The clutch release bearing on our BMW Bavaria started grinding about a month ago, so it was time to take the transmission out and replace the bearing.
I bought the bearing a while ago, before I started taking everything apart. I held off getting a new disk and pressure plate so I could check the thickness of the friction material on the clutch disk. It was 8.5mm, while the minimum thickness (for the outboard release lever) is 7.8mm. I ordered a new clutch disk (21 21 1 223 125) anyway and pressure plate (21 21 1 202 052).
I bought some “Chrome” surface mount LED modules from Oznium.com to see how they’d work as replacements for automotive Festoon light bulbs (the ones with the pointy ends). The modules are about 2.3″ (60 mm) long with an adhesive strip on the back. The “chrome” is plastic.
Oznium actually sells some LED Dome Light replacements that are 5×5 LED arrays that include common bases with the LED array.
I thought that these modules would fit inside the BMW Bavaria trunk light housing that uses a 8.5 x 37.4 mm Festoon bulb.
The photograph showing the trunk is a little misleading – it’s actually about 4 times brighter than the bulb with the filament – you’d have to strain to read by the light.
The Interstate MT-47 battery in the Bavaria decided it didn’t want to hold a charge anymore. The specific gravity of each cell was reading < 1.1. I spent an hour looking for the receipt and couldn’t find it. The battery has a 75 month warranty but I was just going to buy a new one.
Luckily, the Interstate delivery guy was at the garage when I went to pick up the battery, and he read the date code off the side of the battery which was January 2003. The dealers have a chart for pro-rating the warranty and it came out to $1.52 per month – the new battery cost me $72.96, instead of $109.
In the mean time, I had ordered a Schumacher SSC-1000A Battery Charger from Amazon for $34. It seemed like a good deal. The charger gives a percentage value of full charge and voltage when the terminals are first connected and then can charge at 2, 6 or 10 amps. There was also switching for regular Lead acid batteries, deep cycle and gel cell batteries.
While trying to adjust the positive cable from the car to the battery (ironically, so I could fit the orange positive terminal cover), I didn’t notice that the ground cable had fallen onto the negative terminal on the battery. The result was a big spark, a hole blown in the cover of a relay box and a melted socket wrench extension.
BMW E3 Heater/Blower in the engine compartment of a 1972 BMW Bavaria
The heater blower in our 1972 BMW Bavaria suddenly decided to stop working. This car doesn’t have air conditioning, so I don’t know if the setup is different on an AC equipped car. It does seem to be the same on non-AC E9 coupes.
I dreaded having to repair it, because I thought I’d have to take the console apart to get to it.
BMW E3 Heater/Blower assembly
It turned out that the blower is easily accessible, mounted under a flap just in front of the windshield in the engine compartment. Removing the flap gives access to the blower, held in by just 3 screws. The protective grid over the fan is held in by friction – the edge of the grid goes into a groove in the bracket that holds the fan.
BMW E3 Heater/Blower motor
I asked the Senior Six mailing list about alternative replacement motors but I found one on eBay that looked like an exact replacement, except for the mounting bracket.
The cutout for the motor on each bracket was exactly the same shape, though the case of the motor itself was different between the original and the replacement. That didn’t make any difference – the new motor and fan fit onto the old bracket, held by four clips. Bosch, the manufacturer of the motor, even went so far as to balance the fan. On the new fan, you can see wire clips on some of the fan blades.
BMW E3 Heater/Blower mounting bracket
The eBay seller advertised the blower as a VW NOS heater fan with the p/n 90157132032. Usually when I enter something like that in Google, I get a hit – this time, no deal.
The box the replacement fan came in shows a VW/Porsche number. Maybe a professional can figure it out.
Shortly after the Bavaria came back from the paint shop, the hood ornament – the Roundel – in BMW speak, broke off. I get the feeling they used the wrong size grommets.
I called up Jim Stansfield at Mesa Performance and was surpised that the new roundel that he sent me was the not the plastic one that had broken off, but a metal cloisonne style one.
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