Now Sending

A long time ago I ordered a new fuel sending unit for the car. In spite of my most valiant attempts I could not get the fuel gauge to stop bouncing. I tried everything I could think of, renewing the grounds in the engine compartment and on the car body in the trunk. The gauge still moved around but at least now I could see a causation. When perfectly still it read steady; when I drove downhill it bounced more full and similarly, when I drove uphill, it would bounce toward empty. The theory I had was that the sender must be compromised. But acquiring a new unit proved difficult. It had to come from Germany and the first one I received had the correct part number on the box (62168782014), but inside was a late 2002 unit. These have no provision for the low fuel light, which was replaced in the '02 by a brake failure indicator. So back to Germany with that first attempt. I received a store credit and despaired. But finally the Germans sent another box and surprise! The correct one. Installation only took fifteen minutes or so, along with a new gasket.

The old unit was relegated to the attic where it now rests with a bunch of other junked parts of uncertain worthiness.

Later I filled the car with petrol. On the way to the station the gauge held steady as a rock. I also discovered that the gauge only now reads completely full - the needle formerly stopped short of the top.

More Rubber Stops

The small, adjustable rubber stops that screw into either side of the front fender help the hood remain firmly in place when closed. I'd gotten tired of looking at the old ones, crunched and oversprayed. So I bought a couple of these on ebay.

Even though the part number shows that they fit my car, they do not, as the original ones, which must be NLA, had a single raised edge on top, while these have a round surface. If you install them and close the hood, the edge of the hood rests on them and therefore does not properly seal. So I cut the tops in half with an Exacto knife, and the new rubber stops function perfectly, their height precisely the same. Below is a pic of one of the new stops installed, with the old mangled version beside it.

Not quite stock but close enough for my sometimes undiscriminating taste.

UPDATE Februaray 2015

Thanks to a kind soul from Yorkshire, who lives near my old haunt of Scapegoat Hill, I now have original, stock buffers. Funny how the past never really goes away.

A 1970 NK 2000 from the '80s

From the Age of Disco comes this great shot of a 2000, taken in the PNW. A former owner was kind enough to send this to me. Beautiful car whose original color was Florida, I am told.

The most annoying thing that ever happened to the PO was breaking the key in the ignition. Worse things can happen...

Bonnet Bumps

The rubber bump-stops at the rear of the hood frame were covered in numerous coats of craked and ugly overspray. I decided to remove the pieces from the car and clean them up with some low-impact, rubber-friendly paint stripper, after forgetting to take a pic of the the situation. The good news is, they cleaned up
nicely if not perfectly.



 I wonder if the bump stops were originally painted at the factory - there remained a coat of gray (Tampico?) on the underside of the beige respray.

Painted Black

For obscure reasons the paint on the gas pedal arm had worn off. Perhaps a Bigfoot used to own the car.

I crawled under the dash with a really small brush and an equally small amount of paint - the thought of spilling the stuff on my floor mats was enough to make me cringe - and redid the paint.

Not quite good as new, but better than before. I don't actually know if the pedals were painted black at the factory or by a PO, but it's useful to have them all look the same.

Ground Strap to the Hood

Since I'd been thinking about ground straps, it was time for the strap from the body to the hood to go.

Problem was, the hinge bolts on the hood were rusted in place, including the one that held the strap. It took quite a bit of careful tapping and generous amounts of WD40 to loosen the fastener. The next question was, what would happen if I removed the bolt completely? The PO who installed the old ground strap had used an open-ended strap, in order to place it on the bolt head without first removing the bolt. But I took a chance, or not, and the cage nut in back of the bolt stayed in place. I installed the new strap and painted around the hinge where I'd sanded the black paint away to insure proper contact.

New Gas Line

While researching possible causes of my fuel delivery issue, I read that the old BMW cloth-covered lines are porous and can start to suck air when they age. All the lines in my car are relatively new, with the exception of the hose from the fuel tank to the hard line under the rear firewall. The old hose looked pretty bad once removed from the trunk of the car (after I disconnected the battery - better safe than sorry).

I replaced it with a $4 piece of hose from NAPA.

I swear the car starts faster and feels like the fuel pump is working more efficiently but perhaps I'm imagining the extent of the benefit. The true test will come when the fuel level drops below half a tank. We'll see if we "run out of gas" again.