Xmas comes early for the bimmer

NOS (New Old Stock) from the 70's

I decided to give my Bimmer an early Christmas present. Now that's it's running and I'm driving it around the area while still finishing up stuff, I'd really like to have some side mirrors on it. That would make backing up down the long driveway and into my garage a bit less nerve racking.

Last year I scored a set of NOS Black green dot Talbot mirrors on Ebay Germany and they've been calling to me from the shelf ever since.But I was steadfast and wanted to wait until the car was painted and almost done.

Well, that time is now.

Other than being nervous drilling into my freshly painted hood, the install went fairly easy. I've decided I want to go old school and mount them on the hood. This was an option on the earlier 1600's and 2002's and how some of the old timey racers also mounted them.

First I masked my hood area with painters tape, then spent several minutes with the mirrors taped to the hood, checking the sightlines.

Next, following the old carpenter's maxim: Measure twice, cut one. I measured my drill holes - more like 4 times, not twice, and drilled my starter pilot hole, followed by the main hole.

Drilling in progress

Drilling done.

Mounted the two piece bracket ...

Top bracket

bottom bracket on the inside of the hood

and finally slide the mirror onto the bracket.

Passenger side

Driver's side mounted.

And the view from the cockpit

Happy holidays Bimmer!

A Friday fun video. Here's a 1968 road test of the BMW 2002. Drifting through hairpin cuves in the alps, running laps on a test track, and stuck in a freezer and sprayed with water. I guess I need to go shopping for a suit and tie if I'm going to drive mine.

In Black & White and German of course! Complete with cheesy musical score. Enjoy

It's Alive!

When last seen, the Bimmer has the motor in place and all the wiring and hoses connected. The last thing to do was finish up the clutch bits. While it seemed to go reasonably well, there was a snag at the end. The clutch fork which the clutch slave cylinder pushes, causing the lever to push the clutch plate just didn't feel right to me. I fiddled and farted with it and was reluctantly coming to the decision that I would have to pull the tranny to find out what was wrong. One step forward, and 2 back. *sigh*

Slave cylinder (round bit on left) and the clutch fork (black lever going into the tranny on right)

A lot of forum reading and poring over poor quality transmission diagrams - it is a 40 year old car after all - and I thought I would give it one last shot. Though a combo of flexible mirrors and precariously perched lights I found the spring lever for the fork had come loose and was out of alignment causing my issue. A bit of fiddly blind work had it back in place and with a bleed of the system, I had a working clutch.

Time to work on the 944 and go racing for the next month or two.

And now I'm back. 

So for the month of November I've been trying to get the 2002 motor running. It got pulled way back in January for the repaint. The motor was cleaned up and painted, new rod bearings installed, new water pump, new exhaust studs, new hoses, new starter, new gaskets everywhere while waiting for the paint shop to return the car. By April I had the car back from the shop and began the 6 month process of putting it all back together again. With some breaks for 944 Cup racing, the car was mostly done and ready to get back on the street again. 

If it would only start ...

With suspension and wheels, it can be pushed around at least.

Did the usual checks. A running motor needs 3 things: air, fuel and spark, hopefully all delivered at the right time. Timing light showed I had spark. Full fuel bowls showed I was getting fuel. And air wasn't a problem, so what? Timing?

I pulled the valve cover and manually rotated the crank until the rockers were aligned correctly and I was sure I had TDC on cylinder #1. I made sure the distributor was pointing in the correct location and not 180 degrees out of phase. The timing may not be spot on, but it should be close enough to start. Hmmm.....

Eventually the path of deduction led to the Weber carbs. I had all the correct ingredients, but nothing was cooking. Gas was making it into the carbs, but was it making it out into the intake? A trip to Pep Boys and a can of starter fluid - kids ask your parents - answered that question. A couple of squirts down the carb throats and with a turn of the key, the engine fired up. It didn't sound healthy, but in truth, a diet of starter fluid isn't what it was tuned for. So it's the carbs.

Off with the carbs. Time to dig into them.

A long time ago, actually in February, I 'rebuilt' the Webers.

In all its greasy, clogged glory.

And as cleaned up

What this meant was clean the outside and repaint, clean all the jets, replace all the gaskets. Kinda like a topend rebuild. Now it was time to get down and intimate with those Italian beauties.

This time I took out all the jets and flushed all the passages with carb cleaning making sure everything flowed where it should. Put it back together and back onto the car. BTW, when I say those 4 little words - back on the car - you should hear in your head 'another 30 minutes of work' - as they came off and on numerous times over the last several weeks. Just sayin'.

So back on the car, a couple of squirts of starter fluid, the turn of the key and Vroom!!!! it's working! Hey wait a minute, it's idling at 4000 rpm. Shit, turn it off! That can't be good for a brand new motor.

So for the next week, time was spent working the high idle problem. Turn the car on, and it would immediately go to 4-4500 rpm. I checked for vacuum leaks and more with no luck. Finally in the middle of one session, the motor screaming at 4500 rpm it just immediately died. Crap! What now? That's electrical, I know the sound of a fuel starved motor. Yup, no spark anymore. Back to square one. That led to several nights of electrical debugging, which was solved by fixing a loose wire on the ignition switch. Damn old cars.

With that fixed, I was back to the 4000 rpm idle motor. More reading, more thinking and Its got to be the throttle plates. Webers back off the car, more cleaning, hey the accelerator pump is stuck, hmm that could be keeping the throttle plate open. Fixed that and 'back on the car'. But before this, I marked the throttle lever and carb body with a red paint dot so I know when the throttle plates are really closed.

And wouldn't you know it. The throttle linkage that connected the dual carbs was out of alignment so when all snugged down, one carb's throttle was open instead of closed shut. Some close personal time with a vise and hammer "adjusted" the linkage so both were closed when they should be. And this is the result of that fine tuning.

Oh yeah, still more work ahead, but that's a major turning point. It's time to celebrate with a beer or two. I just bought some Samuel Smith's Chocolate Stouts and look! they're right here in the garage cooler. How convenient.

Nationals 2012 Qualifying Race Video

Nationals 2012 was a blast. I'll put up some more verbiage later, but here's a video of the Saturday Qualifying race that set the grid for Sunday's Championship race. 1st time ever in the 944, I was underweight (by 8 lbs) after qualifying, so I had to start at the back. It made for a fun start and race. Enjoy.

Summit Point PCA Race

Now this weekend is why I go racing. Close, intense, mentally challenging, what a great time was had at the track last weekend. This was round 6 in the 944 Cup championship. While I'm not in contention for the championship this year, that will probably go to Al Cohen or Steve Randolph, the important bits, the actual racing was hugely fun.

Summit Point at dawn

Even though it was Thursday evening, I got caught up in major traffic around Baltimore, and the normal 2 1/2 hour trip took close to 4 hours. About a mile from the track, the rain started again and I had to set up camp in the dark and rain. Sleeping in the trailer, I heard rain sporadically throughout the night, but by morning it was clear and mild, with a fine sunrise welcoming the racers.

Racecars at rest in the morning

Friday was a practice day. The first session I just bedded in fresh pads and let them rest. The rest of the sessions I became reacquainted with Summit Point. Where once it was my home track, the PCA race last year was the first time I've been there in years, and didn't go back until this weekend. I like the track. It's very technical and has a good flow and there's plenty of places to pass. The downside is it's pretty unsafe if you go off compared to a lot of other tracks. Lots of trees and berms not too far from the racing circuit.  And the main straight seems to be a major wildlife corridor. A deer being eviscerated at 120 mph isn't an unknown event.

The day ended with the practice starts and the short fun races. Since I'm still on 13/13 probation for the LimeRock curb assault, there's no upside for me to participate, but plenty of bad things could happen. So I sat them out.

That car cover probably doubled the value of that 944! .... Just kidding...

Saturday was qualifying and two sprint races. My data system died in the beginning of the qualifying session, so I was running blind with my lap times. Even so I was surprised when I got the results of the session. Only 9th in class. That was a shock. I've had plenty of poles here in 44Cup, being that far down meant I sucked big time. Part of it I put on getting old and slow. Just takes me longer to get up to speed. But another part is my intermittent motor issues are back. I thought we stamped them out for good at VIR with the new AFM box, but remember last race at NJMP? Where I went out for race 1 and the car just sputtered and wouldn't run? And then 5 mins later was fine? It's back!

I could hear and feel a flutter on track, and it's feels a little down on power. That could explain some of it, but I'm sure it's mostly me these days.

Turn 10 leading onto the front straight

So its soon 10:30 and time for Race 1. The sun is out, temps are nice and the track is warming up. Heading out onto the track for the outlap before the start, the motor starts bogging. Not this again! Arghh! Shit! After about a 1/2 lap it seems to clear up and I breath again. We have a split start with the rest of the run group of 911's and Boxsters taking the green before us. We get a 2nd green flag for just the 944 Cup cars. Onto the front straight we come, and ... Green Flag!

A couple of cars get a jump on me, but by turn 1 I'm going down the inside and getting those plus more back. Three wide we all go through turns 1 and 2 and then two wide through Wagon Bend (turn 3). The speeds are picking up as we flash down through the downhill "Chute" and into a huge stackup at the bottom in turn 5. I follow the train through while Van, who started 3rd, spins out at the bottom and into the dirt and grass. After that the race settled down a bit. But when I say settled, that doesn't mean it became a sedentary activity, instead of the volume being at 11, it was maxing out at 10. Matt Marks and Steve Randolph checked out at the front, but there was a big group of us going nose to tail, lap after lap. For the rest of the race it was more a matter of how you got screwed by traffic and how many times you were screwed. I was in the middle of the scrum and had my good moments and bad moments. Even though I was making it to the front of our group, by the end I got shuffled toward the back, ending up right where I started, in 9th. Not a great points result, but just awesomely fun racing anyway. No regrets.

Here's Van Swenson's video of the race with some great captions. Van does much better video than me, so I'm going to steal it. In the video he says I got sloppy at 10. The truth is I was hung out to dry by a 911 making a late pass and I had to check up to avoid collecting him, killing my momentum in the most important corner on the track, gifting Van with an easy pass. Enjoy.




More to come.

Gone Racing ...

Post & Pre-race inspection

After the last NJMP race in July, the 44 got a good looking over. Due to an agricultural excursion in the last race, my front sway bar mount was a bit bent. Some quality time with an anvil and a 2 lb sledge hammer and it was good to go. A few minor issues were taken care of and the car was stuffed back into the trailer for the next race in Sept.

After a rainy labor day week where I spent my time fussing with the 2002, by Friday it was warm and muggy as I headed back to New Jersey Motorsports Park for a race weekend on the Lightning circuit. This time we were running with EMRA and had our own race group and block of time. Nuthin' but 44's.

Saturday morning was breezy and cloudy with temps in the low 70's, but it soon warmed up. In all we had about 10 944 Cup cars with a lone Supercup. Matt Marks, a former 944 Cup racer came back to join us this weekend.

Practice and Qualifying went without a hitch and I placed 5th, ready for the afternoon race. Sitting on the grid, the pace car headed out and I followed. As I traveled down the pit lane, the car started sputtering, and sounded terrible, like I had bent the valves or something. Heading out the track I had no power and couldn't keep the revs up. I became concerned that I wouldn't even make it back to the pits without dying. WTF? It ran strong all day and now this? On the outlap for the race?

I pointed the other cars by on the back straight and followed them around as they took the green flag while I headed into the pits & paddock. Once at my paddock spot, I got out, changed and went back to look at the car. A bit of prodding and poking showed nothing obvious. I restarted the car and the motor was fine. As the risk of repeating myself, WTF?  A lap around the paddock and a few incognito hi rev pulls behind the Lightbulb sound walls and the car was okay. So much for race 1.

Race 2 on Sunday the next morning was a different story. The officials wanted to grid us first come first served, and since I was the first to grid, put me on pole. While nice, I didn't deserve it and told them so. Their next idea was based upon race 1 finishing position, which would be put me in 11th. I wasn't going along with that either. Finally we got it sorted out and we gridded by our qualifying position as originally planned.

Today I was 5th in class, 6th overall, starting on the outside lane. I had a good start and by turn 5 I was 3rd in class, where I finished after some good racing. The results of this race set the grid for Race 3


Race 3, I started 3rd, and had a nose to tail battle with Bob Page pretty much the whole race. A couple laps in, I made a small bobble in the uphill turn and Bob got past me. I dogged him for several laps, hanging right off his rear bumper until he missed a shift in the left hander and got past him. Now it was Bob's turn, and he dogged me until about lap 15 when my tires started to go off. I was heading left in turn 4, leaning on my tires and they just said "Nope, not going to do it ..." and was spit out into the dirt. Bob thundered past again with a good lead. With about 5 laps to go I started to reel him in. Every lap I was bit closer. Al Cohen was in 3rd with a gap to Bob, then me.

All our tires were going off and our times were slowing a bit so we just maintained the same gap. My tires were done, I couldn't put any power down in the Lightbulb turn until at least halfway. Finally Matt Marks who was battling behind me with James Rothenberg, got free when James went flying off the track into the dirt at the left handler. With 2 laps to go I wasn't sure I could hold Matt off. On the last lap he dive bombed me into turn 1. I was afraid he was going collect me so I checked up, glad I did. Matt was able to keep it on the track ahead of me and I didn't have tires to take the fight to him. He took the checker in front of me, and I ended up 6th.

With that, I put the car back on the trailer in one piece and headed back home. Another good weekend racing. Gotta love it.

Labor Day Weekend

With the rain pouring down in buckets outside the garage, it hasn't been a great Labor Day weekend for outdoor activities. But I occupied myself with the bottomless bucket list of restoration tasks.

I've been motoring along, working in the engine compartment, bolting this bit here, that bit there when I ran into a small detour, typical when restoring a 40 year old vehicle. I had bolted in the upgraded starter and attached the wiring harness. Splitting off the harness was the plug for the alternator at the front of the motor. I  couldn't directly see the 3 prongs it plugged into, but I could see the hole surrounding them. I started pushing the plug but instead of that nice smooth tension that tells you it's going well, it started feeling "mushy". I immediately stopped and pulled the plug out. This calls for some up close inspection.

Naked Alternator 

After many years, pulling and inserting plugs, removing and tightening nuts and bolts, there's a very specific feel to the process. And I've learned that any deviation from that feel requires a full stop and lookie. Otherwise, pain, time and money are forecast for the future.

Practicing my yoga skills learned on the internet, I managed to twist my head, droplight and reading glasses into a position where an oblique view showed me the 3 prongs, which should have been parallel to each other, weren't.

Inserting my finger, two of the prongs wiggled. This is not good. The only thing to do is pull the alternator and  inspect it on my work bench. A careful inspection showed me the connector wasn't attached anymore and wasn't going to be fixed from the outside. It was time to dive into the mysteries of Alternator repair. This will be a new journey for me.

Closer view of the misbehaving connector

To repair the alternator, one must first open the alternator. This should have been a relatively straightforward task. It looked like the case was bolted together with 3 long bolts that spanned the case. That was indeed the case, but a more accurate description was 3 long bolts that spanned the case that haven't been turned in 40 years. A large screwdriver did nothing. A even bigger screwdriver did the same. I thought I heard laughter coming from the alternator, but it could be from the TV in corner.

2 days later, after numerous dousings of PB Blaster, heating with a propane torch, a BFH and vice grips, the secrets of the generator were revealed.

The culprit - the brushes and connector

In the Repair Booth - calling Dr SuperGlue ...

Once open it because obvious what was wrong. The connector prongs were on a mounting board that had the alternator brushes attached. And that board had split in half with the brushes on one side and the connectors on another. With a tube of superglue, this was an easy fix and shortly everything was back together again. The brushes looked good, and I relubed the bearings while I was there. And since the overall repair took several days, I went ahead and plated the pulley for extra bling points.

Good for another 40 years

Project deviation finished, back on track

Since there are still many things left to do, I didn't just sit around and watch the PB Blaster work. Next up was the brake booster and master cylinder. This should be reasonably straightforward job with one known pain point, the installation of the "bitch clip".

As it turns out the installation of the infamous clip went relatively smoothly. It connects the brake pedal lever from the cockpit to the actuator rod from the back of the brake booster. The space to work in is very limited and the sequence of actions require force vectors from different directions. Other than dropping the clip a couple of times and having to fish it out with a magnetic stick, it was done in 5 minutes.

What didn't go smoothly was connecting the brake lines to the master cylinder. The first two went easily, lulling me into dropping my guard. And then I heard that laughter again and this time, the TV wasn't on.

Brake booster - large round device bottom right, master cylinder is the
long cylinder in the middle. Brake lines attach to the sides and bottom.

Brake lines are flexible steel lines. The ends are flared and there is a knurled bullet shaped bolt/fitting that rides up against the flare and secures the line to the master cylinder. You just start it with your fingers and then tighten it down with a special wrench called a flared wrench. Very similar to a box wrench with a chunk cut out. The chunk allows you to slip the tool past the brake line and then onto the fitting. Since other than the chunk the tool grips the fitting on all sides, you get a nice secure grip and lessen the chance of rounding the fitting, which would really suck.

Like I said, the first two lines, in like Flint, but the 3rd... This was coming up from bottom. See the issue here is, the fitting isn't forgiving or sloppy. Some bolts and holes are loose and you can kinda wiggle to get started. The bolt will catch and automatically straighten up into alignment. This is the "feel" I was talking about earlier with the alternator connector. With the brake lines, the fitting needs to be perfectly perpendicular on all sides to get started and get threaded. With everything bolted and rigid this is an impossible task. So you loosen everything, twist and bend the lines. Since you can't see the line coming into the bottom you fiddle and wiggle, and fiddle some more. You think you get it started, turning one small thread at a time and .... it doesn't catch, it pops out. Brake line #3 took 60 minutes of work over 2 nights. I finally ended upside down in my engine compartment so I can eyeball the alignments. 10-15 minutes for each of the other lines, but it was finally done. You just never know where you're going find problems.

With that behind me, it was time for some fun, brainless activity. I fitted my grills, and the vintage Cibie driving lights. They'll have to come back off when I do the final adjustment of the hood, but they look pretty good.

With H4's and the Cibie's, I should be throwing down some serious light power

Attached the Euro spec turn signals Maggie got me for my birthday to replace the hideous US spec frog eyes.

And attached my Nurburgring grill badge. And since I have driven the Ring, 3 days in a BMW, I'm not a poseur and have been granted the right by the German government.

The only major mechanical task is hooking up the clutch bits. Then I'll be ready to try to start it. I'm sure I'll have plenty of issues, gremlins, leaks etc to chase down after then. But I'm getting close.

A nice surprise

After work I slipped down to the garage to work on the '02. I didn't feel like launching into a major activity like attaching the clutch slave or brake booster. But no worrry, there's still a thousand piddly little tasks to finish up.

I picked up a box from the attic with random parts, and there were the window wipers. Ok, a simple brainless task, let's put them on. One more thing off the checklist. But as I'm examining them, I notice specks of shiny color coming through the black. Hmmm... the original wiper arms for the early cars was chrome or stainless steel. It wasn't until the later car were they black. I wonder, if when they went for the turbo look, if somebody painted them?

Got my trusty can of carb cleaner and a rag and a few seconds of work showed me this.

hidden treasure

Yeah baby. I grabbed my can of acetone and a chemical mask and went to work. Here's the end result.

Awesome, they look great. That was totally unexpected.

Over the last weekend I made some good progess on some larger tasks.

The driveshaft was connected, so now the car can be pushed around. Very important as I'm still in race season and can't have my lift tied up.

Got the headers installed and connected to the exhaust. Added a E30 series heat shield between the plugs and header, a popular upgrade. Did plugs and wires and hung the coil.  Installed the radiator and started working on the water hoses.

Worked on running the wiring harness, and support pieces for the Weber throttle bits. Hooked up the fuel lines.

 Installed the H4's and custom brackets for the vintage Cibie driving lights.

POR15'd the brake booster in preparation. I had refinished it last year with Rustoleum enamel but it didn't hold up to the brake fluid. We'll see how the POR15 works out.

Lastly, but not least. Here's some trick upgrade parts that are soon to go in.

An new upgraded starter for a 5 series BMW. This is a bolt in upgrade. Just below that is a custom made stainless steel throttle rod fitted with heim joints. This will remove any slop in the stock throttle rod and looks trick in the process. Just below that is a flexible clutch slave fluid line. No great performance advantage, but working with the stock non-flexible line is a huge PITA. This is a major improvement.

So that's where I am so far. Being that I have no fixed date to finish, the project is right on track.

Filling the hole

Lots of good work this weekend. I even got to buy another tool for the garage, that's always worthwhile.

When we last left off, I was putting lipstick on the pig, aka tarting up my front struts. I'm not touching the internals, that's for the winter, but I was making them pretty for the fall fashion season. The next thing was to clean up and get the subframe ready so I can shove the Porsche turbo motor back into the car. (just kidding)

I'm sure you all think restoring old cars is all cocktail parties and idle chatter while servants in white overalls hand me tools on an engraved platter - "The #3 Phillips, James" - the reality is hanging out in the driveway, scrubbing nooks and crannies with a toothbrush and mineral spirits while the neighbors hoot from their deck: How's that old junker going Cris? It ever going to run again? ha ha...

The reality

A couple of nights in the garage working with some POR-15 and the front subframe is looking pretty good.

After some cleanup, but still pretty tired looking

Almost ready to go

While working on this bit I fought a constant battle against scope creep. Well since you're here, why don't we just do the idler bushing .... And those control arm bushings, I bet they could come off in 5 mins, 10 mins top... Get thee behind me!

The only thing stopping me is the sure knowledge that yeah, they could come off in 5 mins, but then I have to order the parts, wait, and then install then, and since that's off, might as well rehab the control arm, and next thing you know Bob's your uncle!    I mean, the next thing it's December and the car still is in pieces. So I controlled my desires. It's really going to just be a temp rehabbing ... this time. (shhhh... I did re-plate all the sway bar hardware - I couldn't help myself)

Meanwhile, I've been working in the engine compartment, my goal is by the weekend, for it to be filled with mechanical bits.

Engine compartment spiffing up in progress

I installed the new stock firewall pad that's been sitting in my office for the last several months. Next spent time tediously sanding all the brake lines to get rid of the paint overspray. I also touched up all the surfaces where the paint shop guys missed.

Ok, with the destination all prep'd and ready to go, the subframe as rehabbed as it was going to get in this go-round, now's the time. Time to head to Harbor Freight and buy another tool.

1500 lb ATV/Motorcycle (for Harleys) lift

I've done my fair share of jury-rigged engine hoisting assemblies, consisting of collections of mismatched lumber, bungie cords and multiple jacks. And since I have a nicely detailed engine and tranny that will be bolted together to the subframe creating a large amount of mass that wants nothing better than to demonstrate the  non-theoretical application of the law of gravity, I decided it was time to go pro. And considering that any helpers I had will have already gotten into the beer fridge by the time I would be ready ... some mechanical help will be needed. I bought an ATV lift - with a 20% off coupon of course - from the local Harbor Freight.

First the motor needed some final prep. I pulled the upper timing cover and bled the timing belt tensioner piston and re-buttoned it back up. Next the motor was placed into the subframe and bolted up to the motor mounts. With the clutch reattached we were ready for the transmission.

Subframe, motor and clutch in position

Shinny transmission docked

Struts added to make the whole thing unwieldy to handle

The shuttle is approaching the mother-ship

slowly, slowly ....

Ta-da! Shuttle is docked.

Back home again, it's been a while ... exactly 7 months ago it was removed.

Just to prove it's not photo-shopped ...

Still a large amount of work to go, but this is a significant milestone. I'm going to go clean up and have a beer. No make that several beers...