The front of an E9

[nico13]

There are 2 types of noses for the E9 one with equile openings in the front and one with smaller openings ad the outside.
Please can you help and inform me what is what?

Regards,
Nico

 

[HB Chris]

Never noticed that before. My US 73 has the shorter opening at the outside. According to the parts book, this part changed for the US Model 74 but it doesn’t say how. Also, the CSL and CSiL each had a different part number, another mystery waiting to be solved.

Are the tabs for mounting the headlight grilles also in a different spot on the top?

 

[Rob F]

Hi, Not sure of the difference, but would you be willing to sell one of them ? if so please PM me.
regards
Rob

 

[Markos]

Interesting! I’ll need to geek out on this later.

If I had to guess, I would riff off of Chris’s comments about the 1974 models possibly having the shorter version. Even though the euro cars got the standard bumper, perhaps they used the new piece with extra space to account the US bumper shocks. The US 74’s have a huge square hole in that area.

 

[autokunst]

What an interesting find. My April '73 US has the larger slots on the outside (same size all the way across) like the white clip in your pics. Based on @HB Chris comment, perhaps this changed mid way through 1973??? I think his VIN is about 900 later than mine.

 

[HB Chris]

Interesting, mine is May 1973 so who knows.

 

[Keshav]

9-10 Csil’s (BATs and citypacks) have the shorter external slots where as the carb Csl’s have equally long slots, per my pics. There are few exceptions as always. Whether this is Csl related or production years for all E9’s, oriented, I can’t say. Pure speculation on my part.
A few pics.....

 

[w. chen]

Mine is a 74 n has the shorter slats on the outside. With the bigger bumpers, it would cover half of the longer slats. N It still does cover part of the shorter slats. I suspect that the factory decided to narrow it with the us 74 models and changed for all the ongoing models. So maybe a pre 74 with shorter slats mean the nose was replaced ( due rust or accident? ).

 

[rsporsche]

another interesting tidbit about our coupes ... thanks for sharing this everyone. i have headlight grilles from several different coupes (3 or 4), i will have to look if any of them have different top mounting points.

 

[Gary Knox]

My '74 has the smaller slots on the outside. BUT then again, perhaps a new/different valence piece was installed during the restoration, as the bumpers are European/pre-73 installations.

Gary

 

[dave v. in nc]

Its almost embarrassing to admit how long it took me to figure out what was being discussed...finally got it. I have a snout/clip from a 70, a couple of 72's, and a 74...we'll see tomorrow.

 

[Markos]

Its almost embarrassing to admit how long it took me to figure out what was being discussed...finally got it. I have a snout/clip from a 70, a couple of 72's, and a 74...we'll see tomorrow.

cough...hoarder...cough

My spare is a ‘73 model year built in ‘72. Euro spec.

 

[Markos]

Oh crap this just got interesting. My ‘71 nose has the short ends. My car was hit in the rear. Perhaps the nose was replaced also.

 

[Markos]

I’ve been reviewing pics of CSL (because it’s easier to see this area). They are all over the map. Now I could
see this part needing replacement due to being exposed on a CSL. There are some pretty high profile early cars with the small outer slat. Also as @Keshav mentioned many of the CSL’s (at least half) seem to have the small slat. I can’t make heads or tails of
this one but I find it quite fascinating.

 

[Gransin]

Oh crap this just got interesting. My ‘71 nose has the short ends. My car was hit in the rear. Perhaps the nose was replaced also.

My '71 had the long ones:


The W&N replacement panel has the shorter ones:

 

[climbernyc]

My original 73 has long slots

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Markos]

The blue books only add to the confusion:

 

[afishe]

my contribution...

UK new RHD 73 CSL - narrow

NZ new RHD 73 CSA - wide

 

[nico13]

Hi all,
An exact date is not known, what I know is that around mid/end 1973 the change to the narrow happend by BMW. This means that replacements where also small.

Best regards,
Nico

 

[Bert-Ola]

My 3.0CS. Type Code: 3431 Prod. 08/1972 have the smaller outer holes.