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Repainted Hood
It took a week longer than I planned, and many more cans of paint, but I finally finished the hood. I still need to polish it, but it looks pretty good.
It’s Just a Chip
The hood on the BMW has one of the worst paint jobs I’ve ever seen. It’s like the history of paint. I think there’s at least 4 layers, the top coat being a very cheap, very thick respray one of the previous owners had done after something fell on the hood. The paint was burned in several places, and had about a dozen significant chunks missing. The entire leading edge was one chip after another. While washing the car on Saturday, the water pressure from the hose was enough to dislodge a big chunk of paint. When I first bought the car, I painted the larger chips in as best I could with touch up paint as seen in the photo above. After I finished the Aero Grille on the MINI, I thought I’d try to fill one of the holes.
It was fairly easy to clean out and fill. Once I got to sanding, I started to wet sand out some scratches.
Which of course lead to more grinding.
Which lead to more filling.
At some point you just have to stop or you’ll go nuts. I’ll never get the thing to look like new. And with a new hood running only about $300, it’s just not worth it to try. It can’t look worse than when I started so why not try to prime it up and paint it and see what happens.
I got the first coat of primer on last night. It still needs to be sanded and there are a couple of rough spots to work out, but it’s about 90 percent there.
Making it Blow Again
A common fault with older E30s is that the heater blower often only works on the highest setting. You should be happy that it works at all because it is much easier to repair/replace the resistor that controls the speed, than it is to replace the entire blower. This project isn’t very complicated. Give yourself about an hour to complete it. As usual, these instructions are provided for your entertainment only. Use at your own risk: No wagering.
You’ll need some electrical contact cleaner, 6mm and 9mm sockets, phillips screwdriver, and a varied assortment of socket extensions for this project. You may need to also replace some zip ties as well. If you’re an optimist, you can hope all you’ll need is to clean the resistor once you get to it. If you’re a pessimist, go ahead and buy the resistor before you start. You can get it at your BMW parts counter or from Bavarian Autosport.
First off, double check that your blower still works on the highest setting, then disconnect the battery.
The panel you’ll need to remove first is at the back of the engine compartment. Remove the gasket that runs along the top. You’ll have to remove 4 bolts to free up the panel. The top two are easily visible, but the lower two are hard to get to. If you have a strut bar like I do, you’ll want to remove the wire bundle that is attached to this panel so you have some room to maneuver. That involves removing two screws and possibly removing some zip ties.
Once the first panel is removed, you’ll see the blower in the middle. There are two white straps holding on the blower cover. You’ll need to carefully open these and remove the panel by sliding it down and pulling it out. Be careful not to break the cover or the tie straps. Now you’ll see the exposed blower.
At the bottom of the blower, in the middle is the resistor module. Yours will probably be brown and quite dirty. In the photo you see the new light blue replacement. Remove the module by gently pulling it from the arms that extend down. Pull directly toward you. With the module removed, clean the electrical contacts on the blower. Be careful not to drip contact cleaner down into the heater. (At this point, if you were to reconnect the power, your blower would still work on the highest setting. If you want to test that, be careful not to damage the exposed fins of the blower. Remember to disconnect the power when you are done.)
You can either attempt to clean and replace your existing module, or simply plug in the new one. I tried to clean mine first, but ended up buying a new one when that didn’t work. Make sure the model is seated and reconnect the power. Then test if it works.
Reverse your steps by first replacing the blower cover and reconnecting the tie straps. Be careful working the top of the cover in first, then slide down into place.
Replace the outer cover and put the gasket back in place. Replace your wire bundle if you moved it and replace any zip ties you cut.
Enjoy multi-speed ventilation again.
Weather Control Experiment #2
Original Post: January 16, 2007. In what’s becoming an annual act of meteorological defiance, I’ve washed and waxed my MINI. In January. What price will I pay? Check back on Groundhog day.
For those of you keeping track, yes that’s the fifth set of wheels you’ve seen on my car. Mark your scorecards: R85 “S-Lites”, which were sold for R82 “8-Spokes”, which were sold for R90 “Cross Spokes” (summer tires) which I still have, Kosei K1 Racing wheels (track tires) which I still have, and now R83 “5-Stars” with all-season run-flats that I use in the winter. Three sets of wheels — that’s not too much, is it? I’m thinking I’d like a fourth set: 15×7 Rotas with V710 Victoracers for autocross.
The runflat technology has actually come quite far in the last three years. My previous set was original equipment on the 17 inch S-Lites. They were Goodyear RS-As and rode like a stage coach. These new tires are Dunlops riding on 16 inch rims. The combination of a taller sidewall and advancement in rubber compounds have greatly enhanced the quality of the ride. They don’t come near the level of grip of my summer tires, but for every-day driving are more than adequate. They are still quite heavy at 43 pound for the tire and wheel combination as compared to 33 pound for my K1s. As an added benefit, I can leave my spare in the garage again.
Update: January 30, 2007: It took some fine-tuning, but I was finally able to appease the weather gods. It seems that washing and waxing one car is not enough to anger the gods, but wash all three cars and you get snow.
BMW Convertible Interior
The carpet replacement project proved a bit more complicated than I had anticipated. Once I got the seats out and pulled out the various console pieces, I pulled up the old carpet and found that the rear passenger-side footwell had started to rust.
Thank goodness for POR and fiberglass repair kits.
I was also amazed at the amout of junk under the consoles. I think the car was parked outside with the top up for quite a while at some point.
Before:
After:
