Vintage at the Vineyards 2010

We made it! With only a few minor hiccups, the 1600 made the trek to Shelton Vineyards in Dobson, NC in fine style. This was my first V@V, and I'm hooked. Scott Sturdy really does a great job planning and executing this event. Seeing and meeting all the BMW people that I have only met online was a great experience.



You can see the 1600 right up front!





I was surprised to see that Steve Petersen (BLUNT of www.blunttech.com) drove all the way from Minnesota to join us. I feel like kind of a wimp for only driving six hours.



The 2002 brethren had a really great "2002 Ambassador" area with several very nice examples of each variety of 2002. Many volunteers were on hand to talk about 2002s, which didn't require much coaxing.



I just love this trailer.



This Voll Cabriolet 1600 was just beautiful. I need to find one of those license plate brackets for my 1600.





Later that evening, we went for a drive down to Elkin, NC. I doubt that I'll get to park next to a Turbo again any time soon.







At the vendor section, I scored this early 1600 cluster (6 volt clock?) and this set of grilles. Notice the early 1600 10-slat kidney grille. Score!





The Drive:





I was so excited to hear the car running, that I didn't mind driving sans radio.



We got about 100 miles into the trip before we realized that we forgot to run an alternator wire. There was a Wal*Mart nearby, so it took just a little time to get the necessary supplies and solder up a wire. A local BMW and Porsche enthusiast named Chance gave us a jump and we were on our way.






Overall, it was a fantastic weekend. I met a bunch of really nice people and discovered that dehydration is ever so much more possible with a lot of sun and a bottle of wine (who knew?). I look forward to next year.

Lastly, Dana and I stopped at the gas station closest to the vineyard just before we began the trip home. Whilst perusing the small section of wine bottles inside (the station and the Hampton Inn franchise are both owned by the same people that own Shelton Vineyards), an older man began asking us which wines we liked. We talked with him for a few minutes about which ones we liked, which ones we bought and how much fun the even was. At some point in the conversation, he introduced himself as Charles Shelton. He was happy to hear that we had a good time at his vineyard.

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

Done! Sort of.

At 1:30 AM, I drove her home. I still have some adjustments to make before making the trip, but everything looks good. Dudley, Dan and Jay followed me home through downtown DC, only to do a few more test runs down my street.



A big thanks to Dudley Williams, Cuttie Bacon, Jay Swift, Dan Shor, Grice Mulligan, Bill Williams, Jim Gerock, Marc Spicer (and his friend, Jeff), Chris, Rusty, and the women in our lives that allows us such tomfoolery (thank you Dana!).

It's Alive!

After suffering through a few electrical gremlins, we finally persuaded the EDIS to begin producing spark and the engine fired to life. Champagne fell from the sky and angels rejoiced......or maybe we just had a beer.

A HUGE thanks goes to Cuttie, Dan, Dudley, Dana and Jay, who all worked tirelessly.

Cuttie either installed some seat brackets or rocked some air guitar.

The muffler didn't go on without a fight, so Dudley felt the need to immortalize our victory.

Interior Halfway Point

Jim, Dudley, Bill and Cuttie showed up over the weekend to help move things along. Bill and Cuttie helped me get the door hardware in, mount the brake booster and swap the H4 headlights. Jim and I installed the front lockstrip with surprising ease (WD-40 is the key). I was also able to install the rear interior panels, the back of the rear seat and a door panel. Duplicolor's Vinyl and Fabric dye is awesome. Every square inch of the car's vinyl used to be blue.



Also, I wired in the WestCo battery. This one isn't quite as powerful as the Optima Redtop that I used to have, but fits under the back seat and holds plenty of juice. I'll soon have a battery mount bracket from 02 Again to secure it.



She's really getting close!



Left to do:
Bleed the brakes and clutch, finish up door hardware and door panel, install carpet, finish wiring up the ignition, set the forward motion limiter, install driving lights and wire the electric fuel pump. Only four more days until V@V!

On the Ground

We finally got all of the tires mounted on the freshly painted E30 steelies and got the car on the ground. I haven't swapped in the 320i rear drums or 2002 halfshafts yet, but we've got the Ireland Stage 1 springs all around.

Inching Closer

Jim Gerock stopped by today to help Jay, Grice, Dudley and myself with the final disassembly of the `76 and the progression of the `67 toward the finish line. By the end of the day, we had the `76 stripped of all usable parts and the `67 to within sight of the finish line. I was able to get the driveshaft in and finally seat the transmission's crossmember in it's place. I also have the hard fuel line and the rear brake line from the `76 ready to go into the `67. We accidentally mangled the MC-to-rear-"Y" line in the `67, so we're replacing it with the alternatively routed counterpart line in the `76. I decided that the hard fuel line in the `76 might be a nice addition to the `67, especially after I finish the Megasquirt EFI conversion.







The `76 will have it's roof cut off right before we ship it off to the salvage yard in the sky. We're reasonably sure that we've removed everything of value. Jim was a big help.



Jay, the Mad Scientist, is replacing all the wiring forward of the rear harness. Though Jay has conquered much more complex wiring challenges than the 1600's simple design, I am forever indebted to his skill.





I've only got two of these mounted with tires, but I'm really liking how these E30 14" steel wheels are looking on the car.

Motor & Transmission In

I forgot to get a picture of the motor in the engine bay, so here it is. the new firewall insulation looks better than the image shows and everything looks really good. Next up: wiring and braking.

Touchdown

After swapping in a new transmission output seal and a gear selector rod seal, the engine, transmission and front subframe were ready to go in. Dana, Grice, Marc and Jeff helped to position, shimmy and finally bolt the unit in place. What a relief. At three weeks until Vintage at the Vineyards, this was a necessary milestone for this weekend.



First, we jacked the body up with two jacks and a 4X4. The 4X4 is just aft of the shifter hole. Note the counterbalancing wheels and tires in the trunk.







We rolled it into place, then slowly lowered the body down. After a little precarious teetering on the jacks, we bolted the subframe in place and stood amazed at the ease. Considering that it took us only two hours to get it in and removal took a full day, I'd say it was a good day.

Here's my favorite picture of the day; Grice riding an invisible motorcycle.

Ready for Installation

I just finished refreshing the timing chain cover, valve cover and oil pan gaskets. I took the opportunity to throw on a few parts from Tom Rafalski. The first was this cool pedal box plug. It's an O-ringed plate that fills the hole in the bottom of the pedal box that BMW put there so you can pull out the brake linkage without removing the entire box. I also used one of Tom's way-too-cool-looking fuel pump block-off plates.

When installing the timing chain covers, I used a bunch of metric studs with nuts because I'm tired of forgetting which bolts go where.





Tomorrow, installation!

It Couldn't All Go Right

After a fairly painless subframe removal from the 1600 and an uncomplicated, single afternoon headliner install, we were destined to screw something up.

Embarrassing adversity, thy name is engine and subframe removal.

It only took us six hours or so to remove the drivetrain and front subframe from the `76 with all the efficiency of four monkeys doing algebra......in Chinese. Seriously, don't try this at home.

After a little blessing from the pastor of the Church of Dan, we finally got it done.

Now, time for a little cleanup and a few new gaskets before it goes into the 1600. Jay and I also made some headway on the 1600's engine bay, which has now been stripped and painted.