Spare parts worth finding/keeping

[e9Leveque]

@Mike Goble replied to the recent “car broke down today” thread noting that he goes out to find fuel senders from E28s to have around. I found an old thread about the items that people keep in their car for roadside repairs, but what about the parts that are worth keeping an eye out for to have “on the shelf just in case”? Obviously if you’re @sfdon you have a huge stockpile because you’re constantly rebuilding cars, but for the newer owner like myself, any specific parts you guys with experience would say “snap that up if you see it, and don’t get rid of the one you replace on your car”. For me obvious ones might be things like relays - I’ve replaced my fuel pump relay and the ones in the engine bay since they look original and probably deserve to have a new one in position, but I suspect worth keeping the old ones rather than trashing.

 

[eriknetherlands]

Never thrash the old parts! Later on in your coupe life you might even master the art of fixing the originals, rather then settle for repro parts.

Things become scarce sometimes as origunals are thrown away.

 

[boonies]

I keep two duffel bags in the trunk, one for tools and supplies such as wire terminals, electrical tape, a few short lengths of muffler or bailing wire, and nuts and bolts, etc.
The second bag has a lot of spares, belts, fuel and water hoses and clamps, water pump, fuel tank pick-up, light switch....it's a full bag.

I did an 1,800 mile drive this year with the BMWCCCA 20th anniversary tour and never needed a part that was in the bag (I did use a couple of the tools), but they were there if I needed them or if someone else on the tour needed help.

 

[CSteve]

In my trunk for anything beyond a 20 mile radius: fuel pump, water pump, hoses, fuses, tools. Gaskets for all of course. On the parts shelf in the garagewhen I owned a coupe) a new heater blower motor. Bought that from a mechanic on Long Island who was retiring. Less than a year later my motor went. And certainly, keep those old working parts that you replace. They still work.

 

[Thomas76]

Good question.... Pondering what I see sell quickly when it comes up for sale ....
1. Anything that touches brake fluid seems to be tricky to source sometimes (master, booster, calipers)
2. Steering column parts seem to be gold (turn signal/wiper stalks, key/ignition parts)
3. Heater blower motor?
4. Windshield

 

[Markos]

I have about 20 steering wheels that I keep as spares just in case I encounter some type of cascading breakage scenario. No power steering, so better safe than sorry.

 

[bluecoupe30!]

Never thrash the old parts! Later on in your coupe life you might even master the art of fixing the originals, rather then settle for repro parts.

Things become scarce sometimes as origunals are thrown away.

Great point Erik. 25 years or so ago, the LS wiper arm flew off of my Coupe while driving along a boulevard in Vancouver. Not high speed, just something I have come to understand is sorta, umm, common. Managed to park and salvage wiper arm, but not before transit bus drove over it. Was an existential moment. Driver and I made eye contact as I rushed to retrieve, but he had right of way, and damage was done. I was able to reinstall arm, minus the "aerofoil" part. I have since discovered that these original wiper arms with the aerofoil are hard to come by. Then, just the other day, while looking for some other E9 part, I found the foil that I had considered too damaged to ever be used again.....I had saved it, just in case. I have since been able to hammer out the creases and am hopeful I can re-introduce this important piece to the E9 wiper arm and feel some sort of satisfaction about reattaching an original part back into operation. Never throw out those original parts.