early vs late euro bumpers

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bronzit 84 euro

early vs late euro bumpers

Post by bronzit 84 euro »

Does anybody know the difference between early and late, euro bumpers. Real OEM lists different part numbers, but the cars don't look different from the exterior.
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Brucey
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Post by Brucey »

it might help to say what you mean by 'early and late'.

Up to '82 there were chome bits at the front, Al beam at the rear with no rear side pieces.

82-87 the chrome bits at the front are the same but the metal underneath is slightly different at the sides and of course different in the middle between spoiler and non-spoiler models. The rear is all different and is a three piece chrome bumper with side pieces and rubber trim.

87 to 89 and it is Al beams front and rear with plastic side pices front and rear.

All these bumpers look different except the /I and /II fronts and here the chrome trims interchange but nothing else is guaranteed to fit....

hth

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alpinacsi

Post by alpinacsi »

what he said except the up to 82 rear was chrome and not alum.

Typically the up to 82 had the fogs mounted below the bumper or in front of the spoiler and the later cars had the fogs incorporated into the bumper /spoiler. There was a transition period with overlap in 82 on the fogs.
bronzit 84 euro

Post by bronzit 84 euro »

I guess I should have been more specific. I have a 1984 euro 635CSi. That's an e28 car. The center section of my front bumper is pushed in bad. The bumper (not spoiler) is a 3-peice assembly, the front, center section and two side pieces. Each of the 3 pieces has a chrome trim strip on top. rubber strips span the front. The air dam is one piece, mounts to the bumper assembly. Fog lights mount in the air dam.

I understand that the underlying structure of an e12 car is different than my e28 car. But cosmetically at least, the bumper parts look the same. But will they fit? Different part numbers..

Geoff
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Post by Brucey »

the mounting brackets are the same, as is the trim.

However the centre steel piece and the end pieces are different. It is possible to mount the different end pieces but it requires that at least one bolt hole is moved on the bolted flange between the end pieces and the centre piece.

Also the centre piece is different; the early one is rather heavy as the lights mount to it on non-spoiler models.

If you fit the early 635 spoiler (without the foglight holes) it will mount to any middle section. Some of the other combinations are not so good. With the early spoiler you can fit brake cooling ducts too which I like; they deleted these ~82 on.

BTW I am pretty sure the rear bumper (without side pieces) on my '81 parts car is aluminium; let's do the magnet test to be sure now!

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Post by Brucey »

OK, I'm a twit; I did the magent test and it stuck like crazy, so it must be steel at the back..... in mitigation I would say that the chrome rear on my parts car is incredibly milky, quite unlike the front or indeed any I have seen before.....

:oops: #-o

-but I feel a bit of a twit anyway....

thanks for putting me right....

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Re: early vs late euro bumpers

Post by Coralpolyp »

Greetings
I have a very specific question about the euro front bumper centre section.
I’m replacing mine, I have an 86 635. Looking at the parts from images at Walloth and Nesch, the 635 one looks to start out life as a 628 item, that is cut down at the factory to remove the lower steel valance. Plus, a couple of holes are added for foglight brackets for the 635. I can see the lip turn down that would be where the cut is made so it probably is the same pressing.
There’s a surprisingly big price difference as 628 centres are much cheaper than 635, has anyone cut one down or compared them directly for other differences?
Thanks
Matthew
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Re: early vs late euro bumpers

Post by bpoliakoff »

The top one is the correct bumper and there are two different air dams that are used in conjunction with it. The early one that has no proviso for fog lights as they are mounted under the bumper or the later one with openings for the fog lights built into the air dam. Looking at the pictures the lower picture, to me at least, does not appear to be a factory part, but rather after market or maybe even Alpina. If you go to realoem.com, they do not show anything for a front bumper that looks at all like that lower picture as a factory part.
81 Euro 635 M90 with motronic. Currently under a complete nut and bolt restoration. Pictures at
flickr.com/photos/bertsphotos.
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Re: early vs late euro bumpers

Post by Coralpolyp »

That’s confusing things for me. The lower photo is the correct part and looks just like my old rusted out centre section so I am sure it is right. I posted the images to show only the underneath side as this illustrates the detail I described, to compare the two. The top surface is identical and the chrome trims are the same part numbers.
My 86 car has a plastic valance as standard, the fogs fit into it, the metal lower part of the 628 valance isn’t required, it looks like the factory just cut that piece away and add holes for the fog light brackets - and charge another $200.. so I wondered if anyone has done this and knows for sure?
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Re: early vs late euro bumpers

Post by bpoliakoff »

Somehow I mixed things up. The lower picture of the bumper center section is correct the upper picture of the air dam is not correct
81 Euro 635 M90 with motronic. Currently under a complete nut and bolt restoration. Pictures at
flickr.com/photos/bertsphotos.
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Re: early vs late euro bumpers

Post by Coralpolyp »

Yes.
Has anyone had experience of comparing these parts directly to see if the 628 piece can be simply modified and interchanged? If not I may end up being the guinea pig.
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Re: early vs late euro bumpers

Post by sixseries »

To bring back this thread, I'm looking at a 1983 euro 635 with bumper rot on the drivers side (see below pic). Could i use an early euro front bumper as to source the damaged piece of the bumper? I believe it is part number 51111886385 according realOEM. It appears that it's that one part that is rotted, but when looking at the realOEM diagram, there is part number 51111838797 that could play into this. Anyone have any help on this?

For reference, here's the RealOEM for the late model bumper: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpa ... Id=51_0495
'
and then the early model bumper: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpa ... Id=51_0495

I guess it apperas

Image
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Re: early vs late euro bumpers

Post by bpoliakoff »

It appears to me to be the same. Both take the same caps at the end of the bumper. I have a pre 82 Euro but believe all the Euros up to the world bumper cars used the same front bumper. There are two different style airdams for the Euros, both of which will fit. One without fog lights as those cars had them mounted under the bumper and the other with the fog lights built in
81 Euro 635 M90 with motronic. Currently under a complete nut and bolt restoration. Pictures at
flickr.com/photos/bertsphotos.
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