Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Requiem for ICE


It is raining, the front passenger window is partially open, and the 325i now needs to be rolled out to the street to allow the engine to be removed from the garage. So, the fossilized 12 volt battery in the trunk was replaced with new blood.

OEM BMW 12V, 65 ah, 540 a/540 cca
S:61217567182 (Exide)

Even with a new battery, the window refused to budge, so the door panel was removed. All went well until the plastic knob that is screwed onto the door lock refused to let go. A wrench successfully unscrewed the knob, in several pieces. This will be on the "replace list". With the knob now removed, the door panel was placed aside, and the two wire plugs removed from the actuator motor. Two alligator clips and jumper cables to the battery allowed the window to move smoothly full up and full down. Reversing the polarity of the clips, reversed the direction of movement. Apparently the window switch on the console (or the connecting cables) needs repairs. In the time required to have the adapter plate and shaft hub manufactured, each electrical system will need to be tested.

It turned out that a pick up truck was not available for me to use, so instead a Chevy 2500 cargo van was brought home from work for use as a hearse for the ICE. Although an engine hoist would have been sweet, the “home made overhead crane" worked quite well.  After lowering the engine’s heavy end onto a pallet located in the van, continued lowering and rotation of the body of the engine around the initial contact point, allowed the whole engine to swing into the van.  For any nonbelievers out there, I include the following pictures.



Engine lowered to the pallet.


Lowered further and swung into the van.

Tomorrow the weight of the engine, the gas tanks, and the overflow tank will be determined.  The rubber boot/gasket that fits behind the gas fill door has a  bottom drain tube.  It will be retained for the EV, as it will allow any trapped rain water to drain from the future recharging portal.

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