Working on our Cars

In my "spare" time I like to (have to!) work on our 1991 BMW 7351 (208K+ miles) and our 1990 VW Fox Wagon (215K+ miles). I had to remove the BMW dash once in 2001 to repair a broken bracket on an HVAC stepper motor. The bracket is molded part of a larger housing that would have cost thousands of dollars to replace. Because I didn't like hot air from the air conditioning in the summer, I bit the bullet and attempted the repair myself.

Click on the following images for larger versions.

The repair was a success, but unfortunately it broke again in May of 2004. It broke just beyond my 2001 bracket. So once again I took the plunge and tried another repair, this time fashioning a bracket that wraps all the way around the existing bracket. Compare the lower right image above with the one below. Here are a few more images.

Ahhhh to have the wonderful BMW air conditioning back again!

In June of 2005 yet another (different) part broke. This time it was the main "flap" system in the plenum on the passenger side. I had to do it all over again.... I lucked out because once I removed the chips of broken plastic, the broken part seemed to function just fine. I added a custom bracket to keep it from popping out, just in case. Check out the photos here.