That's pretty cool. Avoids dreaded rear wheel lockup! Kinda tough for Gymkhana driving, but i'll take it!
72 3.0 CS 2240344 Restoration
- Thread starter ScottAndrews
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Disassembly question of the day:
Is there a trick to getting the rear most front fender belt line trim nut off? It seems to be hidden behind the door hinge.
Thankfully, there is a detailed thread on dealing with the dread fuel door rubber gasket or I'd have two disassembly questions!
Is there a trick to getting the rear most front fender belt line trim nut off? It seems to be hidden behind the door hinge.
Thankfully, there is a detailed thread on dealing with the dread fuel door rubber gasket or I'd have two disassembly questions!
there is one in the door well - you open the door all the way and reach into the slot and you will find it.
I use a tiny open end ignition wrench.
my favorite is a small racheting box end for ones you have to reach for. on ones behind the windows i used a flexible carburetor adjusting tool w/ a 1/4" drive socket.
I got all of them except the crazy one behind the door hinge. Of course I have every socket size known to man, but only 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 mm small combo wrenches, and these are 9mm nuts, 11/32 is too small, and 3/8 too big...
. Ordered a micro ratcheting swivel 9mm wrench.. should come tomorrow.Got all the AC condenser and fan stuff out, front bumper off, belt trim (other than the front fender pieces), horns, etc.
Got the balky turn signals out using a long screwdriver and a little twist from inside. Thanks to @e9Leveque for that!.
Tomorrow I tackle that last hidden nut in the gas door flap.. WTF designed THAT?!
Shell is getting emptier and emptier!
If there a Harbor Freight near you, they sell a small ratcheting socket set that is phenomenal at getting into these tight corridors. I suspect Gearwrench and others have similar sets, but yes, a mini ratchet with pass through bits for extra low profile is helpful for some of these bolts and nuts. And enjoy that gas flap third nut but yes definitely review the recent gas flap thread, lots of good tips there
Not clear to me why they didn't put the gas door hinge on with a plate to sandwich the hinge and the boot, so the nuts would be outside the boot.
The long threaded nuts seem like a good fix.
The long threaded nuts seem like a good fix.
Once that trim nut is loose you can slide the belt trim off of it and then turn the t-bolt with pliers. Install is reverse and fewer turns of the nut are required.
@ScottAndrews : Wrt to the turn signals, here is a pic showing the bracket that resides behind the front fender through which the 2 screws hold the chrome frame in place.
In OEM condition, after removal of the 2 screws, the bracket at the back should fall off (unless waxed / body-schutzed in place) and the chrome housing should come off.
If the housing doesn't come off, it's likely held in place by the rubber grommet that has developed an adhesion to the chrome housing and fender.
Some gentle massaging should set it free.
You can actually access the inside of the fender and that backing bracket when you remove the front grills around the light cluster.
Thanks to @Keshav for his pics
Attachments
Yep! I had removed the backing plates, but the chrome housing would not move. I used a long large screwdriver and put it between the body and the housing ON THE INSIDE (to avoid buggering up the housing or the body), and twisted it. Sure enough the housing came loose, and I had to peel off the gasket.@ScottAndrews : Wrt to the turn signals, here is a pic showing the bracket that resides behind the front fender through which the 2 screws hold the chrome frame in place
If the housing doesn't come off, it's likely held in place by the rubber grommet that has developed an adhesion to the chrome housing and fender.
Some gentle massaging should set it free.
You can actually access the inside of the fender and that backing bracket when you remove the front grills around the light cluster.
Thanks to @Keshav for his pics
All good.
Wrestled the third nut off the gas door, and got the boot off. I put the door back on, since it has to go to paint.
No other significant drama today, other than the tool box falling apart in brittle pieces as I removed it . It was empty of tools, and had been painted black along with everything else in the trunk, so I was expecting to have to replace it.
Getting down to the short strokes now. Rear bumper, fuel tank, brake calipers and parking brake, clutch MC, fuel and brake lines, and wiring. Try the dry Ice trick on the remaining sound deadening, a good deep cleaning, paint the headliner, and ship it off to body and paint!!
Going to power wash the old wheels, and put some cheap tires on them so I am not sending my beautiful Alpinas to the body shop...
No other significant drama today, other than the tool box falling apart in brittle pieces as I removed it
. It was empty of tools, and had been painted black along with everything else in the trunk, so I was expecting to have to replace it.Getting down to the short strokes now. Rear bumper, fuel tank, brake calipers and parking brake, clutch MC, fuel and brake lines, and wiring. Try the dry Ice trick on the remaining sound deadening, a good deep cleaning, paint the headliner, and ship it off to body and paint!!
Going to power wash the old wheels, and put some cheap tires on them so I am not sending my beautiful Alpinas to the body shop...
BMW Special Belt-Line Trim Removal Tool acquired!
After viewing the hot mess that is my entire trunk, I decided to just go for broke and ordered the various panels from Christoph Bier, and the tool box from W-N.. In for a penny... I'll start collecting tools going forward. I assume there is a list of these somewhere..
All of the elephant skin has been painted black, the various boards are warped and cracked. The lower "floor panels" are missing, etc. I may yet try to salvage and re-paint the plastic wheel house covers, although one of the inboard ones is cracked. Christoph cannot send the floor panels (too big), but he is sending the vinyl, so I'll find some that I can borrow for a template.
As mentioned before, the PO had some sort of massive stereo system going on in the back. Deeeee-luxe particle board panels covered with wooly black cloth, held on, of course, using drywall screws! WTF??!! Good to get that all cleared out - feel like I need to go disinfect myself!
After viewing the hot mess that is my entire trunk, I decided to just go for broke and ordered the various panels from Christoph Bier, and the tool box from W-N.. In for a penny... I'll start collecting tools going forward. I assume there is a list of these somewhere..
All of the elephant skin has been painted black, the various boards are warped and cracked. The lower "floor panels" are missing, etc. I may yet try to salvage and re-paint the plastic wheel house covers, although one of the inboard ones is cracked. Christoph cannot send the floor panels (too big), but he is sending the vinyl, so I'll find some that I can borrow for a template.
As mentioned before, the PO had some sort of massive stereo system going on in the back. Deeeee-luxe particle board panels covered with wooly black cloth, held on, of course, using drywall screws! WTF??!! Good to get that all cleared out - feel like I need to go disinfect myself!
There are some items that you can only (easily) get from Christoph but I would look at Alvaro’s website at oilsdesigngroup.com - he has a whole bunch of the trunk items and they ship from Florida.
i highly recommend @alprada70 's products - i also like Christoph's products - both are great ... but in the USA, being able to ship from Florida and avoid the UPS tariff hassle is refreshing.
Wow! Lots of good stuff at that site. Thanks for the tip!
Yep - i ordered some of the trunk trim, the firewall insulation, some window rebuild items and motor mount supports from him. All top-notch quality.
I had already gotten the firewall stuff from Christoph about a year ago (been stockpiling parts for several years now).
But I think I'll order Alprada's trunk floor parts. Save me from having to make them.
Wiring removal question:
I have so far cataloged, labeled and removed the wiring from the trunk to the rear seats. Getting the interior wiring out from here seems easy enough.
Wondering what the best approach is for the front harness (engine bay, front lights, etc.). I assume that most of that goes to the fuse box, so is it reasonable to remove the fuse box, and label each wire as I disconnect it? Does that facilitate actually pulling the harness from there into the engine bay? Seems a bit too big to go the other way.
Also, from what I can see the main harness runs from the fuse box back to the seat support, and then splits. One section continues aft for the left rear window, and the trunk (tail lamps, side markers, license plate lamp, trunk light, fuel sender), and the other section crosses over to the passenger seat , with a split that goes forward to the passenger door window, and a section that goes aft to the rear passenger side window.
The main harness then continues forward on the driver's side floor, splits to feed the driver door window, and then heads up into the rats nest around the fuse box.
I am assuming that that harness will also connect to the fuse box.
Is this correct?
And lastly who came up with the crazy approach of using a tiny little 6mm tube from the fuel filler, all the way to the evaporative canister locates at the far front corner of the engine bay (under the battery??? I'm surprised any fumes get that far up that little tube!
I have so far cataloged, labeled and removed the wiring from the trunk to the rear seats. Getting the interior wiring out from here seems easy enough.
Wondering what the best approach is for the front harness (engine bay, front lights, etc.). I assume that most of that goes to the fuse box, so is it reasonable to remove the fuse box, and label each wire as I disconnect it? Does that facilitate actually pulling the harness from there into the engine bay? Seems a bit too big to go the other way.
Also, from what I can see the main harness runs from the fuse box back to the seat support, and then splits. One section continues aft for the left rear window, and the trunk (tail lamps, side markers, license plate lamp, trunk light, fuel sender), and the other section crosses over to the passenger seat , with a split that goes forward to the passenger door window, and a section that goes aft to the rear passenger side window.
The main harness then continues forward on the driver's side floor, splits to feed the driver door window, and then heads up into the rats nest around the fuse box.
I am assuming that that harness will also connect to the fuse box.
Is this correct?
And lastly who came up with the crazy approach of using a tiny little 6mm tube from the fuel filler, all the way to the evaporative canister locates at the far front corner of the engine bay (under the battery??? I'm surprised any fumes get that far up that little tube!
Now THAT'S a DIRTY car...
