some minor sheet metal work

[deQuincey]

hi

i am sharing with you a minor detailed work of the sheet metal covers that close the hole that give access to the headlamps from the engine compartment

i found those ones in germany, they were very rusty, but considering that they are not structural parts, i will do the following:

start

rust on the backside

take away the old paint with chemicals

white paint under the red one, repeat process

machine sanding, and rust converter

first paint: primer, see the holes, not very big

considering i am not an expert in welding or other skills to do it in a professional way, and also taken into account the size of the holes, i decided to put adhesive tape as a "moulding" to give the needed continuity to the shape, in order to pour special metallic compount (epoxi based), from the other side

to be continued

 

[pamp]

Covers

I had mine powder coated along with other misc. engine bay bits

 

[deQuincey]

continue

bi-component metal based epoxi

two hours later, take away tape, and this will be the appearance of the holes, sand paper and prepare for repaint

 

[deQuincey]

final
new coat of primer,...e voila !
( afterwards final coat of colour paint )

 

[David]

Good as new. Nice work.

 

[IS3FIFTY]

Nice!

Thanks for sharing. I planned on starting this very similar job on my 2800 but one of the plastic screws that holds the driver side cover in place refuses to let go. The plastic top rotates but the actual screw inside of it is stuck in place. I tried a few things but don' want to break the plastic top... Any idea of how to loosen it?

 

[deQuincey]

Thanks for sharing. I planned on starting this very similar job on my 2800 but one of the plastic screws that holds the driver side cover in place refuses to let go. The plastic top rotates but the actual screw inside of it is stuck in place. I tried a few things but don' want to break the plastic top... Any idea of how to loosen it?

you have several possibilities:

1- break the plastic top, and unscrew the screw with a pair of pliers, no problem, because you can find completely new screws with plastic top nowadays in bmw service, and many other places

2- if you want to mantain "that particular" screw, you should access to it from the headlanps, you have to dissassemble the lamps set, and use an screw-extractor, previously you´d better spray some oil to improve the action, that implies making a tiny hole in the existing screw

3- maybe a little more pressure in the pliers from outside te plastic top to access the metallic screw

point 2 is no worth the cost of a new screw !

it is my opinion, i don´t know if screws are available in your place, i have just bought 6 new screws, with a total cost of 6 euro

regards

 

[HB Chris]

Were the new screws black or white plastic?

 

[Stevehose]

I bought some recently and they were white which was what I have on mine

Were the new screws black or white plastic?

 

[deQuincey]

Were the new screws black or white plastic?

they came white, but i painted them blue, as that is the colour of my car

 

[m_thompson]

they came white, but i painted them blue, as that is the colour of my car

I bought two replacements. They made the originals look so bad that I replaced all of them.

 

[pamp]

Knurled knobs

I bought black ones from our friend, the "orangener"

 

[Orangener]

Yes, and I have still a lot of them on stock :

Knurled screws for the headlight access covers / 1,25 Euro each

See my other NOS parts in my FS-thread : http://www.e9coupe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7168

Thank you Allen for the advertising ! :-D