calw

I've been refurbishing my window hardware in prep for car install. The few that I have all seem to be indestructible but very grimy. A ride in the ultrasonic cleaner got them to the point where I could easily clear the hardened grease gunk out of the groove. They do pop in and out of the metal carrier easily. I haven't looked hard to determine if the part is available here, but it looked NLA from BMW. Not sure if a 3d printed part would stand up to the stress, these seem as hard as molded nylon.

Final report... After trying every trick in my personal repertoire, I admit defeat. Note to the next contestant- These did not work- single edge razor blades, painter's palette knife(2 sizes), thin ginsu magic steak knife, heat (as much as I dared), garrote wire, water, soapy water, alcohol, acetone (0vernight soak in a long tray). These were tried on a windows removed from a '69 and a '76. No difference, No effect, No fun. Both windows had minimal rust on the outside bottom of the metal frame and rusty cotter pins. The rubber was mostly still a bit pliable. For anyone wanting to try, I can only suggest that you not do it dry- water is needed while digging between the metal/rubber/glass to avoid scratching the glass, as there is an accumulation of grit and grime down there. My windows are clearly not going anywhere, so the tracks at the bottom have been cleaned, primed, and painted, with new cotter pins installed.

Jim, got one of those, but the thickness of the tool overcomes the width of the razor blade, can't get it in the slot. Thought of heat, Toby, but not sure how much is too much. exploding tempered glass doesn't appeal. I've got two sets, so I'm practicing on the newer blue tint glass before I try my precious clear windows. If it becomes too mush stress (for me, not the glass) I'm gonna mask off the glass and clean/paint the metal channel while still attached. It lasted 50 years so far and isn't in that bad a condition. Back on this tomorrow when it warms up, cold wet day here...

3 broken single edge razor blades later (but no blood), the first one is starting to wiggle. a combo of removing small bits of decayed rubber and separating the rubber from the glass from the metal track with the single edge may eventually do the trick. for now, soaking sore fingers is in order. Maybe a thin flexible knife will work better. The inside is tough to get at with a razor blade due to the curvature of the glass.

Destroy indeed, Hal. it's old and tired, I've got the replacement rubber part, no problem there. Just a question of how to get it out. Prying gently between the rubber and the metal frame, no joy. Prying harder, same. Prying too hard - didn't try, the rubber is still soft enough to squish down and let the flat blade screwdriver press on the glass. The metal frame is quite stiff. Jim's idea needs to be tried. BTW, Jim, the two mystery parts that I showed you are "Distance rubber" 51326454169, and "Plate" 51326454325 and they go at the rear end of the bottom of the glass. Not clear on their function until I disassemble one more door...

The roll up windows are mounted at the bottom in metal frames with a rubber "U" strip lining between. I've got several sets and want to remove the glass from the frames in order to refurb the metal frames. Great, except the glass is stuck to the rubber which is stuck to the metal frame. Short of chemically eradicating the rubber strip with ?TBD?, there must be an easier way. I couldn't find any previous posts about this situation. Any ideas? thanks!

I get to Berthoud every day! just by waking up. so far...

Powdercoat subframe parts you say? I just dropped a pallet full of under-parts at a local shop in Berthoud including front and rear subframes. I haven't gotten a price yet but past work has been reasonable. Timeframe depends on what they have going on at the moment, I anticipate about 2 weeks this time. I haven't has them do anything ultra critical, but they do production work for at least one medical device company, so I assume excellent work is possible. I'm looking for function this time- subframes, control arms, etc. will be punished on the road, so perfect appearance isn't really needed. Past work that they've done for me was very good, but it was always fresh new steel. Nuthin' new in this stack of parts, so we'll see how their sandblasting and prep work are. Since it's a local small shop, smooth talking front office people wearing ties are not on the payroll. In fact, there's no front office.... K&K Painting 245 Bunyan Ave Berthoud 80513 (970) 532-3885

I think that I'm the originator of the product that Mike's referring to. But it's not a unlocker, it's an opener. Think of it as an electrically activated trunk opener in parallel with the existing factory mechanism. It's sold on ebay ("BMW 2002 Automatic Trunk Release Kit Opener with LED Trunk Lighting") and here on the FAQ when I occasionally put up a classified ad. Ian contacted me about it, but he's asking for a different function- an unlocker only, not an opener. The 2002 factory trunk locking/opening mechanism can be thought of as two discrete items. The first is the latch that holds the lid closed and the pushbutton that pops it open. Push the button if the key is in the unlock position, and it hits the latch just so to pop the trunk open. The second is the key, lock tumbler inside the pushbutton, and the tiny bit of metal protruding from the inside end of the lock tumbler. When you turn the key, that bit of cast metal rotates, either to a position where it can hit the latch mechanism when the button is pushed to pop the lid open, or a different position where it will hit nothing when you push the button. Simple and effective, unless that bit of metal is bent out of position or broken off. Short of a complete replacement of the button/lock cylinder with a yet-to-be-devised miniaturized servo controlled gizmo, and possibly a different latch mechanism design also (space is very tight in this area of the car), it seems impossible to do what Ian requests while retaining the existing appearance. Or... Replacing the factory button/lock with a key activated switch in a different position on the car, filling the little round hole, and installing a device like mine would achieve the desired function. The remote system would trip a relay which enables or disables power to my electrically activated opener. Then that new key activated switch would trigger my opener. Simple modifications to car, but visible changes nonetheless. Finally, a custom part which occupies the same position as the factory button/lock and acts as this key activated switch is easy to envision, but hard to imagine as being feasible in the quantities the community might want. Unfortunately, BMW did not anticipate this need when designing the 1600-2 and all it's siblings