And another one

This is the just released (yesterday) MINI Coupe Concept. Today we learned that it will be available in 2011. Pricing is estimated to be around $35000, a little high, but that is with the John Cooper Works engine putting out over 200HP in a car that is lighter than the Cooper and Cooper S. I want one. Some of the next cars on the list will not be new ones, I need some classics.

I might have a solution

I remembered yesterday that I have another drive shaft. Since the u-joint is on the back part of the drive shaft I should be able to take the 2 drive shafts apart and use the shortened end on the good back end. Not to mention my old drive shaft has a brand new center bearing that I installed a year before the 4 speed came out of the car. My problem though is getting the thing balanced, I have to find a place that could do this. The good thing is that the tempatures are dropping to more comfortable levels to be able to work outside on the car.

Here's another

This is one that I've wanted for quite sometime. It is a classic that is still going up in value. The BMW 328, from the 1930s.


The 1938 BMW 328 had a 2.0L straight 6 cylinder engine that produced 80hp (which was a lot for its day). It had all round drum brakes and a 4 speed manual transmission. Total weight for the car was 1800 lbs. Power was sent to the rear wheels like all BMWs.

Which one is next?

The Lotus Exige is the ultimate driver car. Bare bones and lots of horsepower. Okay, not lots of horsepower but for how much it ways it is a lot. Most of us that own the BMW 2002 know exactly what light weight with enough horsepower means, really fun driving. So add more horsepower and more grip and it must mean even more fun. And the price isn't that bad either. Plus it looks great.

Here's the next car

This is a brand new car that just looks awesome and apparently can back up those looks with performance. The Devon GTX.

If I could buy it

A post on BMW2002FAQ about if you won the lottery what would be the first car you would buy got me thinking. If was pretty easy for my first one. It would be something that I wouldn't have to search much for that offered a balance between economy (that is fuel economy) and power. The BMW 135i would be my first choice. I would be able to get the one I want in a couple of months (I tend to prefer to order my new cars rather than pick it out from the selection on the lot). But after that car, what would be next?



I'll post my top 20 over the next few days. Hopefully by then I'll have been able to get the u-joint welded and the 02 running again.

It was fun

I had a blast driving the 02 today. Unfortunately on the way to Walmart to pick up somethings the U-joint started to come loose. One of the caps had backed out some causing a bad vibration. Luckily I was able to get the car parked and knock it back in with a screwdriver. Managed to get to Walmart, get the stuff and get back home with no further problems. But I'll have to park it until I can get it to a shop that can weld the cap in there good. I have to check out my other drive shaft to see what kind of weld it is supposed to be. The ones that were on this one are just small spot welds that apparently weren't good enough.

The write up on the drive shaft stuff will have to wait a little bit.

It's back

The rain held off long enough today for me to get under the car and take a look at what could be making the noise. Right off I think I found part of it. One of the bolt was loose and starting to come out, it was probably hitting something. I knew the locking collar for the flange nut was not in there right so I took everything apart again and made sure I got it right this time. Also I needed to take some pictures so I could document it since it appears there is no other information out there about some pieces. That will come tomorrow.

As for now, having done this a few times now it went much quicker this time. Once I got to the locking collar I found it just barely sitting in there. First thing I did though before putting the collar in was to make sure the flange nut was tight enough, it wasn't, it actually had a bit more to go. With it on I used a screw driver and hammer to tap the collar into place farther into the opening than before, it's in there good now. (There is a small area on the flange that allows you to get a screw driver down in there to remove it later if you need too).

With that done I put it all back together making sure to put molly grease into the end of the drive shaft. All the nuts and bolts are nice and tight now and the exhaust pipe doesn't hit the rear sway bar or the back of the car. I took it around the block once I charged up the battery and it ran great with no clanking or any sort of noticeable problem. Tomorrow I'll take it to work and find out just how fun it really is. I think I'll finally be able to drive like it is meant to be driven.

Clanking noise

So the noise is most likely the locking collar for the flange nut. I must of not got it installed properly and now I need to take it apart to get it in there right. At least this way I can document the removal and replacement of the output shaft seal. Just need it to stop raining. If the rain lets up early enough tomorrow I hope to get some work done on the car and promise to get some pictures to help explain a few things.

Obviously this blog is fairly new. But I have had a website about my 02s since 1997 in some form or another. The current site is at http://www.lovingeveryminuteofit.com/bmw2002.

While mine is down...

Figured I find some 02 related stuff to share with everyone.




This definitely shows why the 02 is such a good car. Awesome driving too. Keep up the good work Pete.



WOW!

It's fixed, sorta

I got everything back together and drove it on Monday and Tuesday, but there is a rattle noise coming from the driveshaft area that increases with speed. I need to get back in there and take it apart to see what might be causing it. The good thing is the vibration is gone. The bad thing is, it was leaking from somewhere else.

Bringing up to speed

Now to bring you all up to speed on what has happened since mid June. The flex disc between the drive shaft and the transmission came apart. Luckily it held together until I could get home, but when I inspected it and took it out it fell apart in 3 pieces. I had another but rather than put it on and have it fail also I needed to do something about the alignment of the driveshaft. So I ordered the rear mount that 2002 haus makes.


I now have this installed on the 02, but the alignment is just off a little still, mainly the drive shaft is too short and has to be moved forward about 4mm. This can me done by moving the diff forward.

Another note to make is that the 02 has been outside for the last 2 weeks and there is no visible sign of water getting in when it rains. My 75 would flood every time it rained.

Oil

Originally from June 10th 2009

I changed the oil today in the 02 and cleaned up some of the oil on the engine to try to see where oil might be leaking from. I know one is the front exhaust stud and the fix should be easy as long as I don't have to remove the manifold. But even that isn't too bad, I've done it enough. Actually the exhaust manifold was the first major work I ever did on an 02, actually on a car in general when the one on my 75 02 broke and the dealer wanted over $400 for the replacement. My mom actually found a junk yard in Colorado that had one and shipped it out to us. It took me probably 3 to 4 hours to replace it, but that was when I realized that I could do the work rather than paying someone else too.

14 years later and I have built an 02 from the ground up. Sure the body work isn't good, but it runs and it hasn't fallen apart on me.

So the oil was black and only about 2 quarts came out. That is all that was in there, I know not good. Hopefully it didn't harm it.

While I was checking things out under the car I noticed a lot of fluid at the end of the transmission. Looks like the rear seal on the 5 spd is bad and needs replacing, hopefully it is something that can be done with it in the car. That is not a fun job trying to get the transmission in there.

20 mpg

I managed to pull 20 mpg with this last tank of gas in the 02. Not bad but I'm going for better. I'm trying really hard to keep it under 3000RPM like I did in the Sunfire, but this is a 2002, it is meant to be driven. With it tuned a little better I'm sure that will improve things. It does start much better now and it still has plenty of power, although it doesn't like going up a hill in 5th gear.

Now I need to change the oil, it is the same oil I put in when I put the engine in the car 5 years ago, but it only has 3000 miles on it, if that.

It started easier

Originally from June 7th 2009

I was able to get a little time today to start the car and get it out of the garage, although not drive it since the other cars were blocking it and we were getting ready for a bike ride. It actually started much easier than it had been, I think I am close. Also once it was able to stay running with out it being rev'd to 2000 RPM it idled at about 800 RPM, much lower than it has been able to in the past (well, since I put everything together). Tomorrow should be a good time going to work, roads will be a little wet from the storms tonight, makes it easier to break the rear end loose.

More tuning the 02

Originally from June 6th 2009

Among all the stuff that was going on today I had a little time to test out the 02 while going to Taco Bell to get lunch. While it drove really nice, it was really hard to start. I think I went a little to far on the timing.

So a little later while waiting to go pick up the 2 oldest daughters I had a little more time to try to get it right. I backed the timing up a little bit and then backed out the idle mixture screw 1/4 turn. Then I took it around the block, while it drove nice I will have to wait until Monday to see how it starts.

2002 Update

Originally from June 5th 2009

This last week I have been able to drive the 02 everyday to work. What a great feeling, so much more fun than the Sunfire. The engine still ran a little rough, but so far have over 140 miles on this tank of gas and it still has some to go. I know, that isn't great but I'm still tuning it.

Speaking of better mileage, I managed to figure the fuel problem with the Sunfire too. Apparently is was a heavy foot. Letting up and almost never going over 3000RPM allowed me to go from 240 miles per tank to 315 per tank. But the car is boring to drive and hot with no A/C.

So back to the 02, it was having a charging problem, I thought. Turned out something was draining the battery fairly quickly. I figured it must have been one of the add-ons that I had put on so I started by putting a voltmeter on the battery and then disconnected the electric fuel pump. Volts were still dropping. Disconnected the electric fan, still dropping. Disconnected the coil to carb solenoid line and it was still dropping. So I went into the cabin and disconnected the switch for the electric fuel pump. Volt dropping slow down and eventually stopped. I still can't let the car sit for more than a couple of week without starting it since the drainage problem damaged the battery over the winter when the car just sat in the garage. The switch had a light that burned out soon after installing it and I didn't think much of it, I wasn't really using the electric pump any way after replacing the mechanical one with another that I had. Apparently that light had shorted it out and caused the drain.

The 5 speed is great, but the rear cross mount and the exhaust pipe rub each other. Not bad, but can be annoying.

Earlier tonight I tuned the car a little more and improved the throttle response and acceleration and the engine sound. Hopefully it improved power and fuel economy also. I back out the idle mixture screw half a turn and turned the distributor just a little more clockwise (I can never remember if that is retarding it or advancing it).

Moving 02 stuff

Hi, I'm moving my 02 stuff to this blog to setup my other blog as an technology information blog. I figured the stuff would just get to cluttered having it all on one.