body and interior Anyone succesfully do any early 02 grill repair?

[sort77]

Its been a VERY long journey with my car, I got it back in terrible condition after a "restoration" in late June and I've finally got everything working again but the heater fan. A new carb was tuned last week so I was able to finally take it out and enjoy a spirited drive for the first time in well over a year.

Sadly, on the way home I heard the distinctive PING! of some aluminum coming off at speed on The 5 somewhere around Arleta on Saturday. This is what I arrived home to discover. [insert sad face] 

 

I've owned this car for 12 years and I'd much prefer the zip ties I had before to the damage I got back which resulted in this. I feel like I've got a beauty queen with a black eye and missing some front teeth.

 

So I'm weighing my options.

 

• 1) I just heard getting a new one is going to run me about $900. Ouch! And if I get one side new I'll have to get the other. I've replaced most of the aluminum and considering the guy restoring my car mangled these I'm thinking I may just bite the bullet and treat myself to new. Anyone know of any cheaper sources?
• 2) Has anyone successfully repaired this sort of damage on theirs? Maybe a donor fin would work? I'd love to hear thoughts, experiences. Anyone have a donor fin for me? ha! I feel perhaps only welding would work at this point. :\
• 3) If all else fails I'll need a decent drivers side grill to replace these (Jan 72 car). If you have photos of ones you've got laying around feel free to shoot them my way.

[sort77]

And of course I ran across this right after I posted.
If anyone has tried welding I'd still like to hear if that worked out for you. I think there are some shops around here that MAY be able to do it but I'm  leery of all vendors right now.
 

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/forums/topic/144056-grille-repair/#comment-940848

Edited October 3, 2016 by sort77

[jmr_1602]

Rogerstii website have nice driver condition ones under $300. We'll, last time I checked earlier this year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kbmb02]

4 hours ago, sort77 said:

If anyone has tried welding I'd still like to hear if that worked out for you. I think there are some shops around here that MAY be able to do it but I'm  leery of all vendors right now.

 

I've got a guy who's successfully fabricated a slat and added it to the frame - so, yes, it can be done. -KB

[pehlivanov_tii]

You can fix it. It will take you time, but here is how you have to do it. This can be used with repairing another aluminium trim that is anodized like the front grills. I have contacted a galvanize shop to ask them if they can anodize my aluminium trim after polishing. They told me that i have to take the parts to them and they have to DEanodize them. If the aluminium detail was not deanodized and after that you anodize it for second time (it doesn't matter that you have sanded it and polished it) the finish will be on spots and matte. Somehow the anodizing changes the hole metal structure or something like that. So deanodize them, weld the missing piece, polish and anodize again. The thickness of the anodizing will affect on the finish. If it's more it will get matte. If it's less it will be shiny. 

 

You have to decide if it worth it. Because:

- You will waste time

- You can't be sure that you will chose the right anodize thickness which will give you the same finish as the original. (I guess that if you don't chose the right thickness you can deanodize again and try with another thickness until you get it?)

- If you do this your repaired grill will be 99,9% different from the other grills and you will have to do them to - deanodizing, polishing, anodize again.

 

Or you can wait for a bargain second hand good one and replace it.

[sort77]

4 hours ago, kbmb02 said:

 

I've got a guy who's successfully fabricated a slat and added it to the frame - so, yes, it can be done. -KB

Was this a vendor or an owner who got creative?
Looks like you're local to me. If it was a vendor and you've got the guys number feel free to pass it along. I'd be interested in talking to him. I believe that fin is supposed to be covered in a black slat anyhow so if I can get something that looked clean enough on the edges and then was pretty much skinned over it could work.

[TobyB]

Yup.  Not too hard.  Used JB weld. 

 

t

 

[JerryC]

Yes, like Toby, I used JB Weld to put a couple of slats back in. I roughened the aluminum on the back side and  added a length of screw thread (cut the head off first) to each joint to reinforce it. I figured the screw threads would give the epoxy something to grip on. I did this so long ago I don't remember how it has held up. It never came back apart for as long as I continued to drive the car afterward, but it's been sitting about 6 years now.

Edited October 4, 2016 by JerryC

[Driv3r]

I have this issue but my problem is the mounting tip that's broken off. I was going to buy a cheap propane torch and braze it but the guy that's re-coring my heater core said he can just weld it for me. So you might find a rad shop that could braze or weld this for you at the back of the grill so it wont be visible. Good luck.

[69NEWCLASSNH]

i had an old spare which I cut the slat out of, leaving some overlap  - then JB welded from the back.. you can't even tell

[echappe]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-e10-Left-Front-Grille-2002-Tii-1970-thru-1973-OEM-51131808473-Used-Good-/152263470321?hash=item23739c2cf1:g:994AAOSwOyJX8Pub&vxp=mtr

[g_force]

Don't underestimate the power of a good epoxy bond.  I've built bicycles and race cars where we bonded structural bits to good result.  The responses telling you to JB Weld it are spot on correct.

[vacca rabite]

This morning before I drove into work I noticed on one of the Facebook 2002 pages there was a guy selling a set of NOS grills.   He was asking for offers to be made on them.  If you are on Facebook, do a search and make an offer.  

 

Good luck!

Zach

Edited October 6, 2016 by vacca rabite