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'75 2002 DD Project - Non e46 Content

165K views 516 replies 112 participants last post by  dreamdrivedrift 
#1 ·
For the past couple of years I've been working towards/dreaming about picking up a 2002 to call my own, and a couple of weeks ago I finally pulled the trigger. I went up to Detroit and amidst a strong fuel/exhaust smell she managed to tackle the 4 hour drive back to Springfield (Ohio) without a fuss so I can't complain. Anyway, without further ado here she is:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4904431580/" title="2002 by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4904431580_aa3dbdf0e6_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="2002" /></a>

The engine runs pretty strong, not that I have much to compare it to.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4879305278/" title="Engine Bay 3 by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4140/4879305278_2e6d6e782a_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="Engine Bay 3" /></a>



Once I got it home and really started looking it over, I found out that she has a few nice surprises and a few not so nice surprises. But that's all to be expected I suppose.


First, a 32/36 w/ manual choke:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4879305304/" title="Weber Carb 2 by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4879305304_d9205bb671_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="Weber Carb 2" /></a>


Next, a Tii Mechanical Advance Dizzy:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4904431570/" title="Tii Dizzy by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4904431570_6eaf5444e9.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Tii Dizzy" /></a>

Then I forgot to take a picture, but a full Ansa Sport Midsection and Muffler, which is pretty freaking loud @4000 rpm cruising down the highway lol. I think there's also a leak somewhere though, so that's definitely not helping anything.

The interior also came with a 3 gauge pod with oil pressure, voltage and an old school vdo clock (that still keeps time!) as well as a very old tape deck lol.



Now some of the not as nice things:

Driver side rocker panel

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4903991947/" title="Driver Side Rocker Panel by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4903991947_9d2c3beee9_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="Driver Side Rocker Panel" /></a>


Driver Side Floor with carpet and sound deadening removed:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4903991969/" title="Driver Side Floor by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/4903991969_744a79362a.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Driver Side Floor" /></a>

Oil leak from somewhere around the oil filter housing / intake manifold / head gasket.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4904195927/" title="Oil Leaks by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4904195927_cd795f05bf.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Oil Leaks" /></a>



So the plan is to fix the rusty area's and get the interior back to being sealed from the exterior. I've got some plans to help stiffen her up where it counts that shouldn't add to much weight either. In the end it won't be a show car by any means, more just a car meant to be driven. I've already started some of the rocker work so I'll post up more pictures soon.
 
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#8 ·
I'm planning to cut out all the rust and put in all new metal. I'll probably end up making my own floor boards though. Turns out the passenger side was worse than I was expecting and so a reproduction piece to cover everything would be next to impossible to find.

nice find! my indy here has a few of them, including 3 tii's but wont let any of them go :(
Thanks! A tii would have been great, but I would hate to 'molest' a classic tii. This one is nothing special so I don't have to feel guilty about changing out some stuff.

Nice find! I've got such a soft spot for 2002s.
Thanks man, the M3 looks great!

yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss:bow::bow:
my dad used to own a tii, i LOVED that thing so much. Cried when it was gone :(
That just means you should pick one up too as a memorial lol.

Nice buy, despite the rust. Fun car
Thanks, the rust is a 'little' worse than I thought (damn MI winters) but it's nothing I can't fix with some welding and metal.

:drool: Sweet Pick up Op Good Luck with your Build! :thumbsup:
Thanks, I'll try and keep this updated as I progress with her. It'll be a huge learning experience for me and I can't wait to dive in.
 
#3 ·
nice find! my indy here has a few of them, including 3 tii's but wont let any of them go :(
 
#9 ·
Soo I dove into the driver side rocker panel. As you could see from the picture I posted earlier it was completely filled with expanded foam. It did a decent job of protecting the inside rockers from rust, but it was a ***** to get out. Luckily a wire brush on a drill seemed to do the trick.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4903991947/" title="Driver Side Rocker Panel by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4903991947_9d2c3beee9.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Driver Side Rocker Panel" /></a>

This is NOT what I consider a fun foam party...

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4909990113/" title="Puking Foam by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4909990113_6e0be4378d.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Puking Foam" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4903991941/" title="Foam Party by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4903991941_645126094f.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Foam Party" /></a>

You can see in this picture that the inner panels are still fairly solid around the top, so that's good news.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4909990127/" title="Clean Rockers! by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4909990127_64b5584350.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Clean Rockers!" /></a>


The worst rot in the rocker was towards the front just infront of the drivers seat mounts. This was covered with some silicon seam sealer type stuff, but I poked it out with a screwdriver. I'll have to mock up some replacement pieces and weld them in to fix it.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4903991931/" title="Rocker Cut out and cleaned by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4134/4903991931_ae63335b91.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Rocker Cut out and cleaned" /></a>


That's when I decided to call it a night. But not before I checked out some of the different options I had for reinforcing the rockers. I tried out some 2x3 rectangular tubing as well as 2.5 x 2.5 square but neither would clear the up front, so I settled on using 2x2 square. It'll give it way more strength than it had before, and a place to tie in a roll cage when the time comes.
 
#10 ·
The next step was to cut the tubing to the correct length to run inside the rocker panel and then notch it so it would clear the seatbelt mounting points that reached into the rocker. In order to notch the tube, I used the ever trusty Plasma torch. For those that don't know, this can cut through 3/4" steel like butter, so it made very short work of my ~0.125" wall tubing.

The Beast:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4909990165/" title="Plasma Cutter by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4140/4909990165_17da21ceed.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Plasma Cutter" /></a>


But of course I forgot the take a picture of the tube after notching. However you can see how nice and flush it sits up in the rocker panel now.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4909990159/" title="2x2 Tubing Clamped in Place by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4909990159_44ce4697b5.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="2x2 Tubing Clamped in Place" /></a>

I can also use the tubing to create some e46-like jack points in the rockers. Which will be very nice considering the stock jack points weren't strong enough to support the car anymore :eek:.

Once the tubing was in there I tacked it in place and started tying it into the inner and upper rocker panels. I'll also weld along the inner bottom and outer top edges so that it spreads out the load and doesn't focus it on a small section of sheet metal (think e46 rear subframe lol).

One tie-in point before cleaning up the welds:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4910640724/" title="Front Patch by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/4910640724_725e525320.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Front Patch" /></a>

I still need to finish welding along it's whole length, but the tubing is in there now. I'm also thinking about tying it in directly to the front frame rail and the rear subframe mounts just for piece of mind. I'm not sure how much I trust the old mounting points.
 
#12 ·
They did have them, but this is a manual. The gas pedal was removed for that photo because there's a small pin hole of rust behind it.
 
#15 · (Edited)
So I haven't been able to get much done with her in the past two weeks, work has been pretty crazy and I had to help my friend move etc etc. The good news is that I've been able to keep my whole labor day weekend free and the g/f will be out of town so I'll have all the time in world to really get some of the body repair done. I'm hoping to get both rockers fully repaired and then get some por-15 in there before I weld on the new outer skins. I'm also hoping to get at least the driver side floor patched up. Then all that would be left would be left to repair would be the passenger front floorboard and I can start putting the interior back together.



But just because I haven't had time to work on her doesn't mean I haven't been thinking of her. Considering the condition that the stock (read original) seats were in I was keeping my eye out for some replacement. The this past weekend I found two Recaro's from the e21 320is down in cinci for a good price.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4951729218/" title="Recaro's by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/4951729218_9526688fa5.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Recaro's" /></a>

I'll probably end up recovering them in black vinyl and alcantara or something along those lines down the road, but for now they're still light years ahead of what was in there to begin with. I'm just glad I won't have to pick off pieces of foam from my back every time I get out of the car.


Then since the front seats were getting replaced I figured I should do something with the rear as well. The stock rear bench had a couple of gashes as well as zero foam left. So a quick search on bimmerforums turned up a 6 series being parted out just north of me. That scored me these beauties:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4951729196/" title="Rear Seats from e24 by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/4951729196_8477985874.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Rear Seats from e24" /></a>


These also included my personal favorite feature:


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4951729208/" title="Arm Rest! by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/4951729208_856988eb8a.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Arm Rest!" /></a>


The fold down middle arm rest!


Just for comparison this is what the normal 2002 seats look like (not the ones from my car though):

Front:




Rear:





Both the front and rears feel great. They really hold you in place. They're also incredibly light, but I'm used to the e46 M3 seats so that's not really saying much.


I was also able to get a really good deal on a complete set of beltline trim (the po shaved it off the car before I got it). The best part is non of the pieces are dented or dinged up. After some polishing they should look really good.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4951729234/" title="Beltline Trim Pieces by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4087/4951729234_6f8af3c3c3.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Beltline Trim Pieces" /></a>


All in all she should be starting to come back together very soon, and then I get get out and driver her again, I can't wait!
 
#21 ·
#23 ·
So this past weekend I was able to get a big chunk of the rust repair taken care of. There's still a lot of stuff to do, but now I have a feel for what I need to do and more importantly how to do it. This is the first time doing body work and so I'm pretty much learning as I go.


First order of business was to remove all of the rusted out/heavily pitted metal. Once this was done it exposed the frame rail that sits under the floor. Luckily for me it was still very solid, it just has some debris inside.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970842413/" title="Driver Frame Rail - Before by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/4970842413_156534072e.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Driver Frame Rail - Before" /></a>

Once I cleaned it out, I applied a coat of Weld-Thru primer so I could add some extra support on the inside of the frame with a 1/8" thick sheet metal cut to fit.

The Primer:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970842449/" title="Weld-Thru Primer by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4151/4970842449_8e2ce9cd02.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Weld-Thru Primer" /></a>


The Frame Rail freshly primed:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970842423/" title="Driver Frame Rail - Primed and Ready by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/4970842423_44bacce4da.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Driver Frame Rail - Primed and Ready" /></a>


The reason for the primer is that when 2 pieces of metal of butted up against one another they have a tendency to trap moisture, which leads to rust. The best way to prevent that is to paint both pieces before you push them together. But since the insert was being welded in normal paint would be burnt away, so it wouldn't do any good. The Weld-Thru primer is special in doesn't burn away when welding, so it will still protect the metal from rust.

The frame rail with the added metal welded in:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970842459/" title="New Patch Welded In by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/4970842459_9642be179d.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="New Patch Welded In" /></a>

After that I applied a good coat of POR-15 (rust inhibitor). Once that was sealed up I could move on to the rest of the driver's floor. Below you can see where the rust started to run up onto the transmission tunnel ever so slightly. In order to repair this I cut put a template from thick paper and then traced the pattern onto some sheet metal.

The hole:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970842471/" title="Driver Floor Before by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/4970842471_0befa9c48b.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Driver Floor Before" /></a>

The metal piece cut from the paper template:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970842479/" title="Patch for Driver Tunnel by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/4970842479_ce7545e425.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Patch for Driver Tunnel" /></a>

Once I had the outline cut out I used some body hammers and dollies to get the curve right. Once the shaping was done I tacked it in place until the rest of the floor could be made up. I forgot to take more pictures as I made that piece up, but here's the paper template I made for the other corner of the floor.

Paper Template:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4971507596/" title="Paper Template by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4085/4971507596_904f82fa73.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Paper Template" /></a>

Sheet metal from Template:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4971507610/" title="Metal cut from template by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4085/4971507610_b1f3a7280e.jpg" width="332" height="500" alt="Metal cut from template" /></a>

And here you can see this piece tacked in place:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4971507650/" title="Tacked in 2 by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/4971507650_dd83dec18e.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Tacked in 2" /></a>

Next in line was the inner front rocker/side of the floor. At first I was going to leave this piece in, but the more I poked at it the more fell out, and so I decided to make up a new patch to cover it up.

The rusty piece:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970956499/" title="Old Busted Joint by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/4970956499_5c150e830b.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Old Busted Joint" /></a>

The sheet metal patch, unbent:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970956517/" title="Template of old busted joint by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4091/4970956517_341992b0d5.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Template of old busted joint" /></a>

The patch, freshly bent:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970956531/" title="New Hotness by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4109/4970956531_801fec84af.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="New Hotness" /></a>\

And here is where it got welded in:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970956513/" title="Location of old busted joint by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4113/4970956513_64eed859b5.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Location of old busted joint" /></a>

Once the sides were patched up I made up the inner floor panels. Here's the left one ready to be tacked in place:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970956535/" title="Left Floor Pan by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/4970956535_fb1c2709f3.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Left Floor Pan" /></a>



The last thing I worked on this weekend was my crappy stock gas pedal mount. it was rusted and pitted and all around worn out, so I figured I would make a new one.

The old busted joint:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4971026487/" title="Old Pedal Mount by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4083/4971026487_ea4d216b0f.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Old Pedal Mount" /></a>


The new sheet metal piece ready to be cut:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4971026497/" title="New Metal by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4124/4971026497_f6f2527c77.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="New Metal" /></a>

The bends matched up pretty good:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4971026513/" title="Bent up to match by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4147/4971026513_ea0276032e.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Bent up to match" /></a>

Then I made up some new mounting 'nipples' from some 1/4-20 bolts and acorn nuts. I put the nuts in a drill press and then rounded them off with a grinder until they were the right shape. To hold the bolts in place I welded then through the holes from the back of the mounting plate. Finally I threaded on the rounded acorn nuts down onto the bolts and Voila!


The New Hotness:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4971026521/" title="New Pedal Mount by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4084/4971026521_bc03edc5bf.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="New Pedal Mount" /></a>

And it actually fits!!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4971026573/" title="It fits! by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/4971026573_89a0be2453.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="It fits!" /></a>


Last here's a picture of how she sits right now. I still need to grind the welds down and then seal everything up nice and good. I'm hoping to get to that tonight or tomorrow. Then I get to tackle the passenger side....

It has a floor now! :excited:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4970956561/" title="New Floor! by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/4970956561_297d0cabef.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="New Floor!" /></a>
 
#25 ·
Do it, their great little cars. I'd love to have gotten a tii, but I'd hate to molest a true classic like that. Especially since this will end up on campus with me. I won't loose sleep if this gets a door ding or gets messed with (to a point).

Besides you can't run quad 40mm mikuni's on a tii :shhh:.....
 
#29 ·
Thanks!

Awesome!!
:thumbup:

Will be following this closely as I too would love to have one someday. Although I don't have any restoration skills I always wanted to trot around town in one of these. I can't believe a 2002 turbo is asking 40k+; with good reason, but still :loco: Any plans to change the colour or wheels?
For now it will stay red and I'll stick with the msw's. Eventually I'd love to paint it either the stock turbo white or silver, or maybe phoenix yellow. Next summer I'm planning to do more exterior body work which should include turbo fender flares and front air dam, at which point the wheels might change due to the need for a different offset. All in due time though, I need to get her back on the road first!
 
#28 ·
Will be following this closely as I too would love to have one someday. Although I don't have any restoration skills I always wanted to trot around town in one of these. I can't believe a 2002 turbo is asking 40k+; with good reason, but still :loco: Any plans to change the colour or wheels?
 
#31 ·
For now I'm just fixing all the big rust issues and replacing the important lines (fuel and brake) to make it reliable and safer. Also I'm going to re-seal the inside of the car from the outside. Then down the road (read next summer) I'll make the body more presentable and probably do a complete suspension overhall.


In the meantime, since I don't have enough to work on yet:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523131@N07/4980788105/" title="Bike Carbs Bought! by jonathanwtinker, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/4980788105_5c7ed03b0c_b.jpg" width="1024" height="655" alt="Bike Carbs Bought!" /></a>

They will just need to be re-jetted and then mounted to a custom intake manifold to take the 3.25"-on-center carb spacing to the 4"-on-center intake port spacing. It will also need to transition from the circular outlet of the carb to the more rectangular inlet on the m10.
 
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