Bit The Bullet Today! Disassembly

[BMERDOC]

As much as I'm trying to keep my truck driveable right now I wanna make an attempt to make it nicer. There is sooo much to do so I figured I'd pick something and go for it. I figured I should do some exploratory surgery on the front clip to see where I stand. I thought I could repair the radiator support under the battery but its too far gone. I removed the inner fenders, front bumper, grill and hood. I'll let the pictures explain the rest.

[BMERDOC]

....

[msgross]

now it will never go back together... trust me!

[BMERDOC]

LOL! I know! But the good part is that none of this stuff is going back on. I left the fenders and radiator support intact on purpose.

[VA72C10]

Progress!!!

[CC69Rat]

Will the BMW 100k maintenance / warranty cover it ? Lol, .. I had an 07 335 E90 car about a year ago. Sport / Premium / Cold Weather / 6spd car. Dakota / Graphite.

I paid $1800 for extended warranty only to find out the 'Scheduled' and 'Recommended' mtce was a different thing. I will never own another one. The wife drives a Honda now. Lesson learned.

[michael bustamante]

How funny, I used to work at Sandia BMW here in New Mexico and the shop looks just like the one in your pic.
wheres the rest of your radiator support? lol

[BMERDOC]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

Will the BMW 100k maintenance / warranty cover it ? Lol, .. I had an 07 335 E90 car about a year ago. Sport / Premium / Cold Weather / 6spd car. Dakota / Graphite.

I paid $1800 for extended warranty only to find out the 'Scheduled' and 'Recommended' mtce was a different thing. I will never own another one. The wife drives a Honda now. Lesson learned.

I tried to call BMW to get it handled under the Rust and Corrosion policy but they told me I was crazy and hung up on me!!

Seriously I'm sorry you had a bad experience with your BMW and sad that it left such a bad taste in your mouth that you have lost interest in ownership. I wish there was something I could have done to help you in your experience, may be if you lived closer I could have put your situation in a better direction.

Say you wouldnt happen to have a Rad support in GC would you?

[BMERDOC]

Originally Posted by michael bustamante

How funny, I used to work at Sandia BMW here in New Mexico and the shop looks just like the one in your pic.
wheres the rest of your radiator support? lol

Yeah, I think the Klinker tile and in ground air over hydraulic lifts are mandated by BMW for their franchises. I think most of the support was in a pile in the cup!!

[CC69Rat]

This is the cleanest one I have ever seen. I bought it for my 68 from a guy out of Sevierville TN. $250, but it was worth it. GM support, west coast, never repaired, etc. Not for sale though but I can help you find one.

[shawno72]

ooh so pretty.

[CC69Rat]

BMERDOC -- Did you check with Jonathan?

[BMERDOC]

Jonathan is my Wally Mart for parts but he only has a brand new and its for him. I sent an email to 2manyprojects(?), Richard, but I havent heard back from him yet. Its only been a day so I'm not frettin' yet.

[VA72C10]

He's in Harrisonburg now...(2manyprojects) I do have a line on another one but it's got some rust...not as gone as yours so might be worth saving....

[michael bustamante]

I can get you a nice one here in town from a nm truck, real solid from a 70 longhorn big block,but shipping been a killer on these, ups to virgina is about 110.00
oh i also got a real nice inner fender from a 67, pm me if youre interested

[BMERDOC]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

He's in Harrisonburg now...(2manyprojects) I do have a line on another one but it's got some rust...not as gone as yours so might be worth saving....

Thats too bad! Last time I talked to him he was less than 5 minutes from my work! Did his job take him up there? How bad is the rust? As you can see some rust is better than what I have and I dont intend to use it permanantly.

Originally Posted by michael bustamante

I can get you a nice one here in town from a nm truck, real solid from a 70 longhorn big block,but shipping been a killer on these, ups to virgina is about 110.00
oh i also got a real nice inner fender from a 67, pm me if youre interested

I haven't taken the time to figure out the differences between the 67-68 support and the 69-72 so I don't know what will have to be done to make it work. Is that inner fender a right side?

[VA72C10]

I will have to look at it again...I bought it but haven't picked it up because it came with a 67 small window cab and a bed for patch panels and I need transport

I have some inners that aren't totally rusted out I'd sell cheap also...but they will need patching...

[BMERDOC]

So I installed my $50 grill for a fitment check. I have been working on it to get the dings out. It needed some more work but they were things that I needed to do while it was bolted in. I am shaving the Bow Tie and am considering deleting the inner trim pieces. I may use two upper trim pieces to keep them but delete the turn signals. I haven't figured out which I want to do yet. I noticed how low the hood release hangs down too, so I think Im gonna make some cuts on it to bend it up so that it is more hidden and then reinforce it. Until tomorrow!

[67cheby]

looking forward to the progress

[michael bustamante]

"I haven't taken the time to figure out the differences between the 67-68 support and the 69-72 so I don't know what will have to be done to make it work. Is that inner fender a right side?"[/QUOTE]


SURE IS.
if youre running a 67-68 front end youll have to use the 67-68 rad support and the hood latch assy. if youre running 69-72, the one i can get you will work just fine

[VA72C10]

what are your plans with the old grille?

[BMERDOC]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

what are your plans with the old grille?

The center bar was hammered! I cut it out to use for shaving the Bow Tie on the new grill. I'm in the middle of that job and will post pics when its welded in and ground down. Hopefully, that will be tomorrow night! I have saved the rest.

[BMERDOC]

So a small update. Although I had welder problems I was able to get the grill about 80% finished. After doing some practice runs on a piece of scrap to adjust speed and heat I started tacking the grill. For some reason it would either burn through or spit and sputter and it just never found where it wanted to be. When I welded up the rad support it performed flawlessly...go figure! I used my junk rad support to practice smoothing the pinches on top of the support.
I had even more problems with my pics. Anyway I only have the ones I text to my buddy so several are grainy. I'll grab some better ones tomorrow.

[VA72C10]

Looking good! Probably with the welder it was dealing with the thin metal vs the rad support is thicker...

Good talking to you on the phone. Looking forward to catching up more when you come over to get some of the parts. Really looking forward to actually seeing your truck in person some day

This is the only 67 bezel I have. It was the one with the speedwarning but it also had a throttle control so it has a 4th hole for that...while I was looking for those I ran across those side mirrors again...did you still want those? Let me know...I will probably take them to Charlotte if you don't want them.

Here's the bezel