Welding

And so it begins. The arduous task of cutting out rust and welding in new metal. It is clear that this car has been welded before, however, it does appear as though the task was managed by an imbacile. Every previous repair has been a simple square patch welded over top of the rust, so you cannot see it. Because we all know that if you can't see rust it is no longer problem. Luckily I have the entire bank holiday weekend to get started. So far the plan is the remove the patch work floors and replace with shiny new floors hand crafted by yours truly. Then I am going to peel back the new outer sills (one half at a time) remove the old rusty outer sill from inside, replace the missing jacking points, replace the outer sill and seal it up. Then there is a small section of frame rail that needs repair and a couple of minor holes under the dash on the inside 'a' panel. Once all of this is complete I can take it in for an MOT and get it back on the road. But the welding doesn't stop there. Once all this is done, I will move onto the rear of the car. Which needs new inner wheel arches and bottom edge to the rear panel. Good luck to me.

Some more period photos

Rob Slotemaker and Ferry van der Geest
Patrick Lier and Michael Buzzi
Timo Makinen and Paul Easter
38th Monte Carlo Rally, 1969
Walter Simonis and Horst Hoier

Some more inspiration

Some of my favourite 2002's are the very early narrow-bodied rally cars of 68 and 69. Here are some more great photos from period plus some film footage of the 1969 Monte Carlo Rally courtesy of British Pathe.Timo Makinen and Paul Easter retired from the '69 monte carlo rally due to brake failureRainer Strunz and Walter Bachmann in their 2002 finished 19th
Patrick Lier and Michel Buzzi in their 2002 ti finished 13th
Rob Slotemaker and Ferry van der Geest in an Alpina 2002 ti finished 7th
I believe that this is the 2002ti of Louis Talamona.

1969 MONTE CARLO RALLY

FRANCE MONTE CARLO 1969

105,984: caliper rebuild

After one of my calipers stuck resulting in lots of smoke I decided it was time for a rebuild. Two rebuild kits were ordered from Jaymic plus some gold Hammerite smooth. I split the calipers, cleaned them and painted them with a single coat of gold. I replaced all the rubber seals, polished the pistons and cylinders and re-assembled. They work great now and I am much more confident in their performance. Can't wait to test them out on the track.

Before:

After:

Painting: Hubert Hahne #10 Nurburgring 1968

My latest painting, not yet finished, is of Hubert Hahne in his works BMW 2002 which finished 1st for a BMW 1-2 at the Nurburgring 6 hours on July 7th 1968. A remarkable finish for BMW's new 2002 marking the beginning of a very successful racing career. Prints will be available upon completion on paper or canvas as well as the original. POA.

Inspiration: Monte Carlo Rally 1969

The inspiration for my car has been the 2002's that competed in the 1969 Monte Carlo Rally. Specifically the car of Dutch driver Rob Slotemaker. It can be seen at the very end of this video, number 115. Above are some images of another of Slotemakers 2002's. Apparently this one was modified by Alpina with a 300 degree cam shaft, high compression pistons and the Borrani steel wheels. Simply gorgeous. Below you will find a short video featuring some of the 2002's that took part in the '69 Monte Carlo Rally, just watch Timo Makinen's Scandinavian flick.

Twin 40's: Round 3

Finally, the carbs are on, the crack has been welded and i have spent about 30 minutes tuning them in. I think i am about 90% there now. The car drives great, with lots of power and copious amounts of torque. The wheels are fond of spinning straight through second gear. I like it. Next task is to install a proper linkage which will have to be modified from a weber DCOE as no linkages were available for the Solex. Wish me luck.

EBC's Green Stuff Pads

I needed new pads. I wanted the best pads i could buy without upgrading the calipers. I have read some bad reviews of the Green Stuff pads but I have also read that they are now made from a new formula and are much better. Furthermore, the only performance pads I could find to fit my car were EBC Green Stuff. I decided to give them a go. So far so good, although i have yet to test them under more spirited conditions.

102,570 miles: New condenser

Apparently, back in the old days, some people referred to a condition known as "cold condenser" where a condenser will fail when it is cold due to the contraction of its metals, but return to life when warm. I just experienced this first hand. My simple method of diagnosis; a cold morning and a cigarette lighter.

Twin 40 install: Round 2

The first attempt at installing my carbs was unsuccessful. I found that I needed to replace the heater hose divider which connects the cylinder head to the coolant hoses, which I assumed I would have to do but apparently some manifolds fit and some don't. Mine didn't.

Round two saw the installation of said water divider and the subsequent installation of manifolds and carburetors, which of course revealed the next problem. The carburetors were too far apart for their existing hardware to cope with. Welding torch in hand and a cut off piece of a washer (the only steel i had of the correct thickness) I managed to bridge the gap. A quick grind and a file and you couldn't tell it wasn't made that way. So, now that my butterflies were connected and actuating synchronously I connected the fuel and fired up the engine. After some turning over it fired. It almost idled. I revved the engine, it revved smooth and high, however, it failed to come down again. Rubbish, major air leak. It was off with the carbs and off with the manifolds to find a great big crack. I put the engine back together as it was when i started and sent the manifold off to get welded. Better luck next time.

Heated manifold water bypass

Today I fabricated the water bypass pipe. I used a piece of 15mm diameter aluminium pipe. I put two bends in the pipe, so as to clear the starter motor, and installed it using a silicon reducing hose at the water pump (25mm - 16mm) and the stock water hose from the heater box. Very well done if i do say so myself. Looks like its meant to be.

New engine mount

Everytime a turned a left corner sharply i would get a very sharp juddering/grinding through the steering wheel. It was too violent for a wheel rub but i just couldn't place the problem until Fay at Jaymic popped up and suggested that an engine mount might be toast allowing the engine to twist and make contact with the steering column. Sure enough a new mount fixed the problem (right hand drive only).

A pair of 40's please?

The ultimate in period performance. Twin 40's . And to prove that you can have performance on a budget i picked up a very nice matched pair of Solex DDH c40's for no less than £13.10. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it. I also scrounged a set of manifolds from ebay Germany for £26.

Goodwood Breakfast Club

Goodwood this Sunday, always a good time and I got to park in the paddocks.

99200 miles: Half shaft rebuild

It took about 3 days for the AA to bring my car home and when it got here I set about rebuilding that half shaft that ruined my trip to the Ring. It came out of the car without a problem. Once i got it to the dining room table I cracked open the sealed CV and found it was bone dry. Of course it was that simple. The sealing faces were somewhat corroded but the rubber o rings seemed fine. The machined surface inside the joint was glazed but otherwise undamaged. After a little wet and dry and some gentle resurfacing of the sealing faces the joint went back together. I topped it up with the correct amount of fluid and bolted it back in to the car. So far so good, it is smooth, quiet and it hasn't leaked a drop. Wicked.

Germany, the Nurburgring, the tow truck

For Steve's stag we drove to the Nurburgring. All went well for 400 miles until we arrived at Nurburg. There was a tight right hand hairpin in the road which simultaneously seized my left front brake caliper and my left half shaft. Rubbish. The brakes cooled and backed off enough to get us to our campsite with a slight knocking from the rear axle. Once the tent was up and the fire blazing I jacked up the car and took the brake caliper apart. I did this 3 or 4 times over the weekend and now it seems to be performing well. The drive shaft on the other hand never did get mended. I couldn't diagnose the problem in the woods so we had to get towed home. Needless to say #36 never made it around the ring, but to be fair it wasn't quite ready, however, I now have something to aim for. We made it home eventually but not without the much needed help of some locals, Andreas Wollschlaeger, 30 years racing at the Green Hell and Kenneth Harris of NurburgMotorsport who was very helpful and let us use his lift gratis. Cheers!

98400 miles: Bilstein sports all round

Today, Steve and I installed a set of Bilstein sports to firm up that ride. Nice and stiff now. The wife says she needs a sports bra when riding in the car now. The job went well, although I have noticed that the left control arm is an original early style skinny arm and it is bent. This is affecting the camber and tow on the left side and will need to be replaced with the later style arm as the right side has already been done.

Coming home

Went to see the car again, 3 months later, but this time it had a fresh MOT. Wrote a cheque and proceeded to test drive the '68 150 miles home. The car is mostly solid and runs great, the gearbox is solid and the engine pulls strong with no smoke. There are some rust issues i will have to deal with as well as some rather nasty repair jobs, seriously if you are going to do it, do it once and do it right. The interior is immaculate with good carpet, vinyl and no cracks in the dash. I know this car was diven by a smoker as the headliner has a wonderful yellow stain above the drivers seat and there is a melted patch on the dashboard above the ash tray. All of these imperfections shall remain, I don't like an over-restored car. I like to keep as much of the history of the car intact. The biggest downside about this car is the frightful bad pikey paint job. I could have done better with a toothbrush. Once the rust gets tackled i think new paint will be in order but not for some time yet.

First look at #36

Today we went to Suffolk to view a 1968 BMW 2002. This is what we found. Granada Red, VIN #1650036.