:: Classic Bimmers :: 02's and other strangeness » Dan’s 1600

Teardown of the Cooling System

admin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:33:47 +0000

When I bought the car back in Feb 2009 i knew the waterpump was leaking and the coolant hoses were looking pretty old. Got my new hoses, coolant, thermostat, waterpump in from BavAuto so i started my tear down. Drained the radiator, removed the alternator and belt, and fan. Inspected the radiator and decided to have the top resoldered at a local radiator shop.

Heres some of the problem areas:

Because of the surface rust on that front engine bay wall, i figured i should take care of it while everything was out. I also removed the old air pump bracket that was in the way of the alternator slide bracket:

The alternator bushings had also turned into icky tar:

Backseat & Rear Sidepanels get a facelift

admin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:31:46 +0000

Had the chance this weekend to tackle some refurb in the interior. Original color is tobacco brown and pretty much everything needed to be replaced or at least refurbed quite a bit. Removed the dry-rotted rear seat, rear side panels, and nasty rear shelf then scrubbed and cleaned the area up. Original florida paint was still nice and glossy back there!

The side panels and ashtrays where in good shape after a major cleanup of what had accumulated in the pockets and ashtrays over the past 40 years. Since im changing the color scheme over to the black interior, i scuffed the vinyl with a burgundy Scotchbrite pad and chased that with some 400 grit. Cleaned with solvent cleaner and sprayed black vinyl dye on them. Turned out pretty nice! Applied some new mylar tape to the chrome strips and it almost looked brand new!

Used the old rear shelf as a template and cut out a new one from some nice fiberboard and stretched new vinyl over it.

Got a black rear seat in really great shape at a good price off the 2002Faq site, and cleaned it up. Installed some new seat belts and the one piece of Salt & Pepper carpet that folds under the rear seat. Looking much better than it did before!

Bodywork begins on front nose panel

admin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:56:35 +0000

Here is the condition of the nose as i purchased it:

Started this weekend repairing the pushed in nose panel. After removing the front bumper and grills, I banged the nose out with a hammer from the backside, got it as good as i could. grinded out paint from the infected areas, primed the bare metal with 2k epoxy primer then started body filler. blocked out all out with a longboard to my satisfation then recoated again with epoxy primer then a more sandable nomal 2k primer. happy with the results!

Title , Registration, and Collector Plates

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:00:47 +0000

A good day today! Finally got the car running and registered in 1 day. Got Colorado Collectors plates that are valid for 5 years.

Heres the previous title from 1986:

She Runs!

admin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:48:18 +0000

3 months of aggravation, and my bmw 1600 finally runs ( on its own!). After 3 fuel pumps, 2 fuel senders, various parts of the fuel line, it finally sucks fuel on its own. No more bottle feeding! Now to unstick that clutch and maybe i can run it around the block (for the 1st time!) Then i can move on to the cooling system, the brakes, the body , paint, interior, the….

refinishing the wheels on my 1600

admin — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:16:07 +0000

Im gonna keep the original steel wheels and bottlecap hubcaps on my 1600 restoration. Wheels look to have never been touched in 40 years. The bottlecaps have the “frosty” look to them that has over time partly faded off. Put the front end up on jack stands and pulled off the 2 front wheels of the 1600 and grabbed the spare out of the trunk. After removing the tires I started sanding down on the wheels with 80 grit on the DA. Had to hand sand all the nooks and crannies which made it a little tedious. Finished it off with some 150 grit and gave it the once over with the burgandy scotch brite pad and coated all sides with 2k primer. After the primer catylized, sanded again with 240 and sprayed basecoat (ppg nexa autocolour (straight up P425-985 HS Fine Aluminum)) and applyed a a few coats of clear. Turned out pretty well. Only thing I’ll probaly change doing the last 2 wheels is that i’ll use epoxy primer.

As far as the bottle caps go, I soaked the nuts outa them with laquer thinner then buffed them out using a fairly aggressive compound. Chased that with a polish and they are pretty sparkly! Not perfect, but what is?

Here are some before pics on the wheels and hubcaps:

After pics soon to come!