How-to 2002: Frame Rail Repair

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If you enjoyed our last post, installing a trunk floor on our 1973 BMW 2002, we’ve got a great follow-up for you. In this video, we take a look at the frame rail repair on the same model.

Frame rails are pretty particular. They play a role not only in suspension, but in holding the entire car up, so you’ve got to be careful and precise with any frame rail repairs you do. They should be secured properly and installed nice and straight.

To make sure of this, we added a piece of steal and welded it to the rotisserie with the original frame rail in place. This makes it so that the frame rail will go exactly where it was before.

When doing this kind of restoration project, you want to take a number of measurements. You want to get the measurements between your frame rails, from your frame rail to suspension and solid points on the car (like the jack posts), and make sure everything is straight.

Because we plan on replacing the inner quarters in the future, when we put the frame rails back in, we just used self-tapping screws to secure it to the inner weld.

Next, we used a strap along with the frame of the rotisserie to hold the frame rail in the right position while we removed a section of the floor.

When repairing the frame rail, like most restoration projects, it’s always a good idea to remove one portion of the car at a time. With the frame rail, we removed the driver’s side frame rail first and installed that one and made sure it was in position. After replacing that side of the floor as well, we could finish installing the frame rail to the new floor.

We took care of any rust areas, then moved onto the second part of the frame rail repair.

Check out the video for more in-depth info on a frame rail repair below!

How-to 2002: Trunk Floor Install

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At Restoration Design, we love cars. And while Porsches are our specialty, we also carry a number of parts for BMWs as well.

In this video, Adam shows you how to install the trunk floor on our 1972 BMW 2002 restoration project.

To start off, we did all of the preliminary work. We cut out the entire trunk panel which would be replaced, as well as the wheel wells. The channel connecting the two wheel wells is also a good idea to replace. The rear valence runs along the back of the trunk and down the sides, behind each tire, which we will also be replacing.

When installing the trunk floor, the first step is to put it in place and use C clamps to hold it in place. The trunk floor comes in a number of different parts, so make sure you have all of the parts you need before starting this part of the project.

To determine the height of the trunk floor, install the lock post. Once that’s in place, secure the trunk floor with self-tapping screws. Then you’ll want to install the valence.

The rear valence will go in place first. Not every car is the same, so you may have to cut the rear valence to make it the appropriate size for your specific car. The side valences can be tricky, so you may need to spot weld a couple of pieces of sheet metal to secure the side valences to.

Side valences come with necessary cutting and trimming, so you need to fit them and scribe them to the cut you have so you get a nice, neat, tight fit.

Before you put everything together, you need to prep the material and remove any paint from the edges you’ll need to weld.

When you’re satisfied with the placement of all the panels, put some weld-proof primer to prevent any rust from developing in the future.

To see the rest of the process and learn more about how to install the trunk floor on a BMW 2002, check out the video below.