Consumables - Checking with those wiser than me......

[jpg10]

Hi,

After quite a few years and 3 house moved I've finally got my car at home in the underground lair garage I'm starting to go through my car and check and deal with whatever needs to be replaced/repaired/refurbished. I know they're not that high on he list of interest, but is it worth collating a shopping list of the standard consumables (hoses, o rings, gasket papers, bolts, washers, screws, split rings etc) that are needed ? I don't want to keep buying things piecemeal when I may need 60 M6x25 8.8 zinc coated so can just buy them in bulk and be done with it (I've no idea if I need those bolts as I'm just got my blue books and have started to read through, but you get the drift).

I was going to create a spreadsheet so they could be filtered out into the areas needed and to the spec, but if its use I can start to do it as I go along. I know I could just pick one parts page and go at it like that, but I've not come across a single job on the car that I've managed to keep the scope of the job to what I originally started out to do.

If there's a general feeling this could be of use then I'll make a start or if there's something that could be used instead I'll use that instead.

Cheers,

James

 

[Honolulu]

My 2 cents is to do it, then throw it up here, then someone, somewhere, sometime, may find it relevant. You may never know, but it's "doing the right thing".

 

[Drew20]

Keeping detailed lists of work done and parts replaced makes sense and is a valuable thing to do, as part of your project's history, and for the benefit of the wider group's reference. I can only comment on the bits of the car I myself have dug into (scratching the surface really), but the way this site works like a reference library is most excellent.

 

[jpg10]

This isn't about the work I'm going to do on my car, I'm slowly working my way through the various how to on basic maintenance/checks that have been done here before deciding on what I'm going to do and what I'm going to get done by others. I suspect a restoration thread may appear at some point once I figure it all out.

This is more for general information so I can sort out a spares tray for when I'm doing things so I can have the right ones ready when I open things up that I have spares ready if any are damaged/rusted/missing and not waiting to get replacements as long as its the correct siz 8.8 strength bolt or cleveloc/nyloc nut for example.

I intend to go through the orange and blue books and realoem (but wary about realoem after advice from @HB Chris when looking at control arms) as I want it to be useful to me (and hopefully others) but wary that it can never beat experience of some of those on this site.

I'm just tinkering and have only done a few screens from realoem with what I want to capture before updating details from the orange book and then seeing if I need to then bother adding in the blue book as I know if I'm not careful I could be a busy fool if I go overboard .

 

[jpg10]

last nights version linking the parts book page references to W&N and Realoem. I've got them linked to the corresponding web pages although the RealOEM links won't be much useful for others unless I get a way for you to change the links to other car models as it all links to the version specific to me at the moment. I've not updated the data with the parts book data yet.

This is just on one or two parts pages that I'm using to figure out what I need to pull in and check or keep before doing others as I go along.

 

[merdad]

There also this site from BMW Classic that shows parts and available parts from BMW

BMW Group Classic – Original Spare Parts for Classic BMWs

Attention: Our Classic online shop will be switched off from July 1st, 2021. You can still obtain BMW Classic spare parts from your BMW dealer!

shop.bmw-classic.de

 

[Ohmess]

James - my initial reaction to your project is that your list includes lot of parts that can be reused and it would be helpful to identify the parts that commonly need to be replaced. Then, given your goals, you could buy these parts in advance.

 

[HB Chris]

We would like to inform you that we are ceasing the operation of our online shop as of 1 July 2021. Of course you can still obtain spare parts directly from your BMW dealership or local BMW branch. (This was not available for US customers)

 

[jpg10]

There also this site from BMW Classic that shows parts and available parts from BMW

BMW Group Classic – Original Spare Parts for Classic BMWs

Attention: Our Classic online shop will be switched off from July 1st, 2021. You can still obtain BMW Classic spare parts from your BMW dealer!

shop.bmw-classic.de

Will see if I can work it in, but from what @HB Chris has said and looking at the site it will have to be done via the local dealers, although it may be helpful to give them the page/part references if they use that site themselves.

James - my initial reaction to your project is that your list includes lot of parts that can be reused and it would be helpful to identify the parts that commonly need to be replaced. Then, given your goals, you could buy these parts in advance.

Thats part of the cunning masterplan but I'm probably trying to be too clever and cover a few bases as part of this. I know lots on my car are ok and will be reused, but for example the central kidney grill was attached with 4 different combinations of bolt/wood screw/self tapping screw/washer/etc so part of what I'm doing is to get things consistent and as close to or better than originally spec'd as they can be within reason.

Also similar to the toolkit on the car had some of the fuses & bulbs used I want to try to have some of the most common bolts/nuts/washer/clips/o-rings/gaskets/gasket materials/hose so if I spot something out of sorts then there's a chance it can be rectified there and then rather than having to find, order & wait for any replacement. It may be blind optimism on my part but I figure as part of my E9 owners customary parts hoard I may as well stock some of the things that are more likely to get used.

There will be things that you commonly replace and I know @deQuincey has the maintenance thread I refer to (M30B30 Maintenance thread. Periods, products, processes,...tips and FAQs | BMW E9 Coupe Discussion Forum ) its partially to help me get more organised for things like that and to better manage the space I have to work in.

 

[Ohmess]

James - I like your spirit. I am fortunate to have a pretty good stockpile of fasteners, primarily because I drove 100 miles to clear out MaxFish's leftovers when he tore apart a coupe to make it into a race car. The deal was I had to take it all, and in addition to the lose fasteners in his bins, I removed the fasteners from everything I did not sell or keep.

I also kept all the fasteners I removed from my car when making changes/upgrades. I found over the years a lot of inconsistencies in the fasters used to hold down a single trim strip, for example, and when visible I changed them to be consistent with one another. In addition, whenever I buy fasteners I need, I buy six spares.

 

[Drew Gregg]

We would like to inform you that we are ceasing the operation of our online shop as of 1 July 2021. Of course you can still obtain spare parts directly from your BMW dealership or local BMW branch. (This was not available for US customers)

I entered my VIN 2250486 and it took me to an E30 318 model under the E9 topic.

 

[HB Chris]

17 digit VINs contain our seven digit vins, another example of BMW not really caring.

 

[Ohmess]

I entered my VIN 2250486 and it took me to an E30 318 model under the E9 topic.

Yup. I heard about the BMW classic support from a BMW VP at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. And I was happy to learn that the local dealer in Fairfax, VA near where I lived at the time, was a certified classic service facility for the Washington DC area. When next I visited for parts, I came in with a part number but the counter guy insisted he needed my VIN. He said I only need the last seven digits, and I informed him that my car only had a seven digit VIN. He replied that all cars have 17 digit VINs, but that he could work with the last seven. He rejected my suggestion that this wasn't going to work, so I gave him my VIN. After looking in his computer, he informed me that the part I wanted would not fit a Euro e21. I replied that's ok, I don't own a Euro e21, please sell me the part associated with the number I brought in. Ultimately I got the part, but the guy was clueless.

 

[Drew Gregg]

Not all dealer parts guys are clueless. Lauderdale BMW here in Ft. Lauderdale takes my part#'s over the phone,looks them up to see if they are still available and tells me the prices even if the part is NLA and the screen still has a price. I needed a left door seal. It is NLA but still had the $405 list price. That is the same price from W&N for the part. I ordered it Sunday night online and it was delivered via UPS today, Thursday.

 

[jpg10]

I had the same issue at the local BMW dealership when I first got my E9, I had to take the parts guy out side to show him my car and the 7 digit VIN on the car, he still couldn't figure it out as his system said E30 318 so I've never been able to use them. I even had the email from BMW archive to show them the build date etc, but still was referred back to BMW to sort out my possibly "ringed" car? Suspect that they know what they know well and so anything that's outside of that area like the 7 vs 17 digit VINs just throws them.

There probably are loads of dealer parts guys that know our cars and can understand the difference between the classic and modern cars and maybe I was unlucky. Since I've only used Linwar, Jaymic, W&N, Ebay, German Coupe forums & most importantly this forum for parts.

 

[lip277]

Whenever I took my 2002, E9 or E23 to the dealer for a part - we had an impromptu car show out in the parking lot. LOL
And then I would go back in and get the part ordered.
Sometimes...

Otherwise, it was an exercise in my patience showing the parts guy what I wanted... in the system he was supposed to be an expert on.
YMMV as always...

 

[Krzysztof]

There was an old dealership here. And the guy was able to find unknown BMW part numbers having few old versions of BMW Parts Catalogue installed on Window 3.1/DOS which were still based on microfiche.

But those day are gone...

I think it is common the classic BMW owner needs to be the master degree in his car design.

We're lucky with BMW ... Guys from most of Italian or French car brands can only envy us.

Having "poor corps" of E9 anyone with high enough budget can build up complete, nice car in-line with year of manufacturing - exactly how the car was leaving factory.

 

[jpg10]

Sorry, I've not much done in this area as been waylaid with a list of work from she who must be obeyed, I've spent more time fixing and renovating things on the house & garden than on the car. Thankfully I've been able to escape to watch my son play cricket so have at least managed enough time in the outdoors to catch the sun.

I've not yet managed to contact the BMW parts department of BMW Huddersfield to make nice with them to try to get parts but will get around to it. I think I've worked enough credit with the Mrs to spend a weekend on the car to carry on tinkering soon, I just need to finish demolishing a bathroom, prep utility room for refurb and then I can refurb my garage so I can bring the BMW in from the communal garage. There's a lot of grinding and repainting of small areas I want to do but this is down the list at the moment.

for the consumables side of things I managed to get a rough approximation of the symbols from the BMW parts book as it looks like I'll need to base on this rather than real OEM. It's a pain but I have to go through my car anyway to get it fairly standardised and I plan to try to work my way around it as others have such as @deQuincey and @OTOTOTO have on their postings. I think the issue I had before was that I believed REALOEM too much and their replacements, from what @HB Chris said it looks like you need to replace sections en masse rather than single component parts.

I'd managed to get the links working in the parts spreadsheet before I realised I need to start again with the BMW parts catalog as the key to things rather than REALOWM/W&N. I've attached the draft I'd done, but will start again once I get the chance.....

Take care everyone, J