door brake (break)

kwyjibo

kwyjibo

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With my mother in-law visiting last week, I found myself in the garage more than usual and finally got around to some of the little things that I've been putting off for too long. One thing was replacing the door brakes. I didn't think of taking photos in-process but here are the highlights.
--Interior bits and door card off, find three (THREE!) broken spring halves. Hopefully, this will be the last time this car gets a new door brake. I chucked the first one but then found two more when I thought about checking the bottom of the door for debris (see photo). The door brake strap had a funny bend on the roller axle opposite the mounting rivet (right end of the strap in the photo) but, I didn't find the rollers in the door!?! The bend made me look closely at the opening of the door...
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--and I found that the sheet metal is bulged out both above and below the opening for the door strap which you might be able to see in the "after" photo below. Nothing like using sheetmetal as the door stop.
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--Lastly, has anybody else had to cut/grind down the inboard-most portion of the mounting face in order to get the bolts to line up? I probably removed 1/4" of material from the body of the mount before I could get it anywhere near the spot it needed to be. Just wondering if the door is bent a little more than I first saw.
 
I have to do this too. WHere did you buy the new door brakes?
 
and a 320i door brake will work if you have a junkyard around, minimal grinding to the lever to fit into the bracket where the pin goes
 
Picked up a set at the boneyard today- currently 6
320i's locally.
Brakes are 5 bucks this weekend!
 
weak door break

Mine was broken as well, same spot. Got a used replacement from 002 Salvage in Hayward. First one didn't fit, returned it, 2nd one was perfect match. It's installed but doesn't hold much when door is all the way open. Does hold in the half way position. Any thoughts on how to make it work harder? Or should I replace this one yet again?
 
Why not get the newer door brakes that were specifically made for the E9 (no modifications needed). Pretty sure the new ones were fashioned after the E24 style brakes as these are virtually indestructible...still on my original door brakes on my 88 M6 and will probably outlive the car. Granted, these are about $200+ for the L&R set...definitely not cheap, but hey, all it takes is for one mishap to have a door completely swinging open and causing thousands of dollars of damage to your door and front fender.
 
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bert35csi said:
Why not get the newer door brakes that were specifically made for the E9 (no modifications needed). Pretty sure the new ones were fashioned after the E24 style brakes as these are virtually indestructible...still on my original door brakes on my 88 M6 and will probably outlive the car. Granted, these are about $200+ for the L&R set...definitely no cheap, but hey, all it takes is for one mishap to have a door completely swinging open and causing thousands of dollars of damage to your door and front fender.
Click to expand...

Bert, who sells this one? I am after a really hefty door feel, just like the brake on my E46 Wagon. I checked with La Jolla several months ago and they said they had some problems with the ones they had received and could not supply any. Perhaps this has changed.
Do all the door brakes 320i, E28, etc work on the same principal? I'd imagine the 3201 brake is made for a less hefty door than a 6 series.
 
Nicad said:
Bert, who sells this one? I am after a really hefty door feel, just like the brake on my E46 Wagon. I checked with La Jolla several months ago and they said they had some problems with the ones they had received and could not supply any. Perhaps this has changed.
Do all the door brakes 320i, E28, etc work on the same principal? I'd imagine the 3201 brake is made for a less hefty door than a 6 series.
Click to expand...

Bob,

The door brakes are strictly BMW issued E9 parts, so they can be ordered through dealers or most BMW parts suppliers, including La Jolla Independent. They open to the same angles as the old E9 door brakes so I don't believe that these brakes were just simply transferred from another model.

I bought the brakes from Carl Nelson about 5 years ago and believe they had the old part #: 51 21 1 819 364 which has been superseded by the newer part #: 51 21 0 301 600. Believe they are the same part, but changed numbers probably due to a newer inventory practice. Front door - BMW parts catalogParts info[/url]
 
FWIW, After a bit of measuring I found that the door brakes on my wife's 99 MB SL500 would work perfectly on my E9. They are the right length, as well as being setup for a pretty heavy door. I put a pair in, and am very happy with them.
They only need a thin plastic tube bushing on the pin hole. The plastic tubing used for the Evap. Emission line was a perfect fit.... And they were ~$36 ea...
DaveG
 
Here is a photo of the new style e9 and 2002 (the shorter one) door brakes.
 

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bert35csi said:
The door brakes are strictly BMW issued E9 parts, so they can be ordered through dealers or most BMW parts suppliers, including La Jolla Independent.
Old part #: 51 21 1 819 364 which has been superseded by the newer part #: 51 21 0 301 600. Believe they are the same part.
Click to expand...

I just got two 51 21 0 301 600 brakes, and.... they do NOT fit!
There are two issues with it: the bushing is too high (20mm versus the stock 18mm) so it won't go in between the 'lips' on the body. This of course can be corrected with a grinder, but.... hardly a 'swap in' part that way - and there is an even bigger problem: the arm is too long! Fully extended the following measurements apply:
Original Stock: about 80mm from pin to mounting flange
New brake: 135mm from pin to flange!

Only the first stop on the new one is about 80mm, but it can continue a lot further from there so it's way too long and your door will hit your fender. The brakes had BMW tags with this very number on them. I went back to BMW and they will investigate, but have sofar not refunded or taken anything back... I can't believe that this is such an issue on these cars, I have bought five new ones to date, of which three soon broke again and now two that do not fit.

Depending on outcome, I am seriously thinking about getting those Mercedes SL door brakes that were mentioned elsewhere (not the one mentioned below, you need the SL - google and you'll find the number). Cheaper and more correct looking on the visible parts once installed too. Let's see what happens.
 
Chamonix_E9 said:
I just got two 51 21 0 301 600 brakes, and.... they do NOT fit!
There are two issues with it: the bushing is too high (20mm versus the stock 18mm) so it won't go in between the 'lips' on the body. This of course can be corrected with a grinder, but.... hardly a 'swap in' part that way - and there is an even bigger problem: the arm is too long! Fully extended the following measurements apply:
Original Stock: about 80mm from pin to mounting flange
New brake: 135mm from pin to flange!

Only the first stop on the new one is about 80mm, but it can continue a lot further from there so it's way too long and your door will hit your fender. The brakes had BMW tags with this very number on them. I went back to BMW and they will investigate, but have sofar not refunded or taken anything back... I can't believe that this is such an issue on these cars, I have bought five new ones to date, of which three soon broke again and now two that do not fit.

Depending on outcome, I am seriously thinking about getting those Mercedes SL door brakes that were mentioned elsewhere (not the one mentioned below, you need the SL - google and you'll find the number). Cheaper and more correct looking on the visible parts once installed too. Let's see what happens.
Click to expand...

OK...I've been digging around. Here is what I've found: The original door brakes as fitted from the factory was part #: 51 21 1 819 364 and was later replace by the newer brake which has a part # of: 51 21 0 301 600. This part # has not changed since this newer design was introduced in the early 2000's. The brake I have (bought in 2005) appears different and much shorter than the E9 brake that Chris had posted. The pics below will show the difference.

The pin busing is indeed 20mm and it fits perfectly into the body slot and without any modifications. The swing arm resting at its first notch measured from center of pin opening to flat mounting flange is about 65mm.

7450927408_bb8055a190_b.jpg


7450919174_05a856a8af_b.jpg


If the top brake is indeed the current one available for the E9, then it is the wrong part. The arm is much longer arm and has a curvature when compared to the arm above. It would not surprise me that there maybe some BMW inventory mix up. With the tens of thousands of parts being inventoried, these types of situations can happen.

7450752594_fab0c82d12_b.jpg
 
Bert, in the next week or so I will pull the door panel and see if the MB brakes I have fit. Just tried them in the 2002 and I think they are too long, can only go to the first stop, they may fit the coupe just fine. I agree the BMW one I have is probably too long, bought it on eBay and seller claimed it was e9 but it may not be the case. The shorter BMW one is also a little short for the 2002 but works fine. I think someone already shaved the mounting surfaces at the pin location, same with the longer one.

Chris

(mine is also 65mm to first stop)
 
HB Chris said:
Chamonix, same MB part number, no difference.
Click to expand...
Oops, my bad - the number in the beginning of the ad was different, that's why.

Bert35CSI: thanks a LOT for that very extensive reply. Indeed mine looks like the top one in that picture, however the 20mm is definitely a problem on my car. From the picture it seems as the one you posted seems less than 20mm also? It looks here is a bushing in there too, I needed to transfer the nylon bush from the old one.
Anyhow BMW definitely did something wrong, that's pretty obvious now. Do you happen to have the part No for that longer door brake at the top?

Thanks again!
 
Chamonix_E9 said:
Oops, my bad - the number in the beginning of the ad was different, that's why.

Bert35CSI: thanks a LOT for that very extensive reply. Indeed mine looks like the top one in that picture, however the 20mm is definitely a problem on my car. From the picture it seems as the one you posted seems less than 20mm also? It looks here is a bushing in there too, I needed to transfer the nylon bush from the old one.
Anyhow BMW definitely did something wrong, that's pretty obvious now. Do you happen to have the part No for that longer door brake at the top?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Chamoix_E9,

Oops...you're right, the bushing head is indeed 18mm. It also has a steel or brass bushing in place of a nylon part. I've placed a ruler underneath the brake to indicate dimensions. The total length of swing arm is about 143mm. There is a camera parallax issue, so the actual measurements are not evident.

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What is the best way to notify BMW Classics that they have a wrong part in their E9 inventory?
 
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