“From This To That In Two and a Half years”
So where to start it had to be a BMW as I worked in a main agents as a
mechanic in my twenties, the garage originally was a Vauxhall agent when
we changed to BMW it was like working on rocket ships compared to viva’s
and victors so to find one was another thing. I saw a few basket cases but
settling on one fairly near me with a good upper body especially around the
windscreen where it is more difficult to repair.
The only problem it had no history the guy had bought it thirteen years previous with thoughts of
restoring it but never touched it, but luckily dry stored so all I had was a
couple of old Mot’s and the registration document and a few spares.
The guy was very insistent that I was not a dealer which I virtually had to
prove as he did not want to see the car flipped so I did invite him down to
see the car when it got back from the body shop plus he saw photos of the
welding and the pile of metal that I had replaced So to the nut and bolt restoration as I wanted to get the car stripped back to bare metal the making of a
rotisserie was paramount removing the old under seal with a stiff cup wire
disc on a angle grinder soon removed it but I would come out of the garage
looking like a miner but so worth it, the rest of the car I used industrial paint
stripper and an orbital sander at least then you could see what work was needed
I won’t bore you with all the welding required but needless to say if I could
get new panels I fitted them ( floor ,seals ,front nose ,doors ,rear
wings ,frame rail ,spare wheel well ,front wings ) and the rest was cut out and
replaced with new metal, all this took me about ten months full time as my
wife was still working I could spend all day in the garage, I can now
understand why welding bills are so high it is so time consuming but I done it
to my standard which is why I think it took a bit longer as my wife would say
you are so bloody fussy .
It was a great day I loaded the rotisserie with the body shell still attached to
set off to the body shop knowing that all the bad panels and rust had been
done, the guys at the body shop loved it as they could treat the underside
really easily, they used a colourable flexible resin hard wearing coating.
Whilst the shell was over the body shop being prepped a total engine rebuild
was on the cards though the engine ran I did not know the real state of it so
it ended up as a rebore, new pistons , big end and main bearing shells ,new
valve guides and exhaust valves and springs ,timing chain ,guide and
tensioner,water pump,clutch and many other parts it was really nice to work
on this engine again and a bit easier than the body work.
The front and rear suspension had all new bushes , bearings , brakes ,
servos , steering box plus all parts blasted, etch primed and powder coated.
The day came when the body shell came back from the body shop what a
job I must say they had done a brilliant job but I was so nervous to get
anywhere near it so fitting bits back on was like a surgical operation.
I had the seats reupholstered and new carpets plus new head lining.
So now after many more months of odd jobs it is finally done and we have
been to a few car shows where it has drawn a lot of interest, we also done
the BMW Welsh weekend and a brilliant drive through the Welsh mountains.
I would like to thank Peter and Fay at Jaymic for their help and encouragement during the build.
This may be another boring restoration project report but I can honestly say
this was a total nut and bolt ground up restoration project that I have enjoyed
every minute, sometimes flustered sometimes loss of enthusiasm but when it
is done what a sense of achievement and pride good luck to anyone starting a project whatever car you choose.
Below; Trevor’s stunning 02 on BMW UK’s display at Goodwood Rival 2021
Great resto. I have a 2002 with the nu ber plate utk 237l…!
Thanks Simon for your comment what colour is yours