2018 in review

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2018!!!

What a great year for the 2002! Here are some of the highlights!!

5 speed install

I bought a e21 320i Getrag 245 5speed from Le Tran of 2002 Garagewerks about 8 years ago at an AMAZING price.  The plan was to install in the car when I was ready…well the 4 speed died and I was ready.  So I took the car to Ken at Vintage BMW Racing in Long Beach and he did the install.  Along with a lightened flywheel and a short shift kit.

4 Speed dies and on the way to Vintage BMW Racing for the 5 speed install.

5 Speed transmission mount in in the car!

Clutch and Lightened Flywheel installed.

5 Speed in the car!

Lightweight Flywheel.  12.5 pounds!

All installed and buttoned up!

Ireland Engineering Front and Rear Sway bars

I’m actually ashamed its been nearly 10 years I have owned the car and I had stock sway bars on it all that time.  Well I got a set of Ireland Engineering front and rear sway bars and in about 4 hours the new sway bars were installed!  I little bling when you see the car and the handling is much improved!

Mexico! Headliner Repair and Polish

When Los Ponchos did the paint, they also did a black headliner, but there was some fitment issues on the headliner around the sunroof and the rear window seal was popping out so they were going to replace the seal with. BMW OEM one versus the URO brand one that didn’t fit well.  While there they did a polish of the car as well.  The paint is holding up very well!

NorCal Road Trip

Went on a road trip up to Northern California for the day.  Its the first trip with the 5 speed installed which made the trip nice as well as gave me better fuel economy.  While there I spent a few hours at the Alameda Naval Air Station and took some pics.

BBS 15×6 Lightweights

The BBS wheels on the car looked amazing but I couldn’t get rid of this vibration at 80+ MPH.  This is a bummer as the car wants to RUN with the 5 speed.  So I got a set of near identical 15×6 4×100 wheels from a Mazda Miata.  I had the lips polished like the old wheels and painted the centers a shade darker.  This eliminated the vibration completely.  The old wheels I will take to a wheel shop and see if they can be modified to eliminate the vibration.  I will then paint them gold and have an alternate set of wheels for the car.

Front subframe replacement

One of the few repairs that had to be done.  The drivers side motor mount on the front subframe cracked and the motor was flopping around in the car.  Replaced with a good subframe with a welded in reinforcement on the motor mount as well as a skid plate reinforcement.  Ken at Vintage BMW Racing did the work on this as well.

A great year for the 2002…Stay tuned for my 2019 plans!!

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