tires and wheels The mysteries of my 1600....

[arminyack]

So I recently acquired my first BMW.....a 1968 1600 ( I posted about it a couple of weeks back....yeah, I'm new). Two things about the car I am trying to investigate!

 

First....my gauge cluster....where did these come from? The bezels look like they are from something else. The speedo read about 10 mph too high ( and I am on 13" wheels), and the tach doesn't work. The original silver dollar unit came in a box of parts when I bought the car....no tach though, just a clock. 

 

Secondly....my grill. One side is different from the other. I am guessing my driver side is early, and passenger is late; but here are the pics....first, the drivers side. You can see when measured from the top of the reflector as a reference, its about 2.125".

 

Now the passenger side, when measured from the same reflector reference, is ~1.375". You can see the headlamp housing sticks way out.

 

A frontal shot.....

 

 

Ideas, anyone?

 

TIA!

[jimk]

Not known where the bezels came from

Diff was changed and the speedo was not changed is why it reads high.

Passengers grill is from a 73, drivers side is 72 or earlier.

[2joejoe2]

Maybe just the speedo was changed to an o2 unit.....I thought 1602s had shorter gears in the diff

[roadhog0]

Speedo was definitely changed because thats for a 72-74 (I think) since its the later style but not the really late style with cross hairs.

[adawil2002]

The bezels on the cluster are from silver dollar gauge cluster, the inner part of the bezel should be black. The guages in your cluster are from a '72-'73 '02'

 

Tach may not be plugged in from the back, there is a black female connector that is part of the wiring harness that attackhes to the coil. It connects to the center male connector on the back of the tach.

 

There are deep and shallow grills, you need a deep grill for your passenger side.

[ray_]

1600s came with 4.10 diffs. 2002s came with 3.64s. Your speedo is most likely a later 2002 unit (later than the silver dollar era anyway). Your speedo back should read W=1.4 (a 4.10 speedo)

 

All of your grilles are likely incorrect; 1600 grilles do not have black slats. I believe your car should have the shallow deep grills; you can do a search um, or I can:

 

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/topic/114763-grill-depth-clarification/?hl=%2B1600+%2Bshallow+%2Bgrills

 

Silver dollar tachs come up for sale on occasion. I have a NOS one which is not for sale

 

You can post a wtb. Also check with North Holly Speedometer or Palo Alto Speedometer and there's a Costa Mesa speedo place, all of which may have one. Or not. As well as other various vendors in the SoCal vintage BMW community...
 

Cheers,

Edited December 25, 2014 by ray_

[OriginalOwner]

I am jealous of that black & yellow license plate !!!!!

 

Cheers,

 

Carl

[jimk]

Your speedo back should read W=1.4 (a 4.10 speedo)

Ray,

I thiink the 1.4 means 1400 revolutions of the speedo cable per mile (which you probably know), that gives 3500 rpm in 4th gear at 60mph.

[ray_]

Ray,

I thiink the 1.4 means 1400 revolutions of the speedo cable per mile (which you probably know), that gives 3500 rpm in 4th gear at 60mph.

 

Hmm, that I did not know. You are more investigative than me!

 

I do know that at 52' 9.5" I had 15.125 revolutions of the speedo cable

 

...Which is what NH Speedo used to calibrate it!

 

Merry Christmas Jim and all!

[Conserv]

I am jealous of that black & yellow license plate !!!!!

 

Cheers,

 

Carl

+1

Very cool!

Congratulations,

Steve

[jimk]

0 0 0 5,310 posts LocationMOBILE?? Social Groups:Florida, Mid-Atlantic Posted Yesterday, 07:57 PM jimk, on 24 Dec 2014 - 7:49 PM, said: Ray, I thiink the 1.4 means 1400 revolutions of the speedo cable per mile (which you probably know), that gives 3500 rpm in 4th gear at 60mph. Hmm, that I did not know

 

It can be arrived at by dividing the number of stock wheel turns / mile x dif gear ratio = ds turn / mile.

D.S. turns / mile divided by 2.5 (the trans tail shaft to speedo cable ratio) = speedo cable turns / mile = the number on the speedo.

[Mike Self]

If your right hand grille has the black slats blacked out with paint, you can strip the paint off and have a 1600 grille; even if it has the black anodized slats that are glued onto the grille, you can use a heat gun to soften the glue and remove 'em.  Then you'll have a silver 1600 grille.  

 

The right side grille as was pointed out is from a late 72 or 73 car; you have sharp eyes to catch that.  I'm sure you can find someone with a 72 or 73 that has a deep grille who's willing to swap with you; if you don't, drop me an e-mail as I'll be glad to swap you one of my spare early grilles for your later one; it would be nice to have a spare.

 

cheers

mike

[Conserv]

If your right hand grille has the black slats blacked out with paint, you can strip the paint off and have a 1600 grille; even if it has the black anodized slats that are glued onto the grille, you can use a heat gun to soften the glue and remove 'em. Then you'll have a silver 1600 grille.

+1

Thus, only the center grilles -- which appear to have black anodized vertical slats, not removable covers -- will resist a fairly easy return to 1600-ness! (I don't know whether some early 2002 center grilles might have been painted like the early side grilles.)

Regards,

Steve

Edited December 26, 2014 by Conserv

[ray_]

I don't remember if BMW started having the 1600 center grills produced again, but Linwar motors had some NOS ones a couple years ago. Not sure if still shown on their website now...

 

http://www.linwar.com/

 

Cheers,

[Mike Self]

Steve, I have a very original '69 that I bought new, and the slats on the center grille are black anodized.  They were on the '68s also.  

 

If you can't find a 1600 center grille with sliver slats, the slats are removeable without a lot of work; then you can use some fine wet sandpaper to remove the black anodizing, polish 'em up, clearcoat the now raw aluminum so it won't corrode and then reinstall 'em with a little glue so they won't rattle (note how they were originally installed).  You'll then have a silver 1600 grille.

 

cheers

mike