Bay Area 02 Show & Shine

The family headed down to the Brisbane Marina on Saturday for the Bay 02 Club's Show & Shine. There must have been 50+ 02s on hand, plus a variety of other noteworthy BMWs. If one ventured further out in the parking lot, there were some beautiful Alfas to see as well. 

The organizers and volunteers did a terrific job and deserve gratitude for all of the work they put in to make the event smooth and enjoyable. And the people? It's remarkable how nice and engaging the 02 fans are. The camaraderie is one more good reason to love these cars. 

Here are a few pictures from the day. 

Just some of the cars parked on the green:

A handsome group:

Ready for the track:

This E9 coupe was recently restored and it looks the business. 

I have long had a thing for the Neue Klasse sedans and these are some of the reasons why:

If you are a fan of the 8-Series, the top shelf model went a little beyond the fairly rare 850csi. BMW never produced an M8, stopping with the protype. Alpina took the bait and came through with a 5.0 liter B12, only one of which reached these shores. They took it a step further with the 5.7 liter B12 and only one of those made it to the U.S. as well. That 5.7 liter B12 was present on Saturday. Wow. 8-Series are not something that I spend much time thinking about, but this car is different. Some of it comes from the fact that it is the real deal, not a collection of Alpina bits thrown at a car. The rest of the tingly feeling comes from the beast that lies beneath the scalloped hood. A 5.7 liter V12 massaged to deliver 416hp and 579Nm of torque. Wow again.

This beige (Sahara?) '02 is very nice with its Italian front turn signals and Alpina steel wheels. 

And then there was Inka. 

Get a good look at the front turn signals because they have already found a safe home in a box in my garage. I scored a nice set of Euro signals at the show and they were installed later that night. A little modification was needed to transition from a one wire set-up to a two wire. 


The good news continued because I also won a $100 gift certificate from Roger's tii! 

Steering Wheel

So, how many hubs does it take to install a new steering wheel? In this case: four. 

The bus steering wheel in my car is original and in excellent shape, free of cracks or other wear. The problem is that mentally, I replaced it before even buying the car. The large diameter doesn't bother as much as I thought it would, but it is just too thin. 

I wanted something more substantial and had settled on a wood Nardi wheel. Originally I wanted one with black spokes, but those are usually 360mm, which is much smaller. Smaller diameter means increased steering effort, and since I am not the only member of my family that enjoys driving this car, this was a serious consideration. Nardi did make a larger wood wheel with black spokes but they go for an absolute fortune.

I was also sensitive to adding wood to the interior. While it would be very much at home in a 3.0csi, 2002s are more spartan. The solution came in the form of a vintage Nardi wheel complete with black spokes and wrapped in leather. As a bonus, the diameter was almost identical to the original. I found the wheel on eBay and the price was reasonable. According to the seller, an Englishman living in France, the wheel spent most of its life on a Jaguar touring around South Africa. If true, it's not a bad story. 

It should be easy enough to bolt the wheel straight on, but no! Actually, I knew that I would need a Nardi-specific hub that was made to fit the splines on a 2002. Attempt number one came after my mechanic gave me an old hub that had been fitted to an '02. It looked like it would fit my wheel but I was wrong. The splines matched up alright but it turned out to be a Momo hub. Momo hubs can be made to work with an adaptor, which I bought cheaply enough, but the Nardi horn button which I purchased separately, would not fit! It was close, but it just wouldn't go. Strike one. 

It would have been nice to have this free hub work out, but I was prepared to now purchase one. While not plentiful, these hubs are out there. Not long after this second hub arrived, it was apparent that there was a fitment issue. The splines looked like the right size, but the wheel just wouldn't slide on the shaft. Not wanting to force it, I contacted the seller who graciously offered to send me slightly modified model that he was sure would fit. Strike two. 

I sent back the hub and the third one was sent shortly thereafter. It fit! At least it seemed to. The hub slid on perfectly, but not far enough. Pushed on as far as it would go, the wheel had a little slop when rocked gently back and forth. Even after tightening the nut the correct washer, there was unwanted movement because the splines did not completely mate. If I could have slid the hub on another 8mm, it would have been snug, but without machining the hub, this was not to be. Strike three. Forget Abner Doubleday, I was down but not out! 

The third hub was returned for a full refund, minus shipping and I found another supplier with a hub that would supposedly work. Order placed. When this fourth hub arrived I was pleasantly surprised. The second and third hubs had plastic, accordion style outer sleeves which were not the most attractive. The fourth hub was the same style according to the eBay listing, but it was actually solid metal. This was a big plus. The joy didn't stop there because the hub slid right on and went far enough to avoid any slop. I secured the wheel to the hub using the eight screws supplied with the hub and connected the horn button. Maybe it was all of the practice removing and reinstalling the steering wheel, but these last steps were fast and easy. 

Now I have a steering wheel that feels great in my hands, and to my eye, has a correct appearance in the car. A note to the purists: The old wheel has been carefully stowed because I plan to keep all of the original parts.

Under the Hood

A couple of months ago I grew tired of fretting about a pretty ugly situation under the bonnet. Fortunately I am not referring to the M10 engine but the degrading foam lining the underside of the hood. Time and heat do no favors to this insulating material and mine was looking rather pathetic. 

There are a few options for those who want to replace the foam but the unavoidable first step is a messy one. The original foam has to go! It begins easily enough by pulling the dry chunks off in your hands. Quickly though, you realize that there is a layer that will not give up without a fight. In my case, the adhesive is now 40 years old and officially baked on to the steel. Wanting to remove it properly meant doing things differently than my first attempt some 20+ years ago. Does this mean that I'm learning? Good news! Since my last try which resulted in the foam constantly flopping down onto the engine, a little thing called the Internet made its way on to the scene. One of the web's chief successes is a site called BMW 2002 FAQ. For anyone at all interested in 2002s, this is an amazing resource. Members come from all walks but have at least one thing in common, a passion for this iconic car. For every question about an upgrade or repair, there are numerous owners who have been there and done that. For this project I wanted to know the best way to efficiently remove the adhesive and I found my answer: 

Applied liberally, Contractor's Solvent breaks down the old glue. This process is very messy so I had a sheet of plastic covering the engine bay. Using a plastic scraper, I was able to turn the remaining adhesive into goopy blobs (sorry to get technical) that dropped safely onto the plastic safety net. I sprayed on one side of the hood and then scraped on the other. After the other side had absorbed the solvent for several minutes, I switched sides. Back and forth I went until I was left with virgin paint. I did this over a few days and it was several hours in total. Job almost complete!

As I said before, there are options when it comes to replacing the original foam. Some go with the aluminum lined pads that provide extra insulation and deflect the engine heat. One popular choice are the pads sold by Woody on the FAQ site. Unlike the OEM pads, Woody's fill almost the entire surface area. 

Woody also sells foam for the underside of the trunk lid. 

From the pictures that I've seen, they look great, and buyers seem very pleased with them. Ultimately I decided to go with OEM replacement pads purchased through Pelican Parts because my car is almost completely stock. Placement of the pads is fairly straightforward but you want to take care to line them up properly because as someone on FAQ wrote, "You only get one shot." The foam on the driver's side is slightly narrower and has a different part number. 

The center pad is identical to the one on the passenger side, but rotated 90 degrees. 

Et voila! I have to say that this process was very satisfying. It is a massive aesthetic improvement and probably dampens the engine noise as well. Wait, did I just make a mistake?!

The beginning

Where to start? The itch to have a 2002 came immediately after parting with my first one. I sold my '75 2002 in 1998 after ten years of driving pleasure. I have always been excited by every green light and the realization that an errand needs running. The 2002 was followed by several great cars, all of which made me smile. Still, the need to return to the simple pleasures of BMW's original sport sedan remained. Last year I decided to spurn reason and pursue another 2002. Time has not only added gray hair but it has also changed some opinions. I felt compelled to search for an early, round taillight model rather than the square lenses that appeared from 1974-1976. I also decided to acknowledge that I had always liked these cars in orange - Inka to be specific. My best friend still has the '74 Inka 2002 that he brought home in 1987.  

Hours and hours of late night web searches proved that 2002s are out there, but the right one was playing hard to get. There are far fewer on the road today, but this is something of a cult car and many remain. A significant percentage have been modified over the years and that did not appeal to me. Nor did I want to pay the high dollars required for one that had been restored. One night I came upon a random classic car site that had a listing for a round taillight, Inka 2002 that appeared clean and unmolested in the pictures. Great, right? The price was appealing as well, but there were a lot of reasons to think twice. The reasons to continue searching were actually many, so I did just that. And then I went back to it a few days later. 

This car was 2,000+ miles away in Wisconsin, and hadn't been running in 23 years. Cars generally like to be driven and usually don't age well when left to sit. This one seemed to benefit from being stored in a heated garage and didn't have a hint of rust, which is always a concern in older cars. I decided to contact the seller and it was immediately evident that I was dealing with exactly the kind of person from whom you want to buy a car. The woman was clearly honest and was selling the car for her 87 year-old grandfather. She told me as much as she knew, but was also very forthcoming about what she didn't know. I took her up on her offer to speak directly with her grandfather and he was a gem. He told me everything he could remember, which was a lot, and said that he wanted the car to go to someone who would appreciate it as much as he had. Still, there was the significant issue of distance and the big question about how much it would cost to get the car road-worthy again. This was something that nobody could answer with any certainty, but my trusted mechanic, Rick of North Bay Bavarian, gave me excellent guidance. I had enough information to know that I wanted to go for it. But wait...

A 1972 Inka 2002 popped up on Craigslist and was available locally. Wow. The price was slightly higher but it was largely original and the modifications were tasteful and appropriate. I called the seller and we made an appointment to see the car on the coming Saturday, the earliest that he could do. A day later he emailed me to say that it had sold. I replied in anger saying - politely - that I hadn't been given the opportunity to see the car because he wasn't available. Of course, I knew full well that this plea was going to be in vain, but I wanted to vent my frustration more than anything else. The seller contacted me a couple of days later and said that the deal had fallen through and that I could make an appointment to see the car. Good news. 

Wanting to be perfectly honest, I told the woman in Wisconsin that a local car was available and that I was going to check it out. She was fully understanding and wished me luck. My wife and I were loading our two daughters into the car in order to make the 1 1/2 hour drive to see the car on a Saturday when the phone rang. The seller had decided to keep the car. Now I was livid. This guy had yanked my chain twice - and hard! It didn't take long to realize that it was not meant to be, despite the car appearing to be a good example. I was almost relieved when I called to tell the woman in Wisconsin what had happened and that I wanted to buy her grandfather's car.

The next step was to make arrangements to have the 2002 loaded on a transporter and carried to California. I sought advice from a friend who had been through this process before and that helped me ask the right questions. The friend's Alfa Romeo had been damaged in shipment and I wanted to do everything that I could to ensure that this did not happen to the 2002. After paying for the car, it was picked up late one night in Wisconsin. The woman sent me pictures of the departure which were terribly exciting to see. Oh the anticipation.

Shortly thereafter the title arrived in the mail and the car was getting ever closer. 4 1/2 days after being picked up, the driver of the transporter called to tell me that he was just two hours away. Mamasita! I waited at North Bay Bavarian along with my best friend (there are about to be two Inkas in town!) and my sister. A short while later the transporter rumbled around the corner and came to a stop with the 2002 perched at the very rear of the trailer. What a site.

The car was unloaded and was pretty clean considering the journey. It was immediately clear that the car was exactly as described. Rick, my mechanic, told me that I had done well. What a great feeling that was! Now all we need to do was get it running...

Rick had been very clear from the beginning that there was potential for significant expense getting the car ready. The purchase price was reasonable enough that even the worst-case scenario made me feel comfortable going for it. Rick went through the car personally, changing all of the fluids and draining the gas tank. 

 

As I had asked, he called me before trying to start it for the first time. One minute and twenty three seconds of coaxing was followed by the engine roaring to life. After being dormant for 23 years, it was alive! I have video of this moment which I have watched an embarrassing number of times. Rick kept the car and replaced the water pump, all of the brakes, and also installed shoulder belts in the backseat so that my daughters' car seats could be secured properly. He did an amazing job on all fronts, and the belts look like they were installed at the factory. After about a week and a half, my wife and I drove our "new" car home. 

Stay tuned as this love affair continues to blossom.