Maybe someone of you folks remember my previous car, a orange BMW 1502 with bikecarbs. It drove me to RR08 and back to Holland, but 2 weeks later it ended like this:
So, sit down, take a cup of tea and a bag of cookies because this is going to be a really long story
Ouch.
My Dad borrowed the 02 that day, just for a fun ride to his work. On the way back he encountered a Focus from the left of a crossroad in the middle of nowhere. The Focus was braking, so Dad drove past.. but on the crossroad, she-Focus decided to floor the throttle and hit the 02 in the rear left wheel. The end is pictured above.
That was sad, that 02 cost me a half year full of headaches and it was finally (sort of) ready.. mojo gone, I even considered buying a volvo 144, but the 02's didn't leave me.
So there came another 02, paid with 1500 euro's of insurance money because the accident was not my dad's fault at all.
It looked so nice when I bought it, it looked so nice when I bikecarb'd and Spax'd it. It only needed some welding at a chassis rail and suspension mount. All sorted out before the MOT, so I didn't expect really serious things.
Then the MOT-tester slapped me around the ears with Murphy's law. He made a to-do list which was capable to fill a full A4 paper sheet.
The major problem was that the car provided more filler and rust than healthy metal, and it was repaired before with VERY poor welding. And the filler was supported by 'filled-in' sheets of metal, so it looked like normal..
Pics:
Even the rear subframe mounts were 'repaired' like that. A small inspection of the lower B-pillar revealed 4 or 5 layers of 'reinforcement' metal. Stripping the tectyled underside revealed more and more sh1t. So the decision was made easily:
I never, NEVER have seen a car which was SO full of crappily 'repairs'. +1 for the previous owner for hiding all that curse word so nicely. I was even considering to dump the bare shell in his back garden.. stuipd jerk. But it was time to move on.
Mojo gone, again. Fortunately, Speurders (Dutch fleabay) provided mojo: a 2002 for sale, with broken engine, and resprayed a month ago, about 15 miles from my house.
Dad's V50 2.0 diesel got enough torque to pull australia to europe, so the towing rope brought my new 02 home:
The problem:
The car was in much better condition than the curse word white 02, has MOT for 1 year, and the price was 600 euro. Not a bad deal, I thought.
And I already had a solution for the knackered engine: the 1.8 M10 with bikecarbs from the orange 1502. I already putted it on a engine crane (wonderful things!) and took the head off.
That revealed a camshaft problem:
The 300 deg camshaft, which was already inside, provided a huge 11mm valve lift. That's the maximum for standard pistons.. in theory. My pistons said something different, as stated in the pic, you clearly see the valve 'impression' in the pistons..
Did I already mention that I drove from Holland to the UK and back with this engine??
That inteference problem was no headache at all, I simply went to the local tool shop and bought a nice set of big dremel tools and started machining the stock pistons.
Stock at the left, and the modified one on the right.
Surprisingly, the engine itself was in really good condition.
So, after HOURS of machining work, all four pistons were ready. I weighed them out on mum's kitchen weigher, the only weight difference was 4 grammes!! The max is 10, so that was nice and safe.
After that, they were placed in the engine. A tin can of cookies and some big hose clamps provided good use as a piston ring spanner
Next job was placing new valves, to replace the old bent ones. There were some spare heads laying around (thanks to the previous two scrapped BMW's!) so I got 'new' valves out of them and polished them in the existing cylinder head.
After rebuilding the whole engine with new gaskets etc, the monster was ready to be built in!!
The Doctor came over to help with engineswapping, so we quickly got the old one out and the new one in!
Everything connected, fuel inside and it started immediately after 2 cranks!!
Some terror pics of the old engine:
The next step was the interior. I think the previous owner really loved door mats, because the whole interior was covered with them! And the original seats were, like BMW seats always are, FUBAR. So I stripped the whole interior out, and bought a nice can of full black Hammerite to paint the floors black.
I already bought bucket seats, 4-pointers and a steering wheel for the old orange 1502, now they provided good usage.
The green carpet in the car is the same as my grandma got in her kitchen.. ;D
After the commercial break, I swapped the bone-stock drivetrain for the upgraded one from (you guessed?) the old 1502.
That provided the following list of upgrades:
- Spax PSX suspension set front & rear, springs with adjustable dampers and 50mm lowering!
- Vented E21 6 pot discs
- Huge Volvo 245 front brake calipers
- Polybushed front suspension
- 24mm adjustable Whiteline sway bar at the front
- Welded 4.11 differential
And 19mm E21 brake cylinders in the rear (original is 16mm)
Maybe needless to say, but that provided a whole different experience of driving in my 2002 !
Now the pics of lowering goodness!
The bigger vented discs with Volvo calipers required 14" wheels at the front.. and one of the 14" rear wheels is broken, due to miss Focus which destroyed the 1502. Just in case you were wondering ;D
Then I started experimenting with the rear silencer..
Jesus christ what a noise. Really loud and very deep, like a bergrennen race car, that was really cool!! The engine liked it too, it revved much better at higher rpm's!
But my ears didn't like it.. the car is geared with a 4.11 welded differential, so the rev counter says 4500 rpm when you do 65mph on the motorway. So the original pot went back, but a absorption damper (something cherrybomb-like) is ready to be welded on..
..but it was time for something different: a new dash console. The old electrics from the 2002 were a big disaster: thanks to the previous owner(s) for installing a stupid radio and mist lights and more. If they only wired them the right way..
so I decided to cut the curse word away, and make a new wiring loom for the original functions and my added fog lights and electric fuel pump.
That worked out really well, now all the electrics work like a charm. One problem more solved.
Next problem: a leaking gearbox. The rubber gasket on the output shaft is broken.. a new gasket set already waits for installation, so i'll keep you updated by now
So, sit down, take a cup of tea and a bag of cookies because this is going to be a really long story
Ouch.
My Dad borrowed the 02 that day, just for a fun ride to his work. On the way back he encountered a Focus from the left of a crossroad in the middle of nowhere. The Focus was braking, so Dad drove past.. but on the crossroad, she-Focus decided to floor the throttle and hit the 02 in the rear left wheel. The end is pictured above.
That was sad, that 02 cost me a half year full of headaches and it was finally (sort of) ready.. mojo gone, I even considered buying a volvo 144, but the 02's didn't leave me.
So there came another 02, paid with 1500 euro's of insurance money because the accident was not my dad's fault at all.
It looked so nice when I bought it, it looked so nice when I bikecarb'd and Spax'd it. It only needed some welding at a chassis rail and suspension mount. All sorted out before the MOT, so I didn't expect really serious things.
Then the MOT-tester slapped me around the ears with Murphy's law. He made a to-do list which was capable to fill a full A4 paper sheet.
The major problem was that the car provided more filler and rust than healthy metal, and it was repaired before with VERY poor welding. And the filler was supported by 'filled-in' sheets of metal, so it looked like normal..
Pics:
Even the rear subframe mounts were 'repaired' like that. A small inspection of the lower B-pillar revealed 4 or 5 layers of 'reinforcement' metal. Stripping the tectyled underside revealed more and more sh1t. So the decision was made easily:
I never, NEVER have seen a car which was SO full of crappily 'repairs'. +1 for the previous owner for hiding all that curse word so nicely. I was even considering to dump the bare shell in his back garden.. stuipd jerk. But it was time to move on.
Mojo gone, again. Fortunately, Speurders (Dutch fleabay) provided mojo: a 2002 for sale, with broken engine, and resprayed a month ago, about 15 miles from my house.
Dad's V50 2.0 diesel got enough torque to pull australia to europe, so the towing rope brought my new 02 home:
The problem:
The car was in much better condition than the curse word white 02, has MOT for 1 year, and the price was 600 euro. Not a bad deal, I thought.
And I already had a solution for the knackered engine: the 1.8 M10 with bikecarbs from the orange 1502. I already putted it on a engine crane (wonderful things!) and took the head off.
That revealed a camshaft problem:
The 300 deg camshaft, which was already inside, provided a huge 11mm valve lift. That's the maximum for standard pistons.. in theory. My pistons said something different, as stated in the pic, you clearly see the valve 'impression' in the pistons..
Did I already mention that I drove from Holland to the UK and back with this engine??
That inteference problem was no headache at all, I simply went to the local tool shop and bought a nice set of big dremel tools and started machining the stock pistons.
Stock at the left, and the modified one on the right.
Surprisingly, the engine itself was in really good condition.
So, after HOURS of machining work, all four pistons were ready. I weighed them out on mum's kitchen weigher, the only weight difference was 4 grammes!! The max is 10, so that was nice and safe.
After that, they were placed in the engine. A tin can of cookies and some big hose clamps provided good use as a piston ring spanner
Next job was placing new valves, to replace the old bent ones. There were some spare heads laying around (thanks to the previous two scrapped BMW's!) so I got 'new' valves out of them and polished them in the existing cylinder head.
After rebuilding the whole engine with new gaskets etc, the monster was ready to be built in!!
The Doctor came over to help with engineswapping, so we quickly got the old one out and the new one in!
Everything connected, fuel inside and it started immediately after 2 cranks!!
Some terror pics of the old engine:
The next step was the interior. I think the previous owner really loved door mats, because the whole interior was covered with them! And the original seats were, like BMW seats always are, FUBAR. So I stripped the whole interior out, and bought a nice can of full black Hammerite to paint the floors black.
I already bought bucket seats, 4-pointers and a steering wheel for the old orange 1502, now they provided good usage.
The green carpet in the car is the same as my grandma got in her kitchen.. ;D
After the commercial break, I swapped the bone-stock drivetrain for the upgraded one from (you guessed?) the old 1502.
That provided the following list of upgrades:
- Spax PSX suspension set front & rear, springs with adjustable dampers and 50mm lowering!
- Vented E21 6 pot discs
- Huge Volvo 245 front brake calipers
- Polybushed front suspension
- 24mm adjustable Whiteline sway bar at the front
- Welded 4.11 differential
And 19mm E21 brake cylinders in the rear (original is 16mm)
Maybe needless to say, but that provided a whole different experience of driving in my 2002 !
Now the pics of lowering goodness!
The bigger vented discs with Volvo calipers required 14" wheels at the front.. and one of the 14" rear wheels is broken, due to miss Focus which destroyed the 1502. Just in case you were wondering ;D
Then I started experimenting with the rear silencer..
Jesus christ what a noise. Really loud and very deep, like a bergrennen race car, that was really cool!! The engine liked it too, it revved much better at higher rpm's!
But my ears didn't like it.. the car is geared with a 4.11 welded differential, so the rev counter says 4500 rpm when you do 65mph on the motorway. So the original pot went back, but a absorption damper (something cherrybomb-like) is ready to be welded on..
..but it was time for something different: a new dash console. The old electrics from the 2002 were a big disaster: thanks to the previous owner(s) for installing a stupid radio and mist lights and more. If they only wired them the right way..
so I decided to cut the curse word away, and make a new wiring loom for the original functions and my added fog lights and electric fuel pump.
That worked out really well, now all the electrics work like a charm. One problem more solved.
Next problem: a leaking gearbox. The rubber gasket on the output shaft is broken.. a new gasket set already waits for installation, so i'll keep you updated by now