D'oh!

On January 23rd, 2010, I hit Maryland's two largest potholes....consecutively. The result was a dimpled hood, a broken shock, bent quarter-panel and two bent wheels. According to my insurance company's adjuster, this adds up to a total loss. Unfortunately, I will have to find a new project.

EDIS with Stock Plug Wires

Years ago, I assembled a Megasquirt II EFI computer with the hopes of electronic fuel injection and ignition control. Finishing school, moving, finding a job in this economy and keeping said job all became hinderances to the speed of the conversion. Though I might get to the EFI side this summer, I have been running the Ford EDIS hardware in congress with Megasquirt for a few years now with glorious results. There are no points to wear out and the timing is smoooooooth all the way through the RPM range. Additionally, if I feel a sputter, I can usually guess that it's not in the timing.

Now, the only problem with my setup was that in using the early 1990s Ford Escort coil pack, I was forced to use early 1990s Ford Escort spark plug wires, which have a funny, angled boot on each wire. They don't fit into the deep, recessed spark plug holes very well and I was constantly worried that they would make contact with the head and melt.

After someone on the messageboard pointed me in the right direction, I found this:



This is an Accel coil pack for a 1999 1/2 to 2004 Ford Focus "...and other Ford applications with "European Contacts."" The European contacts are the real plus here; they facilitate the use of stock BMW 2002 plug wires, which have a nice, ceramic boot that stays away from all the hot stuff. The p/n is #140028 and it's sold for areound $60 new. Accel claims a 15% output increase over stock. That should do just fine for my little M10.

Of course, I couldn't leave it yellow, so I sanded the plastic a little and gave it a coat of brown spray paint for an almost-Bosch look.

Before:



After:



Yes, I realize that my engine bay looks like crap, but this is a step forward. When I can afford to strip the whole car down and put together a nice, organized engine bay, I will. For now, I'll stick with functionality.

One note: the Accel coil pack bolts into the bracket for the old-style coil pack, but the bolts need a few washers because of the height difference. I used two pop-rivet washers per bolt and it fits perfectly.

LED Lights

I ordered some LED lights from Super Bright LEDs for my instrument cluster on a whim and installed them (WLED-NW6). They're less yellow and just a tinge blue, but they're nice and bright.

Before:

After:

I also got a pair of 3022-W9 bulbs for the license plate lights. On the left is the incandescent bulb and the LED is on the right.

I'm in Print!

Bill Williams wrote an article in der Bayerische,  the newsletter for the local chapter of the BMWCCA. Marc Caden, Dan Shor and I were featured.

Trunk Light and a New(ish) Lighter

The lack of a trunk light in 1600's and 2002's has bothered me since I bought my first one almost ten years ago. Both round and square taillight models have a little window in the back of one of the taillight assemblies, but it only works when the running lights are on and it's not very bright.  I've known that cheap, mercury-switched lights were available from many models, but I never got around to it. Then, I found a mercury switch on a jobsite at which I currently work. The tube is probably 20 years old, but it works just the same. I bought a $5 license plate light at Autozone and, voila! I really wish that I had done this sooner.

I also finally replaced my lighter. The original one was bent and stuck when I pushed it in to test it. The knob melted itself into sadness.

I bought a new one, but the old style was unavailable. I stuck with that one until I finally found a $5 old style lighter on eBay. Once I recieved it, I replaced its old element with the element from the new style lighter.

2 Days, 1679 Miles, 9 States & 1 Federal District

After a full year of being without my car, my girlfriend and I flew back to Lubbock, TX to drive her back to DC. I gave myself a four-day weekend to do it: one day for maintenance, two days for driving and one just-in-case day. I used that extra day almost immediately when I found that the driveshaft center support bearing had dried out and failed.

Note to Self: Avoid searching for car parts on a Friday afternoon.

So, after replacing the center support bearing, the flex-disk, the rear wheel cylinders, a dried-out length of fuel line and changing the oil & filter, I was on the road.

Beginning at 6AM in Lubbock, TX in the cooooold rain.

This is what the road looked like on the way to Amarillo, TX.

....and this is what I looked like on the road to Amarillo, TX. Yes, I was really that awake.

Cheap Motel Tip: Try to get a well-lit parking spot and don't expect much from the continental breakfast.

St. Louis

And, finally, in her spot at my work. I don't know how long I'll be able to park her here, but I hope it lasts!

We took 2 days, used 67 gallons of gasoline, covered 1679 miles and saw 9 states and 1 federal district. That's an average of 25mpg. Not too bad.

Previous Information

Since january of 2000, I've owned a Sahara 1969 BMW 1600-2, a Fjord(ish) 1970 BMW 2002 and currently, a Fjord 1976 BMW 2002. I previously began a blog at www.xanga.com/tx02, but have since moved on to the coolier, swankier and more user-friendly Blogspot.

Feel free to page through my old blog, but here's the short version:

I began a do-it-yourself electronic fuel injection upgrade on my `70 2002 a few years ago. That conversion was interrupted by a girl that stopped her Honda CR-V a little too late and crumpled the tail panel.

As it turned out, the car was a product of crappy bodywork and extreme previous-owner dirtbag-iness, so I was a little releaved to be on the hunt for a new daily driver.

After a few months of searching, I found this: a 1976 BMW 2002 with 108,000 miles on the odometer. It had a blown head gasket and was sitting in a warehouse in Hays, Kansas. It wasn't entirely free of rust and had a strange, black (protective?) coating in the engine bay, but she was mostly original and certainly worth the $1200 price.

I immediately transferred the engine, 320i 5 speed transmission, suspension and brakes from the totalled `70 into the new(ish) car. I sold the optional alloys and replaced them with E30 Bottlecaps, which were needed to fit over my upgraded front brakes. After pushing the bumpers in and adding Hella 500 driving lights, the `76 looked more like this:

Then, I graduated from Texas Tech University and moved to Washington, DC, leaving my car in storage in Lubbock, TX. After an economically-driven eight-month employment hiatus, I finally found work with the General Services Administration.