Tii Airbox questions

[Glen Karr]

26 minutes ago, Conserv said:

Curious: what was the finish on your airbox’s strap clips when you bought the car?

Steve that was 48 years ago.  I stripped and painted the airbox once satin black.  My memories not good enough to remember what they originally were.  Maybe Carl has left his untouched.

 

Best,

Glen

[Conserv]

1 hour ago, Glen Karr said:

Steve that was 48 years ago.  I stripped and painted the airbox once satin black.  My memories not good enough to remember what they originally were.  Maybe Carl has left his untouched.

 

Best,

Glen

Thanks, Glen,

 

It’s hard to imagine, today, how utterly unimportant such details were to us in the 1970’s… 

 

I was a kid, and if my cool new ‘02 looked shiny, and started and ran well, that was 100% of the game! I had no idea my ‘76 had an E21 head, a #5 camshaft, or a 3.90 differential until well after I bought it!

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

[Einspritz]

My humble experience of working on them when new, is that BMW never painted Tii, standard air filter, nor any clips on 6 cylinder cars. They were solid clips or wire bales and either chromate plated or raw metal.

[SydneyTii]

1 hour ago, Conserv said:

even if it has “some needs”… 

Don’t they all?

[Conserv]

17 hours ago, Einspritz said:

My humble experience of working on them when new, is that BMW never painted Tii, standard air filter, nor any clips on 6 cylinder cars. They were solid clips or wire bales and either chromate plated or raw metal.

I respect your observations, Ted, and don’t doubt you saw what you recall. On the other hand, however: (1.) I’ve never found a used 1972-73 tii airbox without black-painted strap clips — and these were largely factory-paint airboxes in well-worn condition, and (2.) every period factory photo I’ve seen of 1972-73 model year airboxes — e.g., factory service manual, owner’s handbook, new-model-release photos, and road tests — shows black strap clips.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

[Steve Tochi]

Don't know how or why but I've accumulated a handful of early and late Tii air cleaners, all appear to be original condition meaning unpainted/unrestored, and the toggle latches (I believe that's the hardware store name for them) are painted black.  But appears the black did not adhere well any of them.  Perhaps this was because of normal use, or they simply painted over the plated latches without any prep. 

[MikeD]

This is a mystery.  I know my 74tii air-box straps were never painted black.  I talked to a friend who isn't on the FAQ and is an original owner and his 74tii straps were not paint black either.  I remember thinking back then that here I have a nice new car with a clean engine compartment and the straps on the airbox always looked like the were old dirty metal.  They didn't look good at all.   This is going to force me to dig into my box of pictures and hope I took a picture of my air box back in 1974.  

[Conserv]

2 hours ago, MikeD said:

This is a mystery.  I know my 74tii air-box straps were never painted black.  I talked to a friend who isn't on the FAQ and is an original owner and his 74tii straps were not paint black either.  I remember thinking back then that here I have a nice new car with a clean engine compartment and the straps on the airbox always looked like the were old dirty metal.  They didn't look good at all.   This is going to force me to dig into my box of pictures and hope I took a picture of my air box back in 1974.  

Thanks, Mike,

 

And perhaps, in 1974, BMW entirely or, mote likely, partially abandoned their practice of painting the clips black, since the black paint began to fall off almost immediately. (The black slats on 2002 grilles were painted black directly over anodized aluminum from November 1967 until approximately December 1969, when they stopped painting the grilles because “the black paint began to fall off almost immediately.”) Maybe they didn’t technically abandon the practice, but if the clips “didn’t get painted this week”, the show went on…

 

Interestingly, your description of “old dirty metal” matches Ted’s ( @Einspritz‘s) description above. Hmm…

 

So perhaps BMW began with the intention of making the clips attractive and abandoned it later, or… simply stopped fussing about it later, and installed some without painting them. Note that many examples I’ve seen have little left of the black paint (below). But I’ve not yet come across old examples without a touch of paint. And my focus is on 1972-73 airboxes.

 

What month was your tii manufactured?

 

All the period references I showed in my previous post — service manual, owner’s handbook, new-model-introduction photos, and road test photos — probably date from 1971 and 1972.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[bergie33]

My March 74 tii has the clips painted black, but as the start of this thread indicates, at least part of my airbox appears to be from an earlier car, since it is missing the indent in the front snorkel.

[Conserv]

2 hours ago, MikeD said:

… who isn't on the FAQ and is an original owner…

 

?

 

You’ve gotta step up your recruiting, Mike! ?

 

Did you tell him yet that we endlessly discuss details of little or no consequence? And who doesn’t love THAT? ??

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

[RussTii]

Looking over some old pictures I found  Tii engine # 2761368 with what appears to be a notched front snorkel. The paint and general wear and tear on the front snorkel matches the main body and rear snorkel which leads me to assume it's original to this engine as built. 

[MikeD]

3 hours ago, Conserv said:

What month was your tii manufactured?

Manufactured on July 16th, 1974

[Conserv]

52 minutes ago, MikeD said:

Manufactured on July 16th, 1974

Thank you, Mike,

 

So yours was manufactured well into the 1974 model year, although the 1974 tii’s model year did get extended from the usual August 31st to December 31st.

 

Okay, so… could you possibly find out when your friend’s tii was manufactured (we can get a month and year off RealOEM if we have the VIN)? Maybe the un-painted clips were a “it’s-late-in-the-production-run-and-no-one-gives-a-damn” detail… ?

 

Often, the simplest explanation is true!

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

[Charles in PA]

My 74tii was manufactured on May 9, 1974 (48th birthday is Monday and gifts are welcomed!).  I believe the airbox is original to the car as I have receipts going back to 1976 and see nothing in my files to suggest it was replaced.  It has an indentation in the snorkel and the strap clips appear to have been painted black though they now show the ravages of time. 

 

[MikeD]

8 minutes ago, Conserv said:

Maybe the un-painted clips were a “it’s-late-in-the-production-run-and-no-one-gives-a-damn” detail… ?

 

2 hours ago, Conserv said:

Did you tell him yet that we endlessly discuss details of little or no consequence? And who doesn’t love THAT?

I think the best answer is no one gives a damn. We have discussed some very petty and mindless things on here but this will stand out as the best and the worst part of this is that I would still like to know the answer