Question for the purist Shift boot and hood insulation

[Mike Self]

Original rectangular shift boots had a dullish, smooth finish. These boots were used on the long-sided consoles that began with the "Modell 71" cars in mid-1971 all the way through the end of 02 production. Years ago shiny pleated vinyl shift boots were offered by several parts vendors when the original boots were NLA from BMW. Smooth vinyl or leather shift boots are all aftermarket.

Earlier cars with short consoles had round shift boots that clipped onto a metal lip that was welded to the tunnel housing.

Original shift knobs were pebble grained semi-flexible rubber. However, leather and all wood knobs were available from the dealer and are "correct."

As for the foam--my original foam is long gone, but I do remember that the piece on one side was not as wide as the other side, and the center one was not placed in line with the two on the sides. Someone has to have a picture of original foam, either on a survivor car or from a catalog.

cheers

mike

[KFunk]

i think mine has original foam... but its a 74 non-tii, so i dunno if it can compare:

ignore the non-concours quality.. i'm sure glad i prefer racing over restoring!

[BillWilliams]

That is the problem in judging our cars on preservation or strict originality.

Dependable documentation is difficult to come by therefore the restorer does not have a yardstick to go by so we depend on our collective wisdom, opinions and observations. Maybe this message board will help improve that collective knowledge improve and endure.

As I said, the boot is being corrected and the hood insulation placement still remains one of 2002 mysteries.

Kevin, if yours is correct, it appears mine is placed like yours. Any other original photos are appreciated. Maybe Ben can find the one he was looking for. Where are the McGinn boys to chim in?

[stone02]

Hi,

well i do agree about the shift boot.

but i am sure that you have the insulation

on correctly. there are more than two

shots of the under side of the hood in

the blue manuals that depict the placement

of these pieces. i have installed these pieces

in the same fashion for many years

on cars using the pictures in the book.

the pictures are usually taken during pre-

sales of the car, when the factory is

performing breakdown and reassembly

for instructional information that is given

to the mechanics. it is also then incorporated

into the manuals that customers and dealers

have on hand to repair there cars.

i learned this actually from a book about

how the factory figures out charge times

for service repairs, from a neighbor who

worked at a factory in the 60's. he was one

of those guys that was trained to work

anywhere in the factory line and was a

manager at the plant.

i don't know if you can dispute the points

but you should take a manual with you to

the show just in case.

i have a few old cars in the shop i will check

and photo for you if you would like.

good luck

stone

[stone02]

(nt)

[KFunk]

is it just me, or does it look like Bill's center foam goes much higher over the round bar than mine?

Its hard to see in the pic, but my foam doesn't go all the way quite to the bottom. It's like a 1/2 inch above the lip of the metal on the bottom. I also notice the right side foam sits like 1/2" away from its frame rail toward the center, whereas my left side foam sits flush with its frame.

maybe ol' Gerhard didn't really care that much about the precision of foam placement? or he had too much to drink that morning with breakfast?

also, whats up with the circular cut outs on my hood frame? I don't see them on your hood Bill... any ideas why mine is different?

and sorry, I don't know much of the history of my car. Doesn't look like its ever been restored, and has just been thoroughly abused all its life. a few bondo jobs are likely, but overall the original stickers seem to be there along with extremely faded riviera paint, numbers match on the engine, etc. The gray primer you see on the hood is just some rustoleum I sprayed on there to control some surface rust.

[HBChris]

This may help. The hood foam is long gone on my early `69 but the adhesive is still there as it is almost impossible to remove. As you can see, the driver side foam is narrower than the passenger side. I can take some measurements if needed. BMW uses the one size fits all approach nowadays, same goes for the coupes. (I was not able to view your photos here at work)

[HBChris]

Here's a shot from the `68 2002 in NorCal that is looking for a home, same adhesive remnants as mine and the foam is long gone.

[PatAllen]

I am working on a 74 hood right now and it has its original insulation, it seems to me that the side pieces goes lower, closer to the nose, not near the fuse box. I can back this off from two other hood i have as well. Since i never saw the original texture, i cant tell, but it seems too new, thats probably why they recal on that (!)...might worth a look at the Tii that MT redid if they have pictures of the engine bay...

As for the shift boot, it should be leatherete, not rubber. These rubber boots where a popular replacement in the 80's. I have a roundel magazine with an add in it, as well as few of them in my stash of parts.

[Mike Self]

Early cars don't have 'em, nor do they have the row of dimples along the top of the inner front fenders.

Both are designed to allow the car to crumple at a predetermined location in a front end collision. The inner fender dimples are the weakest spot, so a hard front end crash will cause the front to deform at that point. it works, too, as I've seen 'em in junkyards bent right at that point.

The hood cutouts make the hood weaker than the latch. On early cars, a hard front end collision would shove the hood backwards, pop the latch and allow the hood to impact--and usually penetrate--the windshield. Not good for front seat passengers. The cutouts allow the hood to buckle at that point when hit, so that it folds upward--tent-like-- since the latch is now stronger than the hood frame and will hold the rear edge of the hood. No more passenger compartment penetration. That also works, based on junkyard examples.

I've been careful to keep my '69 out of a front end collision...

cheers

mike

[penth2o]

Hi Bill,

Have you figured out the hood insulation placement & size yet?

I am interested as I will be going through the same thing in the future.

Do you know the exact sizes of each piece that you could refer me to.

I found this video on the turbo. When he lifts the hood you can pause it and see the placement of the hood insulation.

Also here are photos of my hood. It is stock as my Sister bought it new in 74.

It has long gone but the glue marks are still there.

nt

nt

[BillWilliams]

From the pictures shown here and what the blue manuals show, mine seem to be in the correct position.

As far as sizes, there are two pieces the same size (larger ones) and one is a bit smaller. The smaller one goes on the drivers side and the two larger ones go in the middle and passenger side, like you see from the glue marks on your hood.

When you order insulation, you will get three pieces, one small rectangular piece, one larger rectangular piece and on large almost triangular piece. You need to cut the triangular piece to the size of the larger piece. Bob's your uncle!

There are many posts on the placement of the insulation, especially from John Weese. His explanations and photos are really good.

BENT, a forum member, was to post pictures of a car that he says varies from what we discussed here. I have not seen those yet.

[penth2o]

Thanks Bill,

I will look up those names.

What do you mean by "Bob's your uncle! "

I just found out what LOL means. I must be getting old I thought it was lots of love. Boy, do I feel like an ass. Glad I didn't use that term.

Still learning the forum slang...

Thanks again Bill.

Joel.

[BillWilliams]

would equate to:

"there you go"

or

"that is all there is to it"

From Wikapedia:

"It is often used immediately following a set of simple instructions and carries roughly the same meaning as the phrase "and there you have it"; for example, "Simply put a piece of ham between two slices of bread, and Bob's your uncle."