Yes, I Use My Roof Rack

In the year and a half since I built the roof rack for less than $100, and subsequently modified it, I've used it quite a bit. Since it wasn't expensive to build and the parts can be easily replaced for very little money, I'm not afraid to haul furniture, lumber or, in this case, a lawnmower.

Modern Seatbelts

It should come as no surprise that I constantly want to drive my car. Even in August and without air conditioning, I find myself trying to convince my wife that we should take my car (instead of her Toyota) to the grocery store, to run errands or for any reason that I can conjure. Additionally, the roof rack gives me an excuse to opt for the old Bavarian fräulein over the obviously more sensible Corolla when there's a chance that we may need to haul something back to the house that wouldn't fit into the trunk. There's a simple explanation: the 1600 just wants to be driven. She begs you to push your foot into the accelerator pedal just a little more in an on-ramp loop. The M42 likes to stretch its proverbial legs on even the shortest of trips. "Please," she says, "drive me with abandon, nay WRECKLESS abandon." So, it has been with that sense of wreckless abandon that I have piloted the car for the last 2+ years with the weakest of seatbelts.

That, or I was just too busy making her go, stop and handle to ever get around to upgrading the seatbelts to something better than the eBay VW lap belts that I've been using.

So, I finally bit the bullet and ordered up a set of retractable seatbelts from Al ("Bluedevils" on www.bmw2002faq.com). Al sent me a set with new retractors and Autoflug hardware. The kit is really top quality. Following the instructions on the FAQ, I drilled the holes to mount the reels under the rear seat. For those of you playing at home, you'll need a 7/16" drill bit, a 1/4" drill bit and a 1" hole saw. Here's an image of the holes. What's missing is the 1/4" hole just above the mounting hole. This is for a pin that keeps the reel upright, as it needs to remain vertical to operate properly. The 1" hole is for the nut and washers to fit on the other side of the bolt.

I used the tape trick to keep the nut in place while I fished the bolt through.

Once I got everything tight, I sprayed the newly exposed metal with a rust-proofing primer. Notice that I had to drill an extra hole to get the nut on. 

Then I reinstalled the interior panel and bolted the pivot point in the threaded hole. I had to cut a hole in the panel, as no seatbelt was there before. The forward anchor bolted into the original sealbelt location.

Then I put the rear seat back in and the genius of Al's design was evident.

I also took the time to wire up the trip odometer button on my speedometer. 

Now I have a trip odometer and I don't have to disassemble the cluster to recalibrate the speedometer.

Made it to Vintage this time

The wife and I loaded up the 1600 and made the 335-mile trip down to Winston-Salem, NC for Vintage. With the exception of one quick stop to readjust the electric fan temp switch, the drive was thankfully uneventful. Here are the stats:

Distance From Home to the Event: 335 Miles
Fuel Economy: 33 MPG
Average Moving Speed: 56.8 MPH
Maximum Speed: 84.4 MPH


While at the event, I took almost no pictures, except for a a few documentary pictures of a pristine `67 1600 that had all of 11,000 miles on the odometer, which reminded me of all the original `67 parts that I need to find.

On the way back, we took a short (four hour) detour to Tennessee to pick up some furniture that used to belong to my wife's great-grandmother. The day involved about nine hours of driving, but it took us through the Blue Ridge Mountains and across North Carolina, a bit of Tennessee, most of Virginia and back to Maryland.

Then, we picked up a vintage rocking chair and a 1910 Singer sewing machine. For the record, a rocking chair on your roof will significantly decrease fuel mileage.

With the fan switch adjusted properly, the temperature held at a nice, steady and safe point.

This, of course, makes her a happy car.

Running Again! (and much smoother this time)

A few days ago, after finishing the wiring, I started up the car. I was hopeful of the performance of the new injectors, but was immediately let down. the M42 stumbled and refused to hold an idle. After a few inquiries to the right sources, I set about testing sensors and checking the function of various parts. At Jake's suggestion, Jay and I wired up the M42's check engine light and did a "stomp test". This is a simple procedure that involves stomping the throttle five times with the key in the "On" ("FAHRT" on the ignition) position. The M42's ECU will then begin to blink in sequence to give you a set of fault codes. The single code that we received pointed us in the direction of either an air-flow meter (AFM) failure or a vacuum leak.

Here is the Check Engine Light that we wired up. I have to say; having my car tell me what is wrong with it is a new thing to me.

We tested the AFM to find no problem with instructions from the guys on www.m42club.com.

Once that was done, we began searching for a vacuum leak after I hurriedly ordered new manifold gaskets. A little carb cleaner found the leak on the #3 intake runner. Once removed, Jay found this gnarl on the mating surface.

I can only assume that the manifold was dropped at some point in it's life. The possibility that this has always been a leak point makes a lot of sense about how the car has acted in the year since I've had this engine.

Jay carefully filed the lump smooth and we resinstalled everything with new gaskets.

Dudley and I bolted everything back together, torquing the intake to about 20 ft-lbs. She started right up and settled into a nice idle of about 800rpm.

Also, I made a plug to go where the heater box used to be. I'll be adding a modern HVAC system to the car later, which won't need this giant hole in the firewall.

Note the piece that was ground away to fit the glove box.

I used some closed-cell foam as a gasket between it and the body and I used a little RTV to seal things up on the inside.

Dudley and I took the car out for a test drive and she runs smoooothly. So, I'm almost ready for the roadtrip to Vintage.

Front Swaybar, Wiring Finished, Wipers On and Other Small Details

Progress has been made on a number of fronts. I finished up all but a few details in the wiring, installed the new front swaybar, installed the muffler, made some improvements to the emergency brake cable setup, put the interior back together and took it for a test drive; all with help in no small part from Dudley.

First, the emergency brake cable adapters:

I started with a spare spacer from the inner control arm joint.

Then I cut it into three pieces.

Then I ground them down to 31mm each. Since I needed a total of 35mm of spacing, I planned on using 4mm thick washers that had an ID that was close to the brake cable boss. 

Now the emergency brake engages with 4-5 clicks of the handle.

Next, I installed the 22mm swaybar:

See the difference? I bought new 22mm swaybar bushings from www.racetep.com, though Ireland Engineering sells them as well.

Then I got to the wiring.

The 1600 harness didn't have a single relay, so I added five of them. 

I also wired up the tach adapter and adjusted the wipers. 

Dudley and I threw the interior back together and I wired up the gauge cluster.

After realizing that the dome light wiring should have been done before the headliner was installed, I decided on an alternate course. I mounted two small LED lights in each footwell. I'll likely add more later, but I like this look so far.

The muffler got a coat of high-temp paint, but no tip. I like the stock, lower volume exhaust, if I could just get the engine to idle properly......more on that later.

I still can't stop looking at the rear discs.

There are still a few things to get done before Vintage, most importantly getting the M42 back to a smooth idle.