Fixing that little rust spot...
- Thread starter eriknetherlands
- Start date
-
- Tags
- restoration list
wow you realy spend time to restore even the bolts and nuts is tagged, it look like it will be nice restoration, not like me all day looking for bolts and nuts I should of do it like you did and I have very bad memory
Today I decided to see if I could make another part; the lead weight that is clamped to the inside of the door handle. I had one missing. Buying it somewhere and waiting for it takes too long...
Used some old roofing lead, a piece of angled aluminum, an old stainless pan and the wife away for an evening, I think I got the main shape right.
I did use a fresh air filter mask, lead is very harmful when inhaled.
First pic is the original part from the other door (with some felt backing).
I first purified the lead by melting it, and letting it drip down to the side; the debris and corroded film float (lead is heavy and pushes everything up), so that stays behind.
Then it is into the kitchen to heat it up and pour it in a mold.
The shape is actually pretty easy; a piece of 90 degree aluminum with to copper blocks to define the length. When setting the Alu profile at the correct angle, it makes one beautiful ingot.
Now all it needs is some shaping to get the size right.
What I show you isattempt 4...Edit attempt 5; ingot#4 was too thick, and it would have taken too long to shave it to it correct thickness. Recasting #4 into #5 took just ten minutes.
Used some old roofing lead, a piece of angled aluminum, an old stainless pan and the wife away for an evening, I think I got the main shape right.
I did use a fresh air filter mask, lead is very harmful when inhaled.
First pic is the original part from the other door (with some felt backing).
I first purified the lead by melting it, and letting it drip down to the side; the debris and corroded film float (lead is heavy and pushes everything up), so that stays behind.
Then it is into the kitchen to heat it up and pour it in a mold.
The shape is actually pretty easy; a piece of 90 degree aluminum with to copper blocks to define the length. When setting the Alu profile at the correct angle, it makes one beautiful ingot.
Now all it needs is some shaping to get the size right.
What I show you is
Attachments
Last edited:
Recast attempt 4 into #5, and finished the part by shaving it with a sharp chisel (works wonderfuly well!) and drilling the two holes.
Last pic shows the original next to the new part.
Edit- added a pic after sanding it nicely flat on a belt sander.
I modified the original part with 4 small screws to reattach the lead weight after I rezinced the door handle mechanism. This should also prevent it from falling off ever again. In hind sight; 4 screws is a bit much, 2 would have been good enough
Last pic shows the original next to the new part.
Edit- added a pic after sanding it nicely flat on a belt sander.
I modified the original part with 4 small screws to reattach the lead weight after I rezinced the door handle mechanism. This should also prevent it from falling off ever again. In hind sight; 4 screws is a bit much, 2 would have been good enough
Last edited:
Today, after long procrastination, my neighbour helped me out to wrestle the engine+auto trans from the car. We have a leveller, but then the block wouldn't lift up high enough with it installed. So we just used straps.
It did scrape the engine bay in a few places, but no dents luckily. It gets repainted, so no worries there.
Not sure yet how we'll get it back in, as it'll be painted by then. Maybe i'll try the " drop the car over the engine " method.
It did scrape the engine bay in a few places, but no dents luckily. It gets repainted, so no worries there.
Not sure yet how we'll get it back in, as it'll be painted by then. Maybe i'll try the " drop the car over the engine " method.
Attachments
Question to the group - after lifting the engine, I've disassembled my steering system and front axle.
To dissassemble the whishbone from the track lever, I first tried to pop it out with one of those ball joint presses: No go.
Then i tried to heat the track lever with a gas burner. No go again.. But in doing so, I fried the skin of the rubber boot on the ball joint of the whishbone. The rubber boot still holds it's grease, but I'm rebuilding for it to be OK for >10 years.
In the end i build a jig to hold the whishbone and tracklever, and pressed it out with my very large vice. That worked easy-peasy.
Now the whishbone is original BMW, and the ball joint is rotating smoothly, so I'd like to keep it, and only replace the fried rubber boot. And not spend 2X150 euro at Walloth for a Repro part just for an intact rubber boot.
Does anyone know if such rubber baal joint boot from another (BMW?) model would fit on the whishbone?
To dissassemble the whishbone from the track lever, I first tried to pop it out with one of those ball joint presses: No go.
Then i tried to heat the track lever with a gas burner. No go again.. But in doing so, I fried the skin of the rubber boot on the ball joint of the whishbone. The rubber boot still holds it's grease, but I'm rebuilding for it to be OK for >10 years.
In the end i build a jig to hold the whishbone and tracklever, and pressed it out with my very large vice. That worked easy-peasy.
Now the whishbone is original BMW, and the ball joint is rotating smoothly, so I'd like to keep it, and only replace the fried rubber boot. And not spend 2X150 euro at Walloth for a Repro part just for an intact rubber boot.
Does anyone know if such rubber baal joint boot from another (BMW?) model would fit on the whishbone?
Attachments
I recently had the same problem in separating the wishbones and track rods and I also ruined the rubber boots. My research was not comprehensive, but I was told these rubber parts are not available separately. Because I also damaged the tapered joints I didn't investigate the rubber question very thoroughly and decided to change the whole rod/arm. I know this doesn't answer your question, but I thought I'd share my experience as far as it goes.
If you will find any suitable - let me know. 
polgum.sklep.pl
Osłony gumowe harmonijkowe, mieszkowe, manszety do maszyn - POL-GUM
Osłony, mieszki gumowe ✅ Najwyższej jakości produkty z gumy ✅ Idealne do różnych zastosowań ✅ Sprawdź naszą ofertę teraz!
polgum.sklep.pl
....there two different rubber boots:
The left one with the channel, a spring will hold the rubber in place.
The right one with a tight fit.
Yes, I know what comes next! So let me check if there are still some available
The left one with the channel, a spring will hold the rubber in place.
The right one with a tight fit.
Yes, I know what comes next! So let me check if there are still some available
Hello Erik,
I went through this same exercise and searched high and low for a boot that would fit. I really wanted to re-use the original wishbones as well - the replacements probably work just fine but they do not look the same. I did find suitable boots!!! I don't remember the source, but I will look through what I have to see if I can find it. Here are photos of the new boots installed on my cleaned and repainted original wishbones.
Here is an original wishbone compared to a repop one from OCAP:
Energy Suspension, and likely others, make beefy black PU boots. They do not look like exactly like original (no retaining rings) but they seem to work well.
Amazon and others sell "generic" rubber boot sets. Have also seen silicone ones advertised.
Amazon and others sell "generic" rubber boot sets. Have also seen silicone ones advertised.
that's looking just how i'd want mine to come out.
Great, I'm standing by ....