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2003 Status
2002 Status
Miscellaneous
Having tested out my instrument cluster, I began to put the dash back in my car. I don't have any pics of this, unfortunately. Somehow I accidentally deleted them after having dowloaded them off of my camera. I didn't realize it until now. My fault for waiting so long to update the site, otherwise I would've caught it and would've been able to take pictures of it again. In the same batch of pics, I had taken shots of putting the hood on the car. I can tell you though that the hood is a 2-3 man job to do it right, and it takes some patience to line everything up right. there are 6 13mm bolts that bind the front of the hood to the hinges. Place those in but don't tighten them. Have your friend(s) hold up the hood while you do this. Put on the side nuts and bolts for the hood's side collapsing hinges. These are 17mm. Then, over a process of patience and time test and align the hood until it closes properly adn all the lines look flush. Don't be surprised if it isn't 100% perfect. Remember, these are 25-30+ year old cars and despite body work, etc. are still prone to some natural amount of body flex.
Back to the dash. The top dash is secured with 4 studs and screws. 2 are along the outer ends and the other 2 are on the inside of the dash along the sides where the cluster goes. The pics below show the dash after it's been put in place.
The Tii clock is pictured here next. This mounts behind the top dash with 2 thumb screws and nuts. This is best installed prior to putting the dash in but I had no problems putting it in from below with the console out of the way or even from the top going throught the Fasten Seat Belts buzzer indicator. Your hands need to be able to fit through, though so depending on your size you may or may not be able to do it through the top..
Now, we can turn our attention to the windshield. To properly put a windshield in, first with the windshield off the car place the weatherstrip around the entire windshield. Next, place the locking strip in between it's slot to secure the weatherstrip to the windshield and keep it in place. Next, tape some nylon string or some other equivalent and run it along the seam on the inside of the windshield weatherstrip. This is the part that faces to the interior of the car. This will be used to prop the seal over onto the lip of the body. Once ready, lay it onto the car and align it properly. The nylon string previously mentioned needs to overlap at the bottom over each other. I overlapped about 2 ft. Then, while applying pressure on the windshield downward slowly peel the string so it forces the rubber over onto the lip of the body. This is best a 2 person job but I was able to do it myself with patience. After about an hour I was able to have the whole windshield in.
Well, final assembly is pretty much completed now. I was short one grill and thanks to a fellow 02'er from Baltimore Maryland (Martin Romeo) I was able to finish out the front end of my car. He had a brand new spare grille from Mobile Traditions laying around
As far as wheels, I had originally bought a brand new set of Ronal ACT LS rims for my car which were supposed to fit my car with no problems per Gary at Ronal. Well, much to my disappointment they did not fit at all and Ronal was not very helpful or willing to resolve my problem. A disappointment as I had bought from Ronal several times in the past. That will be the last time I deal with them. But, it all worked out for the better anyways. I wasn't crazy about putting on 15" wheels on the car anyway so I set about to find a set of original wheels for the car. Thanks to Sherman Martinez of Ca. I was able to procure one full set of original 13x5.5 Tii steelies with brand new hubcaps and a perfect set of brand new Michelin 165 HR 13 XAS period tires! This is really the look I wanted anyway and now it's perfect. Here's a pic of the rims when they arrived. The rims are powder-coated and arrived safely from California.
Here are some pics of the brand new chrome hubcaps that came with the rims.
After cleaning them up a little bit, I proceeded to put them on the car. I took off the old 320i turbines that were on it and put them on. Amazing what difference wheels can make to a car. Now it looks the way it was meant to! Here is a pic of them on the car right after I put them on and rolled it outside the garage.
Below is a summary of the finished product. The result of one man restoring almost everything on a BMW 2002. I pretty much just put on the passenger mirror, dropped in the seats, tightened the grilles and she's all set. There are a few things I still need to do. I want to replace the door panels, get one tear in the driver seat fixed and finish out the body by doing a wet sand and buff plus some touch ups as there were scratches made during the rebuild but otherwise, she's road ready!
Note: This is the last update posted on this project. Afterwards, the car was completed and enjoyed for several years attending several shows and touring many scenic cities and states. The new chapter is up to its new owner now. Keep on keepin' on old friend. Thanks for the memories. - Mars.
