2002 bmw
 

New to me 1976 BMW 2002, non-sunroof, coupe. All original, except for a sporty muffler and upgraded downdraft Weber carburetor.

I must admit this model has been one of my favorites from BMW. I picked this up on Saturday as a first learning car for a father son thing.

This is as much a blast to drive as I thought it would be. Everything works great. The guy I bought it from is a mechanic and he has put some work into this BMW. He replaced the blower so it has heat and fixed a coolant leak, engine related items, seat cables, etc.

The air-conditioner is factory, disconnected and siting in the trunk, I think it could use a diet, but with a first time driver (My oldest boy) I think the impact bumpers need to stay on for now.

This was a California car, but I believe any of the '76 CA required emission junk has been deleted.

I'm entertaining what if any mods to make.

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Nice!

Looks like fun!

PS: nice garages!

Looks like a nice car.

I hate you.

Seriously.

Winner of cool Dad of the year!

So does he get to drive it?

These are such cool little cars! I think the first thing I'd do is make sure that the rubber donuts BMW used to raise these later cars to legal bumper height were removed. You should be able to see them there on the struts between the coil springs and the spring seats. If I recall correctly, they're like a half-inch thick, or more, so removing them makes a big difference in the car's stance and overall look.

Another thing you might want to think about is foreshortening those awful NHTSA bumpers. The guys do that by drilling out the shocks that control their strokes, draining the oil, and then putting a screw into the drill hole to hold the shock at the bottom of its stroke. This brings the bumpers in closed to the sheet metal and makes the cars look tidier. You also have to shorten the rubber accordian pieces at the end of the bumpers. But carefully, as I think these are NLA. You can learn more about this, and much more about these cars, here, in case you haven't already found this:

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,50/page,viewforum/f,3/

Nice!!!

Go +1 on the wheel diameter, wider tires and lower it little. Done.....well for now anyways.

76 has the square taillights?

and your garage pisses me off...amazing...4 cars? i have to take my car out to get to the air compressor..hahha.

Unfortunately it is not a roundie, '76 has the square taillights. It suffers on the collect-ability list for that reason, but the price was right $3,350.

I know West coast cars can be cheaper, but in the midwest there's supply issue with the 2002.

Laughing...two Toyotas for the reliable everyday transport and two old Germans for fun.

What is happening to poor drippy on the right? That would be my first father and son project before tearing into the 2002.
Yasin

Sweet! Yah! -this is perfect, thanks!

Thanks! You have no idea the crap my wife gave me over this. I think she's over it and will see the benefit long term.

He will be 15 next May, so plenty of time to learn about the car. Yes, I can say he will drive it.

Very nice! Hard to tell from the pics what color it is... Too light of a red for malaga, but too red for siennabraun... granada?

If it were me, mods would be take out ride height rings in front (if not done already), add 14" (or 15" if you can make them fit) Panasports and good tires, and be done. Secondarily on the list would be a stiffer roll bar to minimize body roll, but from there it is a slippery slope.

Otherwise make sure the brakes are 100%, check valve adjustment (an easy job), and drive it as is. IIRC the '76 already has a 3.90 diff (a good thing), so acceleration is better, but can be buzzy at higher speed. The 2002FAQ site provided earlier is probably the best resource around.

Drippy is just marking her territory. I suspect my valve covers are slightly warped. He actually was never into cars, but has taken a liking to the old bimmer.

LOL But my house isn't on the Chesapeake bay, or tributary...

Potomac.

But you still suck.:D

Great garage. Did you drive it back?

Thanks, The car was moved here from CA a few years ago and went through a ziebart rust proofing and received the respray that's on it. So, I drove it only 15 miles from the seller to my house .

On the color, I think too it is not quite the malaga red, but it is close. When I saw it I instantly liked it.

Cool. The 2002s for sale out here were too good (expensive) so my Dad and I settled for an E21. :)

From the pictures it looks like the car is still at US ride height.

There is a big spacer on top of the front struts that can be removed to bring the car to Euro ride height...There used to be a really nice front spoiler available for the car.. Kamei? I think was the mfg...

I had a 76 2002, and an earlier Tii fun little cars..