Headliner

I replaced the headliner over the last few weeks. It's not without its flaws, but it sure beat paying someone to do it.

I used a few cable mounting tabs to secure the bows, so that they wouldn't rotate and subsequently sag the headliner. See full installation notes HERE.

I also used this great roller lockstrip tool to reinstall the windshield seals (with Dudley's help).

That's clear silicone caulk oozing out of the seal. We used it to make sure that the seals remain watertight.

Rearview Mirror

The early 1600s came with an elegant, chrome, slide-in rearview mirror. In 1968, BMW switched to a breakaway style mirror that domestic and international safety standards suggested would be less likley to lodge itself in a passenger's forehead during a crash. So, throwing reflective vehicular caution to the wind, I decided to clean up the original mirror for the 1600.

With quite a bit of filing, sanding and buffing, the mirror stalk looks a lot better than it did when I unearthed it from the parts stash.

The original mirror part was degraded beyond repair, so I used a mirror from a[n] 7 Series E21, which got a little touch-up paint. You can see the size difference between the new and old.

The headliner will cover the black plastic receiver.

EDIT: As it turns out, this is an E21 mirror. I found my 7-Series mirror, which is substantially larger, then I immediately and clumsily dropped it, breaking the mirror.

Garage!

Finally, I have a garage of my own. My wife and I just closed on a house that happens to have a 2 1/2 car garage. Not only is this the first garage that I have ever had to myself, it's also the largest one in which I've been able to work on the car, if I don't count the airplane hanger that a friend let me borrow for a few days a few years back.

This is going to be fun.

Took a Drive

My fiancée, Dana, and I took the relatively short drive to see the Civil War battlefield site, Antietam. Most of the trip was on the highway, but we did get to see a few twisty roads. I did the other tourists a favor by keeping it off the floor through the park.

Roof Rack Redo

The roof rack that I built from used wood and some cheap brackets was starting to look a little worn. Aside from sitting a few inches too high for most tastes, the indoor-use polyurethane coating that the wood came with wasn't holding up to the wind and rain. So, I disassembled it.

After replacing two of the slats with spares, I sanded and coated the wood with Helmsman Spar Urethane to keep the UV rays at bay.

I didn't sand all the way down to remove all of the weathering. I suppose I'm trying to keep in the well-worn patina theme in which the 1600 comfortably sits.

I also came up with a hardware solution to drop the roof rack a few inches that required griding down the aluminum brackets.

So, after several coats with sanding in between, it all went back together.

Also, I replaced the set screw (bolt) in the shifter with a small, headless set screw.

Now all I need to do is install air conditioning and build a console so I can tidy up all of those wires!

Temperature Stabilized

I think that I finally have the temperature stabilized where I want it.

After installing a lower temperature thermostat (I can't remember the opening temperature) and manually turning the electric fan on and off, I have the temp gauge needle in the safe zone. I just need to wire up the temperature switch on the radiator. I'll still keep a manual switch on the dash, but the radiator temperature switch should work just fine.

I still need to modify the cluster for an input button for the electronic speedometer.

Teething Issues

After limping home, I continued the attacking the problem of overheating. With the stock 2002 temperature sender and gauge, the reading looks like this:

While there might be an electrical issue that makes the reading a tiny bit higher than it should be, the M42 just runs hotter than the M10. Also, the sender on the M10 is in the water neck, while the M42 has the sender in the head. 

I borrowed an infrared thermometer and checked the hose temperatures after driving around with the fan on. The results are as follows:

Temperature of top radiator hose: 185F (85C) 

Temperature of bottom radiator hose: 132F (55.6C) 

IR gun pointing at the temp sender up under the intake: 183F (83.9C)

Looks good to me. I might buy a new sender, just to see if that changes anything, but it seems to be happy at the moment. I'm also going to try out a new thermostat with a lower temperature setting.