Hi All, I've been crazy for '02 series since I was in high school when my father gifted me with his little '68 1600 that he had bought used. It was getting tough for him to maintain, so he started looking for a new car (that was 1974, when it was only 6 years old.... imagine how we keep these little jewels on the road now!). I took him out to see a nice, practical used Volvo 242 as a replacement. Being the practical car guy that he was, he drove out of the dealer shop with a cherry 1972 1800e in Canary Yellow! He was a man of modest means, he just loved nice cars! After college I had a new car, but I just hankered for an '02, so I bought a '70 Colorado Orange '02 from a mechanic friend. I found out the valve guides on #4 had come loose and reamed out the valve head, so I found a newly rebuilt motor from an ’02 that had just been rolled before the paint was even dry and popped it into my car. I then promptly moved to China and put the car in storage in Atlanta. After 10 years or so, I realized " I wasn't coming back", so I got my buddy to help me get it out of storage and we towed it to his drive way to get it running (I don't think I had a plan, actually, I just wanted to see it run). I left again, and I didn't show up again for 4-5 years and said to my buddy: "Jack, I'm embarrassed to ask, but I left my car in your driveway - what happened to it?" Jack: "I'm embarrassed to tell you that my father came up from Florida, fixed the broken stud on the exhaust manifold, and drove it back to Florida, where it's still running today!" Happy ending - I just wanted to know that it wasn't just sitting in a warehouse. After travelling the world for years, I did a stop-over in CA and took up a project car with my ex-father-in-law; his dream car, a 1972 MBZ 280SE 4.5 V-8. Why this one? A mechanic had an engine and drive train from a wreck and he ordered a brand-new body from Stuttgart in 1975. He re-assembled and painted it with some funky new ('70's) Dupont paint. The first time he rolled it out of the garage into the CA sun the paint crackled like a celadon vase. He was so pissed he rolled it back into his garage and never drove it - not a single mile; so the body was 100% rust free when I bought it in '98. I stripped it to the steel and cleaned every screw with a toothbrush. The whole time I was thinking: “I wish this was a 2002!!” I have been dreaming about another ’02 for some 30 years. I don’t know how many times I’ve said that my dream car would be a roundie ’02 in like-new condition. Now I am in Switzerland, my home for the past 15 years. I have my ’72 MBZ 280SE 4.5 here, but it’s not my dream car. I had an epiphany, and started looking for an ’02. The more I thought about it and researched, the more I thought that a Tii would be fun. I found this 1972 Inka Orange 2002Tii in The Netherlands. The dealer specializes in vintage BMWs. He was up front about the rust removal/bodywork which looked great, but he claimed a fully renovated engine. It was spotless superficially; all of the aluminum polished with crushed walnut, but the motor actually was in really bad shape. I was so dazzled with the chassis that I didn’t dig deep enough; it ran pretty peppy, but after crop-dusting with blue smoke for a couple of months, getting 10 miles to the galoon, and using 2 liters of oil in 600 miles, I had a Tii expert pull the head and saw how bad the head and pistons were. I went back and harassed the dealer into giving me part of my purchase price back. (He did, after months of harassment.) Normally I do most all work myself; I have good hands. [I travelled around the world assembling and tuning 7-ton high energy linear accelerators with nothing but a little standard Craftsman toolbox for a dozen years (see Varian Medical Systems, Inc.)] But I don’t have enough experience to know the tolerances, etc. inside the engine. This time around I’m letting Emmenegger Power, a BMW Power/Tii specialist do a detailed rebuild. So now the engine is in pieces over the winter. New pistons, crank and cam bearings, new cylinder head make-over, timing chain, etc. Kugelfischer pump and injectors appear to be in good shape (dealer swears he rebuilt/tested, but we’ll check anyway). Can’t wait to romp it in the Spring! In the meantime, the MBZ is up on blocks for the winter for a 15-year superficial rust removal, repainting in the wheel wells. That stuff I know how to do! P.S., Even though I'm "not local" in the US, I was inspired to join the BMW CCA Roundel because I recently wrote a comment on the 2002FAQ site to Rob Siegel, the Hack Mechanic, to thank him for his articles about the Kugelfischer injection pump. He sent a really nice reply, and we chatted. Since then, I just finished reading his "Memoirs of a Hack Mechanic". It's a fun read with great info that any "car guy" would appreciate. He's an inspiration to us car guys!