HATE* to have to sell, but I gotta.
Any questions, email me. This is a car I've taken care of in the respect of NEVER even considering having to sell her. It also has new passenger and driver's door seals, new trunk seal, taillight seals, e21 LSD differential, G245 five-speed conversion, and probably a million other things I am forgetting.
If you buy her, LOVE her. She deserves it!
-Rob @ 317-203-6581 (house) or 408-644-0204 (cell)
also jennaishealed@gmail.com
donno what that green plastic thing sticking out of joint is... i mighta been into something i shouldnta, without knowing it =P
CLEAN! except at that far trailing edge...
shock tower, a critical structural point of these cars. You can see my sloppy POR-15 job I did to kill rust that was forming in that forward trunk area. That speaker cutout is 100% my fault... sorry! =p
passy side rocker from the rear edge... this is the worst of it. Extremely mild rust considering everything... Stil you will want to address that. Best bet is to drill/grind/cut out as much of it as possible and replace with simple hand-formed (via hammer/dolly) piece of metal, if not factory/salvage replacement piece. I never said this car is perfect, and considering its age, its doing pretty damn good! (I am same age as the car, and I only wish my faulty panels could be replaced as easily! =p)
other side of the trunk, again rust-free. speaker cutouts can be patched over or ignored. That is a Carter 4070 electric fuel pump with jackass wiring and hose routing ftw! =p
DS rocker rust,,, Those holes were done by my drill to open things up and get the water draining, aka SLOW the progression. That last section where you can see it progressing needs to be opened up/repaired. I did that very rudimentary poking and rust-kill priming (yes that red stuff is PAINT) a few months ago, and you can see how the rust is progressing from the inside out at that last tail edge... Save my bay-bay!! =p
Seriously, CALL ME or email with any questions or whatever. This sale comes with infinite technical support after the fact as I know these cars pretty well and I will do my best to help you out to the best of my abilities!! I helped to establish/create the www.bmw2002faq.com wessbite as I mentioned and we don't shit where we eat! (whatever that means =p)
-Rob in Indiana
(317) 203-6581 or (408) 644-0204
SHE MUST GO FAST!!!! (tee-hee!! =p)