The nature of big projects is that most of the time, they don’t go exactly as planned. Budgets and minds and visions change, and there’s always a chance that the build’s trajectory will be thrown into another direction.

You might remember this 2002 from some of our postings last year when we documented some mechanical and cosmetic work that the car had undergone. Toward the end of those tasks, the owner of the BMW decided that he would like for the car to be torn down completely, rather than just be refreshed. With this new plan, Performance Technic dove into the build and asked us to continue documenting the car’s journey.

This is our first full restoration documentation project, and to say that we’re excited is quite an understatement. While this 02 started off looking amazing at face value, there are handfuls of underlying problems that PTech discovered once they got into the tear down process.

One bonus is that the whole interior of the 02 was gone through before it was sent to PTech. Full, leather wrapped dash, custom seats, a sound system, and new carpeting was installed prior, and it looks incredible. Somewhere along the way, someone even installed an A/C system.

On the outside, there were few issues to be seen at a glance. The car was resprayed at some point (the exact timeline is unclear) but there were definitely imperfections that the keen eye could spot.

In some of last year’s work, PTech went through maintenance items and beautified the engine bay as best they could without digging in too deep. All of the covers were powder coated by Renewed Finishes, and the shop also replaced the rear bumper. Of course, this was before the decision was made to restore the car entirely.

Now that you’ve seen an updated look at the 02 since last year, it’s time to give you a tour of what PTech found as they stripped the car.

We used flash here to show more detail of the undercarriage mess.

If it’s not already clear… underneath the surface, this car was completely full of grime. A thick sludge coated the underside and all of the associated components. The techs discovered wood screws sticking down through the floor, welds that were coming apart, and incredibly poor “fixes” to past problems.

Note the large patch of metal welded on the spare wheel well. It’s covered mostly by grime, but you will be able to see it better in the next blog.

One of the random screws coming down through the floor.

The cleanup of the undercarriage was no easy task. Two techs arduously scrubbed and scraped at the bottom of the car, taking off just a smear of sludge with each turn. Wire wheels accumulated so much grime that they would freeze up, and it seemed like no amount of cleaning solution would be able to remedy the mess. The floor and near wall were drenched and splattered with filth by the end of the day.

In the next blog, we’ll show you the finished result of all this cleaning, followed by a comprehensive look at further tear down to prep the car for paint. Stay tuned for those updates, and we hope you’ve enjoyed this first look at one 2002’s step forward to becoming a driver again.

Journal

The Restoration: Performance Technic and the 2002