Grill replaced

Last year I had an unfortuante meeting with an SUV parked in front of me on a dark street.  My car rolled gently into the back of the other vehicle after I engaged the clutch while fumbling to get the key in the ignition, resulting in a dented grill.

I made several attempts to buy another grill online but kept getting oubid on Ebay. I finally found one at a reasonable price through the ever-helpful FAQ forum.

Best of all, it's the 10-slat version, which would have been the type originally installed on my car.

New Motor Mount

A lot of people end up changing the entire front subframe to that of a 2002 when they discover that their old drivers side motor mount looks like this.

As my old mount sagged, it caused the engine to shift and sag with it. BMW doesn't make the old, poorly designed specimen anymore; I don't blame them.


 Fortunately Ireland Engineering did a run of urethane motor mounts. They still had a few of them in stock and so I was able to grab one. 

With the new mount there's a bit more engine noise and vibration when the car runs but the peace of mind is worth it.

A Dashing Panel

Many thanks to Daniel from the FAQer forum for sendng me this splendid under-dash panel! They have been NLA forever. Why and when mine was removed from the car is another great mystery.

Engine Bay Details

Some fresh improvements to the egnine bay. Here is the old, creatively messy look on the driver's side, complete with misplaced voltage regulator.

Now the boxes are correctly placed and the wires cloth-taped to factory specs, or close enough.

Also, a previous owner had left the wiper relay dangling in mid-air while festooned with red electrical tape.

Perhaps he or she couldn't afford long enough wires to seat it properly on its hook opposite the wiper fluid pump, further down the side of the compartment.

Once again, thanks to Midnight Motorsport for making it real.

NOS Door Light Switch

No matter how many times I cleaned the contact points of the old, unpleasantly oversprayed switch, it just didn't work consistently.

Here it is pulled out of the door frame, looking even more nasty.

Luckily there's there's a stand-up, great guy on ebay, whose handle is "pmauto". He sells all kinds of cool little trinkets for NKs. So this is my latest acquisition from him - four bucks and well worth the five-minute install.