Sound deadening on the firewall from a later model 2002.                                               Engine bay prep for the motor.

Reinstall the wiring harness after it's been cleaned and rewrapped.        A lot of pretty little details here...

Leaving the paint booth

Note the straight and sharp body creases. These are vital to the crisp look of these cars.

Sealed off the rear US marker lights. Ugly. Return to euro clean line look.

Of course the door jambs need be detailed and bright, as under the hood and in the trunk as seen in previous pix.

Insides of doors...                                                                                     ...and inside of the decklid...

........hood.....................                                                                                   ......and trunk..........

.........engine bay.....                                                                                                                 

Color coat and clear cover the body now and are awaiting color sanding. Then the fun begins--that is to make this empty but pretty shell a running thing!

Prepping for paint. Door jambs here...                                                 engine bay

                                                                                                        ...decklid off for inside priming, ...

...and the doors off for painting

Applying texture to the trunk. This car is fitted with a trunk battery box, and will probably keep it

Applying texture under the primer to the trunk and rockers

Here's is the Wurth texture coating in the trunk, just like the factory did. Note the accessory holes for the trunk mounted battery, an Ireland Engr kit.   Rockers and valences on the 2002 were covered with 'schutz' making the lower body less prone to rock chips and rust. From the outside anyway...

Back on November 24th I decided to send Happy Face out for restoration.  I had spent the last 4 years bringing this car back to life myself.  I made good progress but it was clear to me that at the pace I was moving, it would take years to restore.  On the other hand I could settle for a rattling, fun to drive, old BMW that would ultimately never get a lot of seat time, always with the risk of a breakdown.  Since what I really wanted was a concours or near-concours example of an 'O2, I made the decision to put the car in the hands of a proper restoration shop.  I chose Coupe King out of Los Angeles, owned and run by Peter Sliskovich.  They have a good track record of restoring old BMW's and they seem reasonable.  Coupe King keeps a nice web page update page on their projeects.  My car's page is located here:  http://www.coupeking.com/product_main.php?product_id=387

When Happy arrived at Coupe King Peter Sliskgovich gave it a thorough inspection.  There was bad news.  Turns out that the car had suffered an accident some years in the past which resulted in frame rail damage.  This explained a lot of things, like why I could never really get the drive train aligned properly, among other things

In order to make the car right, the frame would have to be straightened.  That would cost.

So, luck would have it that Coupe King had a '72 near perfect 'shell' sitting in the back of their warehouse.  That car had been destined to be a racer, but the project never got off the ground.  Peter suggested we do a body swap.  Take the guts of Happy Face out, and swap her over to this other shell.  The plan would be to 'restore' the car, using this 'other' body.  Since it was my intention to do a frame off restoration anyway, would difference would it ultimately make if it was a whole new body? 

the other shell

In the last two weeks the car has had some minor body repair work done, and taken its first coat of primer.  Here are some shots of the progress:

Small area on the lower front where water collection had led to rust. The panel was removed, rustproofed, and replaced.

Beginning the body work. Trunk and hood off, cleaning the corners.

Here the exterior is in prime. A bit of detail sanding and then a deep prime coat to dry before painting.

So now the exterior body is all in primer. Still need to do the lids--hood and deck--and the engine bay and trunk areas,  For the next few weeks the exterior prime coat will cure before getting to paint. The car should be in color by middle March.

Hood is nearly perfectly straight. Original paint and in near perfect shape.

Happy Face attended her first autocross after 34 years of livin.  Although she was a full three seconds slower than the next 'O2 runnin, she was runnin and that's all I hoped for this first time.

My biggest fear was that I'd see some kind of catostrophic failure, like a drive shaft coming off, or the radiator busting, a blown tranny, or worst of all, brake failure!

Shod with all new "stock" OEM suspension, this car leaned so far out that I just about scratched my chin on the pavement.

But all that leaning meant that I had to set the car up properly for every turn.  I found that I was having to be much more focused and predictive of the way the weight was being tossed around in the car.  I wanted to experience this 'O2 like it was driven three decades ago.

On the other hand, there are little voices that keep on saying "BILSTEINS", "H&R SPRINGS", "22mm SWAY BAR".

Is this where the fun starts?

Happy Face is now legal.  Although it took a while to get here, its no guarantee she'll run, but at least my chances are better.  Here are some shots that kind of paint the picture of where she stands now and what is left to be done.  Oh, and tomorrow she'll participate in her first autocross.  I'm hoping the drive shaft won't fall out.

There's been minor work on interior refreshing.  These used Recaro's are an improvement over the mismatched stock seats the PO put in.  They are a little more comfy too.  That's a Momo Monaco steering wheel over there.  That was probably the first thing I did three years ago when I got the car.

In the engine bay there's a new strut tower brace, the Weber carb got a complete tear down and rebuild a few months back, and I've installed a nice Crane electronic ignition along with upgraded plug wires and plugs and a nice Bosche Red coil.  You can't see it but the wiper motor and pump were replaced as well.  I can drive in the rain now! 

The motor runs really well, or at least a lot better than it used to.  At some point, it will get an upgraded cam.  That will give me an excuse to tear into the motor a bit more (is this really such a good idea?).

That's the new master cylinder, installed as part of the complete brake system rebuild a few weeks ago.  It concerns me that I still see brake fluid on that line.  Not sure where its coming from.  My guess is that the reservoir is overfilled and its leakage coming down the line.

Dry-rotted rubber is commonplace on this car.  I've bought most of the replacement pieces and am just waiting for the right weekend and state of mind to come along.

One of the biggest PIA's on this car is the hood.  That gap shown in the picture is the source of mucho vibration and sound coming from the front of the car.  The vibration emminating from this seam is in the key of D-flat.  Its loud and its irritating.  I've bought some hood insulation pads from BMP Design, but they won't fix this seam.  I guess I'm going to have to figure out a way to glue that down some how.  Ok, the next question is why is there vibration enough coming out of the car to cause this metal seam to make so much noise.  Its either the engine or maybe a bad engine mount.

The other thing this car needs are new headlights.  I've got a new pair of H4's sitting in a box ready to go.  Also note the paint dust on the back of the headlight housing.  That stems from the cheap paint job this car got by the PO.  There's stuff like this all over the car.  It will all eventually get cleaned up.

This is pretty typical of the chome on this car.  This particular piece is going to go away, but the bumpers aren't much better.  I'm going to gradually replace all the chrome on the car with new or decent used pieces.

This is Happy Face with  her kid brother, Little Chili.  Believe it or not but the MINI is a bigger car in all ways when compared with the O2, with the exception of the trunk.  Little Chili is now retired from autocross after two seasons (we took 2nd-place in B Class last year).  If its not too late, Happy Face is going to make a run for the A-Class title this year.  Having missed four events, its going to be a challenge.  We'll see.

Saturday, April 1st was the date of the annual BMP Design BMW and MINI show in Tyler, Texas.  My son (Andrew) and I took part in a mini-caravan of Houston folks.  We joined Chris Ward in his 1969 Sahara 'O2 and Dan and Valerie Baker in their 1976 blue 'O2.  I had hoped to take Happy Face along but I just didn't think she was ready for an across-state trip like this so we took Little Chili (the MINI).

Happy Face didn't make the trip, but she's almost ready!!

Ok, back to the show....There was a nice collection of classic and modern bimmers on display.  But all were outnumbered by the MINI contingent.  There is a case of MINI madness going on.  It kind of reminds me of the Z3 thing I participated in several years ago, but it would appear that the MINI's are a bit better organized.  Well, maybe not, can they pull together 700 cars all at once to travel across country to South Carolina?  I think not, anyway....

The metal on display was inspiring.  I also got some good visuals on 'completed' restorations of 'O2's.  Here are some shots of the action with my son in as a vertical scale.

This was a 1989 Champagne 635csi owned by a very nice retired couple who live in Tyler.  They bought it brand new as a  showroom car.  The car has 70k miles on it.  The back seat has only been sat in once!  This car won the best overall 'classic' car at this event.  A  truly awesome car.

a beautiful engine bay from an M6

Andrew and that primo M6

this has got to be the coolest BMW ever made, how could one argue with perfection??

not sure what that white/orange color combo is all about, but I like it

it really does look like a little smiley face doesn't it?

Andrew in front of a new "Rally" special edition MINI.  Ok, so its cool.

Life is Art

My wife often wonders why I take pictures like this.  She just doesn't understand!

Andrew in front of 'O2 Street

The brake rebuild is coming along, slowly.  Have replaced/repaired the right rear, now to the left.  The front calipers have been replaced and I have some nice new PBR metalmaster shoes to put in there.  Here are some photos of the progress.

Here's the new (rebuilt) left front caliper.  I'm also going to replace those shoes in there.  The old ones aren't bad its just that they are unevenly worn due to the improper operation of the old calipers.  I got these for $80 a piece from Matt Groner which is a very good price (check for yourself!).

The left-rear brakes before repair

The left-rear brakes after repair

The new cylinder for comparison.  CLEAN!

A picture of the new steel braided brake liine.  The rear flexible brake lines are very hard to get to.

I received my new master cylinder as well from BMP Design.  They had a great price ($100).  You've got to shop around.  I've noticed that some suppliers have good prices on one item, and then they are way too high on another.  Fortunately, there are choices out there.  You also have to consider the costs of shipping.  If you can find a piece locally, that's usually the way to go.

More on the progress of the brake rebuild in my next post

Recap from the attempt to get her ready for autox.  It was a no-go.  The attempt to get calipers in time failed.  As a result the old girl missed her fourth autox of the season.  Its not looking good for placing this year.  In order to get some seat time I pulled out L'til Chili, the MINI.  She's a good autoxer and last year I managed a 2nd-place finish in B Class in the Houston BMW-CCA autox series.  It was nice to be out on the track again but my times weren't impressive and I couldn't seem to get through the course without hitting cones.  Not running for 3 months will do that to you I guess.

Happy Face will probably not be ready for at least a few more weeks.  I'm going to go ahead with the complte brake system rebuild (well, almost complete).  I'll order up new calipers and a master cylinder today and hope to get them for next weekend when I'll install the whole thing.  This weekend I'm going to replace the crappy old headlights with some new ones and at least get that out of the way.  I'll also start the brake rebuild by taking off the old rear brake cylinders (they are welded in rust).

I can't believe it but its been three years now since I bought this car.  For the majority of that time the car has either sat in my garage or been over at Matthews Auto Sales (Matt Groner's place), sitting in their back lot.  There has been a lot done to the car but I've had other projects plus an accident (in which I lost my beloved M3) and other things.  In any case, for the past several months the emphasis has been back on Happy Face.  Most recently, the brakes. 

The realization of just how bad my brakes were came last month when I decided I was going to bleed the system.  No, it hadn't been done yet, but as I said, the car really hasn't been driven.  So I'm trying to get the car ready for last month's club autocross and I knew I had to at a minimum, do the brake bleed.  I discovered a few unsettling surprises.  First, some of the bleeder valves in the front calipers wouldn't flow break fluid.  But some did and I did have front brakes so I figured the bleeder valves themselves were clogged.  I'd get to this proper when I had time.  When I went to the back brakes which only have one line per brake, the right-rear also would not flow brake fluid.  I took off the drum and discovered a brake shoe which had no visible indications of recent wear, oh since about 1978 or so.  I knew I had to fix this or no autox.  I removed the flexible brake line coming into that side of the back, blew it out with some compressed air, and just like that, brake fluid.  The rear brakes did seem to move when I applied pedal pressure to the brakes.  However, it was clear that the rear right brake cylinder was pretty much shot, plus its leaking fluid too.  I was nervous about the overall condition of the rear so I decided to cancel out of autox.  That was the Feb event.

Move to the March event, which is this Sunday and here I am again, trying to get the brakes ready.  In the past few weeks I have ordred new flexble brake lines (the braided steel kind), new rear brake shoes, drums and cylinders, a one-man pressure bleeding system and a whole lotta ATE brake fluid.  So last night, I'm at it again, bleeding the brakes and I am getting good pressure, but one of those inoperable bleeder valves is now showing a slow brake fluid leak.  There's no way to tighten it down.  Its stripped.  That and the other non-bleeding valves from the front calipers and I decided that the calipers themselves are shot.  Plus, I haven't even addressed those back brakes yet.  Oh yeah, then there's the master cylinder.  I noticed it was leaking when I had the system under pressure.  Its going to need a rebuild, although it might hold through one event (wishful thinking!).  I just have this nightmare scenario of having a massive brake failure out on the track and running over some poor helpless corner worker, holy crap!

In a desperate attempt to still get the brakes working before this Sunday's autox, I called Matt Groner, and asked if he had any 'O2 calipers laying around.  He doesn't but says he can get some Friday.  In the meantime, I remove the bad calipers and take them over to his shop to see if his guys (Mike and Dave) can somehow fix them.  I guess they are going to blow some air through them and rethread that stripped bleeder valve.

So, there's still hope for the Sunday autox but the car is not street legal (it's been sitting for 10 months and the inspection and registration have expired).  With no time left to get the car inspected and registered before Sunday I'm faced with taking it to the track without being street legal.  Well, so what you say?  Guess where we hold our autocross events?  At the Houston Police Academy!!

Ultimately, the car is going to need an entire brake system rebuild.  Patience....patience I keep telling myself.

This weekend I started the Weber carb rebuild. I had purchased the rebuild kit from Top End performance for $39. Also bought all new main, air and idle jets following a different tuning prescription than stock (the infamous CD 'O2 weber tuning recipe).

New Weber primary and secondary jets

Weber carb repair kit

Took apart the carb and soaked it for 48 hours in the red mystery oil, cleaned it all back up, and put in the new jets.

top half

bottom half showing throttle valves

all cleaned up and ready for its bits and pieces

Next up was redoing the idle and mixture settings. I followed the Redline Weber guidelines here:

http://www.redlineweber.com/html/Tech/carburetor_set_up_and_lean_best_.htm

low and behold it actually worked

The car idles smooth and strong, just like its supposed to. Even the automatic choke works

right now my chances of getting this beast to Sunday autox have improved slightly. Just have to rebleed the brakes, figure out why one of the low-beams drops out when the high beams are on, put the door panels back on, get the car registered and inspected... and if there's time, replace all the cooling hoses, so as one of them doesn't explode on the back sweeper at HPA

I decided to remove the tranmission in order to solve the mystery as to why my car doesn't go. All clues pointed to the clutch. The tranny just had to come out.  Thanks to Chris Ward for coaching me through this via portable phone.

 Getting the initial separation was a big victory!

The rust up there is really the only severe rust on the entire car! It was exposed when I did a POWER wash under the car.

I could not get the speedo cable off of the tranny. Turns out that the screw was stripped. Managed to back it out after a while.

I had thought that the hole in the side of the speedo screw might be the clue to the mystery as to why the speedo cable wouldn't come out......no chance, the screw was just stripped

When I finally got the tranny backed out from the engine about 5 inches...I gave it one last pull...and ....THUNK...it came out

I'm glad I decided to get out from underneath that puppy before I gave it the final pull!

The inside of this bell housing is just about the ugliest stuff I've ever seen

Next I'll take a close look at the clutch plate itself to inspect for wear.

The tail lights on Happy Face were pretty sad looking.  I figured the plastic on them was history and proceeded to hunt down some decent used ones out on the internet marketplace.

The old left light....pretty sad looking. 

I found a single light on ebay.  It was in much better shape than my old lights.  Only problem was it came off a '73.  Had bit of a different configuration of the lenses.

When I removed the old lights I couldn't help but wonder if they would clean up.  The cloudy plastic lenses were really only a degraded on the inside parts of the lenses.  I decided to disassemble the lenses from each light assembly to go to work on them with some Meguires plastic cleaner, aided by my handy dremel tool.

I didn't expect these results.  Here's the left light before and after.  Incredible.

Here's the ebay light compared with my cleaned up right side light.                                   The old tail lights cleaned, installed and ready for the road.

It was the evening of March 23^rd, 2003.  I was doing my normal mindless surfing of Ebay checking out the bimmers listed under “other models”.  You know, the place where they sell the old BMWs.  It was fate I guess.  There was this little 2002, a roundie.  The paint was “happy face” red.  I know it sounds ridiculous but it seemed to be talking to me.  Very dangerous indeed.  After all, it wasn’t free.  Something about it…..the more I looked at it, the more I liked it.  There was less than 24 hours left on the auction.  The car had already come up quite a bit since it was initially listed a week prior.  There were already 24 bids.  It was listed as “no reserve”.  The next 24 hours were going to be busy. 

The car was Verona Red with a white top (no, its not stock).  Sunroof.  62k miles (or was that 162k?).  Nevada car, rust free (or so it is stated).  The car had lived its life in Las Vegas (dry air is a good thing for old cars).  The pictures were all well placed.  The interior looked good.  Clean engine bay (shiny paint in there).  Clean engine.  Underside photo of the spare tire area also looked good.  The car had recently undergone a mechanical reconditioning.

Ok, so this little beauty is growing on me.  I shoot my wife an email around midnight which she doesn't see until she gets to her office the next morning.  I tell her, I’d like to bid, and await her slimmest possible ok for go (or a go jump in the lake).

Ten in the morning, with 7 1/2 hours left on auction she does in fact, tell me to go jump in a lake.  Meanwhile I send off an email to the seller with a list of specific questions.  I also send an email to Dan Baker, one of the Houston ‘O2-heads.  I ask him to take a careful look at the car.

Noon, 5 1/2 hours left on the auction and I begin my campaign with the wife.

Two o'clock and 3 1/2 hours left.  After several phone calls with my lovely bride I see the slimmest of possible hope, but still she adamantly says "no way".

Four o'clock and I still haven't given up.  A bid has since come in to move the car up a $100.

Four-thirty and I hear back from Dan.  He says that if the auction doesn’t go bananas, this happy face car might be a real value.

Five o'clock and 20 minutes left on the auction and I have now heard back from seller regarding a list of specific questions.  All answers pass.

Five-O-five pm and my campaign with wife is stalling.  At least she’s still talking to me.  I aim to strike a compromise.  I tell her that I will only proxy bid it up to a certain level of pragmatic frugality.  She still says “no way” but leaves the door open by telling me to come up with something better.  I’m instructed to call her back when there's ten minutes left on the auction.  Now I know, I've got hope.

Five-ten pm and I call her back.  I tell her that it will probably rise high in the last minutes of the auction but I will only limit myself to $500 over the current price. She is beginning to grow weary but I also sense I'm risking her calling the divorce attorney.  At this point I know I risk living alone in a crummy apartment for the rest of my life.

Five-twelve pm.  The minutes are slipping by and I still have not placed a bid.  Now there’s just seven minutes left.  All of a sudden someone bids it up another $100.  More minutes go by.  Three minutes left.  Something makes me press the enter button.  Yikes!! I’ve just placed a bid!  My heart is pumping fast and furious as I stare at the seconds on the auction clock clicking by.  Am I going to win??

Another minute and a bidder takes it up a $100.  Drat!!  I've been outbid!  My heart is pumping loud enough to create a seismic event down the hallway.  I call wife to explain the seriousness of the situation.  The seconds are slipping away.  Just then another bid comes in, up a $100!  Then, another up a $100!  My nose is pressed to the computer screen.  Only 40 seconds left on the auction!!  I have to act.  I reach for the "SEND" button and click.  The screen refreshes for what seems like an eternity.  Then, I see my name appear on the top of the page…..listed as “winner’.  Holy cow!  What have I done?  The bid came in with nine seconds remaining.  I call my wife to tell her that we have just bought a 1973 2002 in Verona Red.  She says she's going to throw up and hangs up.

A few seconds later Dan Baker calls.  "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!"

For better or worse, the ‘O2 adventure has begun.

The long ride home, I call home.  She’s not talking.

I walk in the door, she smiles at me.  She’s holding my copy of “A BMW Enthusiasts Companion”.  She wants her picture on the cover.

(postscript 2006, never ever buy a car or even place a bid on a car until AFTER you have had the car inspected by a mechanic that YOU have paid for)