And so it starts, Maeve

[gwb72tii]

Finally looking closely in the engine bay and seeing more than a couple things that will go on the list, besides restoring the oem look of various bits and pieces.

Not sure why someone would just cut the bowden cable for the cruise control?


No wonder we froze heading north out of mid Oregon on our way home from Mesa! Not sure if the valve works bit it is accessible later for replacement if necessary, once the correct hoses are attached.


another example of what 30+ years in the AZ heat will do to rubber and foam.


I plan on leaving the chrome bumpers/window trim and other "bling" on the car, at least for now. Good news is the front bumper is straight and shiny and the rubber bumper strip appears to be in good shape. (those are JBL L55 floor standing speakers I bought in the summer of 1971 after a summer of shoveling wet fiberglass out of a20x20x15 foot pit at Owens Corning. They need restoring as well)

[wkohler]

The bright trim looks much better than shadowline in my opinion. If your stuff is in nice shape, I'd keep it that way. I am biased though despite buying everything I needed to shadowline my 528i. The more I look at shadowlined cars and then at my car, the more I like not having it.

The heater valve was bypassed, but not because of an issue with the valve. It's the core. That's a pretty sizeable job.

The hood foam looks like that on virtually all of these these days. You will be excited to see what the sound insulation under the dashboard looks like. Usually is pretty nice on "northern" cars.

[gwb72tii]

My next job is removing the front windshield to get at the dash. The dash will be removed and mailed to Just Dashes in Van Nuys for restoration. Expensive as can be but I'll get back essentially a brand new dash. And this is going to be my every day car so I want it to look right when I get in the car.

After mailing the dash away, the next job is to restore the heater box. I looked at a post on the restoration steps and I can tell you its a lot more work than my 2002tii heater box was. Oh well, it's one of those things you want to take care of when every thing has been taken apart. I plan on replacing the core with a new one as I don't want to be forced to do the job twice.

[gwb72tii]

The valance is an OE part as I don’t think they’ve been selling aftermarket copies of that. I prefer the other style of course. You can cut the openings out of the one you have as well but I’d recommend replacing it. There are lots of aftermarket ones floating around and they don’t fit well (some even here advertise them as though they’re real), so avoid those. They don’t fit the fender properly and have a crappy paint on them instead of a true e-coat like factory parts. Honestly that bracket design is the simplest thing you’re going to get compared to actually getting the front of the frame rails from a Euro car. Perhaps that Russian kid would do that for you but it is a lot of work to get to them. If you replace the valance you will have to make the same modification to use the brackets you already have, just do it more cleanly. Unless someone really looks at it, they’ll never know.

I'll have to think this through a bit before plunking down hard earned $ for a new valance. Most of what you can see in the photos will be hidden with the bumpers being installed and a new air dam being mounted. I'll just have to POR the areas that were cut to prevent rust from rearing its ugly head.

[wkohler]

You don't have to remove the glass to remove the dash. It does make that part slightly easier but if it's part of doing the whole job combined with painting the car, then that's no big deal. I'm personally not a Just Dashes fan after my experience with them but it will probably last a long time for you and with the prices that crack-free dashes command these days, it might make sense. While you have it all apart replace the AC blower, expansion valve and all of the o-rings in the AC box.

[Galahad]

I like the zipties holding the fuses in. Good job so far!

[gwb72tii]

All the glass is coming out prior to painting as one common area for rust is under the windshield gasket, at least on my tii it was.
And yes to the A/C recommendation.

It's pretty amazing that all the bright work on the car, the window trim etc is all in good shape. My tii's trim was scratched and a lot of it needed replacing when I restored it. And BMW doesn't give anything away.

Any other companies restoring dashes?

[wkohler]

I like the zipties holding the fuses in. Good job so far!

What do you think of the 16a and 25a fuses on fuses 5 and 6?

[gwb72tii]

I like the zipties holding the fuses in. Good job so far!

What do you think of the 16a and 25a fuses on fuses 5 and 6?

Sometimes its better to not look too closely when driving a new to me car up the coast!
I think If I had noticed everything I'm coming to see I might have had it shipped north. But then that's no fun.

[Galahad]

I like the zipties holding the fuses in. Good job so far!

What do you think of the 16a and 25a fuses on fuses 5 and 6?

That ain't right - good catch. Going to 16A is unlikely to cause an issue by itself but 25A is too much. Both are evidence of covering for some other problem.

[wkohler]

I've also seen just absent minded people put the wrong fuses in. Nothing on those circuits that draws a ton of power that someone should be compensating for. "My OBC is suddenly drawing a lot of amps. Needs more headroom."

[gwb72tii]

Can you tell me what the holes in the area just above the Taxi valance are for? The ones that have caps in them? Looking at cek's blog on the paint work he had done these were filled and painted.

Also, what is a "Taxi" valance?

[wkohler]

Base model valance, like how a taxi is a base model car. Has no openings in the valance on top or in the middle or the two oil cooler openings at the bottom. The holes with the plugs are for the US bumper surround trim. They have to be filled. Make sure you pull the headlight wiring harness out from behind there before welding or you’ll blow holes in the harness.

[gwb72tii]

Thank you. Looking at google explanations I don't think I have any need to replace the valance, it just needs to be installed better. I'm not convinced I need A/C up here so the extra holes probably don't matter.

I'm also guessing that whether it's taxi model or the A/C model of valance it doesn't affect the value of the car.

[wkohler]

I think it looks terrible especially given the stampings are there and would think a lot less of a conversion done using one especially since they’re the same price.

It’s not like the one on the car is trash and needs to be thrown out. Someone will buy that and pay plenty for it. Converting the car is not rocket science. It’s been done many times. I did my first one in ‘08 and it was done many times before I did. We were blessed with better parts availability then, but there are ways to get everything you need and in the grand scheme of what a project like this costs are not that expensive but make for a better result.

But that’s just, like my opinion, man. In the end it’s your car and do what you’re happy with but I’m always going to give you what I think is the right answer to the question.

[gwb72tii]

Some progress to report. I removed both the front and rear windshields today.
As you might suspect, its much easier if you know you're going to replace the windshield gasket.
And the good news is there is no rust in the corners under the gasket, a typical spot if you're going to find some. Does it ever rain in Phoenix?
I'm also thinking we should have a "whose dash is more cracked" contest maybe.....



Here's a picture of the rear windshield area, no rust! PO tried to repair the rear speakers.


And I've been fighting this all week, SNOW! Unusual in that it has remained since Sunday and temps have been cold.
I don't know how all you people in the upper midwest work on cars in the winter. I have a garage heater that I'll be hanging in the garage in a few weeks.

[gwb72tii]

I like the zipties holding the fuses in. Good job so far!

they are special e28 fuse box zipties

NLA as I understand.

[Mdreamer]

I'm also thinking we should have a "whose dash is more cracked" contest maybe.....

I agree!

I'm going to have my front and rear windows taken out soon too. I can only envy the lack of rust on your car.

[SeattleGuy]

I'm also thinking we should have a "whose dash is more cracked" contest maybe.....

I agree!

I'm going to have my front and rear windows taken out soon too. I can only envy the lack of rust on your car.

I'm so lucky... of course I have the usual middle crack which is pretty bad below 30f with just a couple others holding steady for the past 4 years.... and my car has virtually no rust. Just little surface stuff under the side body trim and stuff. For some reason the driver's side trim blew partially off so I just took the whole thing off. But still, you're in good shape here as you can do this stuff yourself and have all the tools for the most part rock on!

[gwb72tii]

some progress to report.

boxed up my dash and it's off to Van Nuys for JustDashes to restore. They are 4 months out so maybe I'll get it back the end of April/mid May. That schedule works as my current daily goes off lease July 9. My car goes to the body shop for some body work and painting at the end of February, so maybe getting it back mid March. Should be plenty of time to get the car put back together before July.


I finally read and re-read how to remove the AC box. It's not hard unless you've never removed one before, then it takes time. Once I removed the dash, this is what I could see:


After I removed this vent on both sides of the box, access to the screws that secure the box were easy.


Then removing the 10mm nut on the middle front of the box securing the box to the tranny tunnel and it was ready to come out

These two flaps were inside the AC box when I removed it. Not sure where they go but it should be obvious at some point. All the foam turns to dust if you touch it.


I used my handy 12v power source to test the fan motor.


I found what I think is the drain tube broken and held to the bottom of the box by a foam ring. luckily it looks easy to zip grip back together.


tomorrow is remove the heater box day. Luckily the rain we've been having up here in the Pacific Northwest has gone away for the next week or so. That lets me push the car outside of my garage to work on. Amazing how natural light is so much better than hand held work lights.

[Mike W.]

Those flaps are a big deal, they live in that piece that connects the A/C and heater boxes, are neatly counterbalanced and direct airflow or block it. A neat design with the counterbalance, but the hinges are overly fragile, just a little tiny pin at either end IIRC. They are how you can get fresh air or A/C out of the same vents. Not shown separately, but laying horizontially in the Realoem image. https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpa ... Id=64_0494

On the A/C drain, you need to glue that on, not zip tie it on. A significant amount of water can drain thru there and you want it under the car, not under the carpeting.

[gwb72tii]

more progress to report.

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking of things I need to do, and realized I need to get my car apart far enough so when it's time to trailer to the body shop at the end of February it will be ready. I am out of the country for 2 weeks in mid March so I won't have any fudge room.

So today:
took off the rear tail lights, and no rust! I keep expecting to find rust. I was hoping perhaps the seals would be re-usable but no luck. Just like everything else that's rubber or plastic on this AZ car they are dried out and need replacing.



finally took out all of the carpet panels in the trunk, and no rust, even in the spare tire well. The spare is a TRX tire and is dried out. No way it could actually be used as a spare.



I took off part of the dried out trunk seal, expecting to find rust, and didn't until the final corner. Not too bad and the body shop should be able to fix it without any problem.


ugh, rust!


Moving to the front, the euro headlights need to be refurbished. The Hella lamps will be replaced with either newer Hella's or Koito's.


I am continually surprised that the car has all original panels. For as old as this car is and as hard as it was apparently driven, the panels are surprisingly straight.



And here is something someone may want, the OEM amplifier. If you want it, PM me and its free if you pay shipping.


I'm hoping some of you can tell me what the two extra radiators are for? I'm guessing one is AC related and the other an oil cooler?


And then I found this. Can any tell me if it has any kind of value?


That's it for today. Football tomorrow, GO 49ers!

[John in VA]

Any rust around the license plate lights?
The first aid kit is from a much later model - check eBay, maybe $30.

[Mike W.]

Looks like an A/C condenser in front of the aux fan along with the original condenser between the fan and the radiator. Never seen anything like that, are there hoses going to it?

[gwb72tii]

Any rust around the license plate lights?
The first aid kit is from a much later model - check eBay, maybe $30.

I would call this minor surface rust based on what I've seen from other posts



and years of built up dust. Have you ever spent time on Phoenix/Tuscon and experienced the occasional dust storms?