Car of the Month

April 2008

Tony Rippons 2002 Tii

Want to see your 02 featured here? Email me any 02, any condition richstern@hotmail.com.

My BMW 2002 Tii

Intro

I brought the car in 2002 and having had 5 previous owners it came with a large history file from new, including the first owners purchase order and his regular servicing receipts right up until 1991, when back in 1975 petrol was 16p a litre, MOTs £4.10p and a 8000mile service £7.20p.
The 5th owner had started some restoration work some but he then ran out of funds, that way his excuse anyway.

From its purchase I started to sort the car out with the help and excellent depth of specialist knowledge from a garage proprietor called Frank Tonkin (Prince Rock Garages in Plymouth) who incidentally had one of the initial franchises for BMWs in 1970.

The garage is now run by his son and Frank now oversees the whole show, well he does get stuck in sometimes, not bad for someone who has just tipped the scales at the grand age of 81 years old

My plan was to focus on the shell, followed by the interior, a respray and then concentrate on the engine
However being impatient, I still wanted to use the car all year round so it took time and money.

I use the car all year round as it should be, and it was only in late 2007 did the original engine give up, after a hard drive on a journey in excess of 300 miles. It was really my own fault regardless of frequent servicing and maintenance every 3000miles, so I paid the price, causing it to overheat and melt a piston, that was the diagnosis from the engineer who rebored the block later
Still, I managed some 31000 miles since I brought the car in 2002, so I couldn’t really complain as the mileage now totalled over 200,000 since 1973, not bad me thinks..

Although not being a total petrol head, but keen to learn about mechanics, on simpler tasks Frank would allow me to use his ramps and tools and whilst multi tasking, he would supervise me on stripping and assembling, thereby increasing my knowledge and more importantly drastically reducing my labour outlay, who could argue with that!!

So with his excellent knowledge and expertise we set about overhauling the car, sorting out any rust problems and adding some character.

Shell

Working from the back to the front

Rear boot was generally in good order, the turrets needed minor attention and were patched welded where necessary and a new petrol tank was fitted
A new differential supplied by BMW Ocean in Plymouth was fitted, not cheap (£600) the old one had a whine
All the sills had been replaced by the last owner and were in good order
The shock absorbers on the front to our amusement revealed that at some previous date, someone had only replaced one of the inner shocks; the other inner when removed was original from manufacture, a bit of a no-brainer and slightly dangerous!!

The rear arches were starting to bubble so they were cut out and replaced
Front wings and front panel were replaced, it was only when we removed the front wings and front panel did we discover some hidden rot, especially the A posts areas and the drivers upper floor pan. The floor pan behind the pedals had been sometime in its life patched welded. The floor area so Im told is a common area, and can remain well hidden, especially if under-sealed

All these areas were now doubled seamed welded and any hollows or spaces were filled with wax oil and then sealed by weld
One clue about the dampness, which I ignored for a year or two, was a damp floor on the driver’s side, which I first thought maybe a leaking rubber or the heating matrix, but it still continued even after the windscreen and rubber were replaced. The car has now been undersealed.

Doors

Initially in 2003 I had an Ai606 Toad alarm Thatcher approved system incorporating a central locking system fitted.

I took it a stage further in late 2007 and the car doors only were de-locked, I removed the door handles to give the car a much cleaner and modern look
Both doors can now be opened individually by the touch of a button, courtesy of the Ai 606 Toad alarm system that facilitates this action, however one might ask, what if I were to lose the remote, well I do have a contingency should that happen.
Having binned the door handles, next were the lower waist mouldings and the single door mirror.
New door mirrors were fitted, opting for the ‘71 small mirrors, rather than the large 73 type

Suspension/Brakes

Spax adjustable shocks front/rear with springs
Polyurethane bushes all round
Rear suspension bushes
Master brake slave cylinder
Strut braces front/rear

By replacing the above items the improvement on ride and handling was amazingly transformed, the car is now taut with a firm ride and with the addition of strut braces front and rear it handles extremely well in and out of corners. The shocks were adjusted for a firm ride
Front discs were replaced and the callipers overhauled, I wanted to fit vented discs but gave up trying to find set (Let me know please, if you know where I can get set)

Wheels

4 x 195/45/16 ‘inch alloy wheels with 9 mm spacer’s front/ rear, I had to replace all of the wheel studs, using the longer ones found on the Turbo
To get the 16 inch wheels on involved a very simple task on removing the old short studs and pressing the new studs in.

Engine

Late 2007/08

By melting a piston it was a good time to start a rebuild, after being fortunate to having generally trouble free motoring for 5 years. A rebuild commenced, with no expense spared and was to include an exchange/reconditioned injector pump from Jaymic with the engine sitting on Urethane engine mounts

The block was salvageable and only needed reboring and all new grand piano pistons, bearings etc were fitted, the engine had a new E 12 head fitted during 2002 as I had a head gasket go, it overheated followed by the big plume of white smoke witnessed from the rear view mirror and that episode cracked the original head.
A new head was purchased from Germany in 2002 from (Walloth ‘u’ Nesch) for (820 Euros) and luckily this time it survived any damage, though it was pressure tested then lightly skimmed

Rebored and 4 new piano pistons fitted (£115 each)
New valve stem seals
Radiator recored
Samco hoses
K+N filter, again binning the large black air filter system
Stainless steel exhaust with a centralised rear box
New clutch system with slave cylinder

Interior

Sound-proofing, pads ripped out and replaced

I fitted the new carpets myself again reasonably cheap from Coverdale carpets, I thought it would take about a day, wrong try 2/3working days.
Just to strip out the seats, rip the old carpet and the fiddly bits took about 8 hours, but the end result was well worth it, with the interior now looking fresh and clean

Door cards were replaced and recovered, this was a very simple task, templating from the old door cards with new 3mm hardboard, it took approx about 3 hours for both doors, finishing with new cloth. A very light window tint was also added to the glass

The music system is a remote controlled Alpine Ida -X001 ‘face of’ Ipod/ipone system, the speakers were cut into the panel space beneath the rear seat, not only did this location produce a good quality sound, but it also avoids having any visual signature of a music system within the car to the prying eye

I had intended to keep the car standard, but I soon became addicted wanting to add my own personal touch ….as the list reveals

Conversion to a 5speed box/prop adjustment
Lumention ignition system
Recaro recovered leather seats (provided by Jaymic)
Mono steering wheel
ICE Alpine stereo unit speakers with ipone/ipod attachments
New front windscreen

(The engine and car will be moved to Jaymic for completion and fitting)

Summary

Why did it take so long?

Because, I always wanted to use the car much to the annoyance of Frank and my job takes me away from the UK often.
I have now spent the last five years in Baghdad as a Security Risk Specialist working for a large media network.
Briefly this involves working as a member of a 3 man team who are covertly armed, we provide safety and security whilst newsgathering on the dangerous and volatile streets of Baghdad and other provinces in Iraq, or we can find ourselves at times embedded with the US Military on Operations. Slightly more enjoyable, with adventure than your 8-5 job

I have had many BMs, from my first venture as a youngster with a 323i and many others followed including a 840ci-325i-730i-M5-X5 Sport

My other cars now are 1996 mint 730i (sits on 20inch Alpina’s) and the latest edition in June will be a White Evolution X, but and as odd as it may sound even with latest Evo, I always prefer to jump in the 02 tii, no contest!!!

So you may see me in suburbs of Plymouth in Devon or on the motorways…..

So was it worth the time, effort and cost,

In my opinion yes, when I spread the costs over 6 years in doesn’t hurt or sound too bad!!!
What’s it worth; realistically between 5-6K
Would I sell it; No;

Note; In Memory of Frank Tonkin

When I started to put this article together in Iraq, the ‘Main Man’ Frank Tonkin sadly passed away on 6th Feb 2008 aged 81
Frank had been struggling for some months with a recurring illness, he will be sadly missed