Best restoration shop in the country and advice...

[JDbimmer]

Hello gents -
I did a search through the forum, but seems it could be better answered by a fresh post. I also wanted to introduce myself to the board. I am a hapless bimmerphile and am doing some research into my next vehicle which i am pretty certain at this point will be a 2002tii. I recently sold my 84 E24 (it was a 633 w/ an engine swap done by brett anderson) in favor of a 2007 E90 335i. Part of the reason i sold the 6 was that i had no space to keep it as a second car (one car garage) - it was my daily driver. While i love many things about the E90, it definitely is missing some of the soul of my E24 - which leads me to my post here. I will be doing an addition on my home and will after that point have room for another vehicle, one i can truly pamper and will be my weekend funmobile - i would like the next one to be a 2002tii. Since my job keeps me incredidbly busy and my young family (2, soon 3 under 5 yo) does so when i am home with them, i have to scale back on my hobbies and as hard as it is for me to give up control of doing things myself vs paying others to do them for me, i know that the smart thing for me to do is to buy a full restoration versus undertaking it myself.

So, to my questions:

1. Who do you think does the absolute best full (think BMW building a new 2002 from mobile traditions parts) restoration in the country?

2. How much will this cost?

3. If i am not going to concours it, what would you do in my position? Partial restoration? Buy someone elses restoration?

My reasoning for a full ground up restoration is that i want it to last me for a very long time and never have to worry ab rust ever killing the car - if i know it's perfect at the outset, i know i can keep it that way.

Thanks in advance for the thoughts... sorry if this seems an unpopular approach given many are in it partially for the love of wrenching on these beautiful cars, but the position i am in with young kids and my work what it is, i just don't have the time to have anything more on my plate right now, but that doesn't change how much i love these cars.

Be well folks and thanks for your thoughts.

Best,
Jim

[HBWT]

injection and its almost constant need for attention.
If you find one, make sure that the throttle and F/I linkage is new and tight. Loose sloppy links will drive you nuts when tuning. If you want soul, don't limit yourself to the 2002 model. I had 4 of them and they were great...but my fave was the 3.0Cs. I'd love to have another. Looking in the most recent Roundel I see three 3.0Cs and one 1970 2800Cs (with only 37.6K miles!). Guy wants $25K for it though. I'd concentrate my search down South avoiding the rust belt.


2006 Cooper S
Premium
Cold Weather
Sport
Convenience
HK
Center Arm Rest
iPod
15% pulley & JWC Intake
Auto-up windows
no friggin runflats

[JDbimmer]

boy i have never driven, but was always the car that i thought would be my long-term diaper baby base purely on aesthetics, but for some reason i am stuck on the '02 right now. How would you compare driving dynamics btw the two? They certainly both are inspiring designs (to me at least). Also, i don't mind having a car that needs attention - i have read ab the mechanical FI system on the '02s, is it difficult to master keeping it working properly?

[Arizona 02]

restoration can take over 1 year & $20k. buy today & drive tomorrow.

[jon]

The best restoration is done where you get the satisfaction of watching it done. I did a partial near home; went over a couple times a week to watch the progress.

The Werks in Chicago has an impressive clientel going back some 20 years. There is a good one in Conneticut - can't remember the name.

Personally I think plain old 2002s can be more fun than a tii. Gives you more to play around with.

[JD - NY]

time though - i think seeing a transformation and knowing it is being done right might be more satisfying to me assuming the $$ is in the same ballpark. Sounds like you think a full restoration vs buying one someone else restored could be similar cost wise?

[JD - NY]

on doing one near home. Can you explain further on why a 2002 vs the '02tii?

[ROYinGA]

injection which would be easier to handle and tune than the mechanical injection.

[badcabbage02]

The CS is awesome to drive - much more powerful than the O2.

The CS is also an absolute nightmare in hidden body rust and the parts are much, much, much more expensive. I sold a 2800CS for that reason, and went back to the (t)rusty 02. Could not believe how much parts cost for the CS.

The engine and drive train seemed to have been forced into the Karman designed CS ex post facto. The 2002 body was designed around its mechanics with the goal of simplistic engineering.

I guess it all comes down to how much money you have. Resale on either will never meet the cost of what you will spend to restore the car - especially the CS.

[geocoog]

I went through this same decision process a little over one year ago. I'm in Texas. I selected Coupe King out of LA. They have a good history of both coupes and 2002 restorations.

We just picked up the final product last weekend and drove it home to Texas. Here's the project blog:

http://mydrive.roadfly.com/blog/geocoog/

There are a number of good restoration shops around the country. The one with the most outstanding rep is the Werks in Chicago. Unfortunately, they are very expensive (in excess of $60k for a 2002 resto if you can believe it). Expect to invest in excess of $20k however for any decent restoration at a proper shop. I echo the comments, its cheaper to buy one already done. Still, there's nothing like going through the process yourself. You will know that car inside out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[jonblbl]

Why 2002 vs. 2002tii?

I have seen man comments on this board that tinkerers preferred the 2002. You have many carburetor and distributor options to play with that you do not have with a fuel injector. A well-tuned 2002 is plenty fast, but the tii guys may dispute that.

[jonblbl]

You will spend $10K for a partial restoration. At that point, the car will be worth $10K at best. However, you can get many years of reliable and fun part-time daily driving out of a sound partial restoration. That's how you get your money back. Oh, and you will get waves from the young and old who remember how much they loved their 02 and never should have sold it and want to buy one again someday.

[jonblbl]

$60K for an 02 restoration is ludicrous. What are you going to do with a car like that? Put it in air conditioning and look at it?

$20K is fine, but when you spend that money you probably don't drive it much.

$10K makes sense to me. You don't feel bad about driving the car. You get your money back driving what you want to drive. There is a guy in Cleveland doing reasonable restorations, does good work. His name is Mike O'Toole.

[John_in_NoVA]

and one of the best as far as knowing his way around a 2002.
matt@sports-car-restoration.com
http://www.sports-car-restoration.com/
860-621-2002