With yesterday's temperature close to 50°, Heidi not only made an appearance outside but did a lap around the house after her lunch. By the time she reached the carport it was time to go back inside as she was shivering. She had a surprise later though ... during a break from working in my car I took her outside so I could cut her toenails. I cut them back further than I ever had, until I saw a lot of quick instead of just a little. She was rewarded with some dog treats immediately after that.
I think I can call the car repair a success. Like I thought might happen, I had a few 'hiccups' along the way but I didn't think they would last as long as they did. If you don't mind I'll tell you about how the repair went mixed in with the photos from this mornings walk. These next two pictures were from yesterday after lunch ... it wasn't close to that warm this morning.
With tight spaces I decided to put the new grille in first. That would give me more room to work with it, plus the large lower left cover would close off all of my space to slide my hands up in there. Within minutes of starting my first 'hiccup' showed up and it took me almost an hour to get it fixed. The grille fit perfectly but the notorious problem is after years or previous repairs, the 16 small pins on the bumper are all gone so there is nothing to clip the bumper to the grille to make it stable.
The small holes you see on the bottom of the black grille go around the whole grille matching up with pins that are no longer there. They are very small pins, held on by speed nuts and a very poor design idea. So I had to stop, go inside and head for the Z4 forum where I could post my problem and get some help.
I have an idea I will do later when it's warmer this spring to bring up that lower bumper to cover the bottom of the grille and those holes.
Within minutes of posting my question on the forum I had my answer, use either epoxy (too cold) or 3M Trim Tape. I wasn't that enthused about driving 12 miles away to the local Autozone so I tried the NAPA store a mile a way and they had just what I needed. I cut small pieces of the 3M tape and was able to place them under these 4 extended slats connecting them to the top of the the bumper.
I was hoping and figured later on after screwing the belly pan cover to those three holes on the bottom of the grille would be the final touch of making the grille tight and stable, so when I am breaking the speed limit I don't have black plastic parts blowing out the back from under the car.
Yet with the grill installed it blocked off some space making it easy to slide in that large lower left cover. Luckily with some quick thinking and analyzing, I pushed a corner past the block and it slid into the position I needed to screw it into place. I need to get back under there today and take the label off.
The easiest part to install was the largest part with 9 different screws. Yet I am not moving fast on this job. By the time I got to this piece I was 4 hours into the job including the time it took for me to drive to town for the 3M tape. That 4 hours also included the time I took to cut Heidi's toenails. I wanted to take my time on this and get it right the first time without breaking any new plastic parts, losing screws or having the car fall on me ... even thought it's on ramps, rear tires chalked, in gear with the emergency brake on.
I have to admit as I slide under the car to screw in the 3 screws the farthest away, it did make me think about that car falling on me when I had only a few inches of space above my chest.
Of course there had to be another problem before I stopped. It was getting colder, it was getting close to 5pm and it was starting to get dark. My small LED camping flash light was a life saver to complete this job. I get to the last screw ... on the inside of the grille are slip on speed nuts. Everything has gone great the previous 8 screws but not the last one. The nut acts as if it is stripped, will not take my screw after many attempts and I don't have another speed nut that size. So I searched through my junk drawer inside and found a screw a little thicker and longer ... the nut accepted that one and I was able to finish the job.
The bottom of the car looks close to the ground but the interesting thing are the front wheels are up on ramps.
During this time I am working I have 3 parts ordered based on the insurance estimate, all BMW OEM parts that I cannot find where they go. I looked at every inch around the engine and frame but saw nothing where these parts slid into place and were bolted down. One part looked like it was inside my trunk and that area was later confirmed by the BMW dealer but nowhere to place the cover.
This air duct lower left is suppose to help air flow around the radiator. I called the BMW dealership this morning asking where this part went. Based on his service manual he told me it connected 'near' the radiator. I looked all over that area yesterday and saw nothing. Luckily last week I took pictures of that area with my iPhone so I can see again today there is nothing that shows me this part can be mounted anywhere.
He did say I would not need that part installed until the spring when it gets warmer, IF the part is missing. Nothing was damaged anywhere near the radiator and it's a good size space in that area. With the belly pan cover installed I cannot see into that area right now to double check it.
Weather Underground was telling me it was 25° when we started our walk ... the carport thermometer was showing 32° ... my face, hands and feet let like 5° by the time we finished our walk.
Stella took off again this morning. Sadie chased her down finally and did the 'herding' of her for me this morning.
Back to the car story ...
After I got all of the screws installed I stuck a couple of my fingers inside the holes of that grille and tried my hardest to get it to move in any way shape or form. It didn't budge. The 3M trim tape worked fantastic but I will find out after our high speed test run this afternoon.
My curiosity is always running full-time in my brain so I will probably not wait for 55° on Friday but later today, take off those three screws in front of the grille/pan cover and maybe two on the sides of the pan cover so I can look up into that space again to see where the two 'mystery' parts go.
The insurance adjuster did not crawl under the car during his inspection but held his new iPhone 8 under the car to take all of his photos. That makes me wonder how the two parts ended up on the estimate to replace if they were not damaged. If they are missing then my car should have overheated last summer in 90° temps.
Sadie was wondering if I was ever going to get started on the walk this morning.
There goes Stella ... on her own schedule.
Still something has Stella's interest and when she has this pose she is usually only seconds away of sprinting after something.
How far will she go?
In a panic I yelled her named and she stopped to look back at me.
Sadie saw what was happening and took off after her in a full out sprint.
As I make that first turn in our walk ... no Stella !!!
Called her name ... no Stella ... then I find her about 10' away from me in the woods and heavy brush.
At least she came out when I called her ... slowly.
By this time Sadie ran over to her, touched noses and decided she would escort Stella the rest of the walk.
By this time I am freezing ... my face feels like it's January.
Maybe Stella was feeling cold because she started walking on the path home and never deviated.
One last look to see what she hears off into the distance. Remember they can hear 4x better than the human ear. So it mystifies me when I say something and they ignore me. LOL
Sadie is going to inspect the yard all the way to the door, one inch at a time.
Looking back through some pre-work pictures I took last week, I am going to leave on the white labels just like they did on their original parts. The car turns 15 years old this January with a few miles over 67,000. I only drive it on good weather days but have been caught one time in an unexpected thunderstorm.
I am tempted to buy an online service manual for this car. They seem to ranged between $15-$19 with some sites wanting an annual renewal fee. Between that and help from other Z4 owners on the forums you can do quite a bit of any maintenance or repairs yourself. It is said that as long as you change the oil, this engine will last 200,000 miles or longer. With me driving only 1500 - 1700 miles per year it looks like I will not live to see the day it turns 200,000 miles.
Well it's 11:36am, it's cold even with he heat on and Sadie is giving me her stare telling me it's time for lunch even after eating breakfast 4 hours ago.
If I don't see you again until after the holidays ... have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
Freezing and sunny today in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.
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