So one day at work, somehow in casual conversation, one of my coworkers mentioned that she had an old BMW 2002 tucked away in her garage. Then she told me that it had a blown motor. Basically, her engine was doing weird things, then she parked it in the garage and there it's been sitting.....for the past 30 years!!!
Once it got parked, she didn't really know what to do with it, so she bought another car and left it alone. Well, since then, she's bought another six cars. I asked her if she ever thought about selling the the BMW and she said yes. I went home and the dreaming began....
I have not seen the car (except for vague pictures just demonstrating that she actually has this car). The good points are that since it's been hidden away for so long, I'm assuming that the car doesn't have much wear and tear- on the engine, the interior, the body and suspension. The bad news is that since it's been sitting for so long, lots of work will need to be done just to get the car roadworthy again, plus the motor still needs to be repaired!
Two weeks have gone by. I don't want to appear too eager (desperate) to buy the car, but she still hasn't given me any idea of what she wants for the car. The car is registered non-op, so that's good- no back reg fees are due. But the car has also an automatic transmission, which is bad and good- the manual tranny is what actually gives the car more of a sporty spirit, but then again, my wife doesn't like driving manuals, so having an auto might help win her over with this car. The car is a 1974, so it's got the nice square tail lights, but it also comes with that big ugly plastic steering wheel.
In any case, to my estimations, the car will need the gas tank and radiator boiled and sealed. All the fuel and brake lines will need to be flushed/replaced. At the very least, the carburetor will have to be rebuilt. The mechanical fuel pump is probably f*cked. All tune-up parts will be needed, specifically with the ignition system. All the fluids will have to be replaced. The battery will need to be replaced. And then there's the motor itself- as much as I know, the engine still turns, but it's smoking like crazy. So either at least one piston/ring is gone or it's the valve train that needs to be rebuilt. If it's just the top end, the labor shouldn't be all that bad, but if it's the pistons, I'll have to pull the engine to replace the bad parts. Only a compression and/or leak down test will show what's really going on. Soooooo....we're looking at around $2300 just to start and drive the car! and that's on top of the cost of the car itself! I'm really hoping that she doesn't try and gouge me on the price.
Being real, I've got way too many toys in the garage. I wouldn't be reasonable for me to keep the Mazdaspeed Miata, the Harley 883 Iron, the Suzuki SV650S track bike, and the Yamaha RD400's- I'm going to have to start culling on the fleet. When I get back from vacation, the first thing to go will be the Suzuki- at this point, I just want that bike gone. Then I'll have to start reverting the MSM totally back to stock. It will need some bodywork and paint from the incident at Sears Point, but other than that, it's in very good shape and I should be able to sell it off without much trouble. The RD's are another story- in order for me NOT to loose my shirt on those parts, I think I will actually have to get that bike built up, so I can sell it whole. The leftover parts, I can sell on eBay. When all is said and done, I imagine a life with just my Harley and my built-out and restored 2002.
But first things first. After I get back from my vacation, we'll see if I can actually see the car in person. Then maybe we can talk numbers.
A collection of blurbs stemming from mostly the motorized projects that I do. Some posts mixed in have to do with my experiences in X-ray school. (Some entries are from older blogs that I killed off.) Some of my toys are a Mazdaspeed Miata that I work on and take to the track, a little Harley that I can't stop modding and an old Yamaha RD400 that I've been collecting parts for over the past 15 years. When I'm not wrenching, sometimes I mountain bike, sometimes I snowboard, sometimes I make beer.
