88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

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TN_M6
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88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

Post by TN_M6 »

Last time I drove my M6 I hit some kind of small animal. Realized later that it cracked a bracket for the fog light (repaired with epoxy) and the little cover next to it was long gone. If I had stopped right away maybe I could have found it but didn't as it was night on a narrow (no shoulder) country road.

So here is the weird thing. Parts diagram shows 51 71 1 967 469 Left & 51 71 1 967 470 Right. I need the left but when I removed the Right side on my car and it clearly has part # 51 71 1967 468 molded right into it. Anywhere I have searched that is an invalid part #. What's up with that and is the part ending in 469 what I really need or not?

btw my front lower valence looks like every other car I've seen pictured with the updated world bumpers as I think they call them.
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TN_M6
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Re: 88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

Post by TN_M6 »

No one has any ideas? Is anyone with a post 87 willing to pop one of the covers loose and copy down the part number on either the driver's or passenger side? Please. I'd really like to be sure I get the right thing rather than find out I have something rare they put on 27 cars.

fwiw I think mine looks exactly like this in another post...as on the left

download/file.php?id=23725
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Re: 88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

Post by ron »

PUT YOUR LOCATION IN YOUR PROFILE ---4th time of asking!!
They are ALWAYS rustier than you thought!!!!!!
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TN_M6
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Re: 88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

Post by TN_M6 »

Somehow I've missed it every time. Not intentional and I'm not as active here as mye28 but appreciate this site.

Still would like to get the right part ordered for my car if someone knows why the other side of my car has a part # that has no look up ?
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Re: 88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

Post by Da_Hose »

I have an 87, and ordering the covers next to the fog lamp was easy. I just used the number from realoem.

Looking on RealOEM for an M5 built 4/88, the left side part number is 51111967469. Looking on FCPEuro, that is a valid number too, with correct description.

Jose
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TN_M6
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Re: 88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

Post by TN_M6 »

I am going to just go ahead an order what the listing shows but maybe you have missed my point. Yes it shows 51 71 1 967 469 for the left and 470 for the right... BUT... my right tow hook cover has a part number molded on it 51 71 1 967 468 and no directory or listing I find shows that as a valid part number for any BMW. I thought this number should be matching the listing if I had the right parts diagram but there is no diagram with that part number.

My only suspicion at this point is BMW owns the tool/mold to make these parts and 468 is that part # to make the 470 tow hook cover. That's just a guess. If I am right I was thinking the left cover would have 467 as the last three digits.
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Re: 88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

Post by rhanley 635csi89 »

I'm under the belief that BMW changed the materials the air valances were mfg of and their part numbers changed based on that (material change) and not a change of physical design. This was done on the 88 & 89 year models. You could find parts in the USA with a part number only showing up under a Euro car. Adds confusion to the parts mix.
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Re: 88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

Post by Hefeweizen »

They are backwards. I took the gamble a couple of years where, based on the part number I needed the left one but I had that part number on the right and sure enough, I was lucky and it worked out.
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Re: 88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

Post by Da_Hose »

More than once I have come across superceded part numbers on car parts that are impossible to cross ref. It's my guess that is what you are running into.

Jose
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Re: 88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

Post by TN_M6 »

I received my new parts and it still puzzles me. The part # molded on the piece ends in 467. Sort of follows the 468 I found on the other side. Apparently 467 is 469 & 468 is 470

So maybe these are mold numbers or maybe it is the part number before it gets a coat of primer on it. The new part is black plastic but has a coat of off-white something on the exterior.

Fits perfectly and now I just need a coat of the right color paint.

I am also replacing the duct that feeds air into the oil cooler. My car has never had any sort of belly pan or cover below the radiator and front of engine like our old 86 e30 had. Never been sure if I was missing something. On my e28 it had something but has not been on the car in a long time and once in a while I hit a puddle just right and it splashes up onto the P/S belt and you loose assist for a split second. Is the e24 supposed to have something like this? Something like pictured here as #8 but not highlighted is the only place I see similar?

http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E24/U ... ing_front/
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Re: 88 Tow Hook Cover Part# Mystery

Post by Da_Hose »

On my 87, the "fangs" on the front end have two studs sticking out behind them, from a frame crossmember. On mine, someone slipped some fuel hose over them, I'm guessing to protect the threads, but that had me wondering what they were for. Turns out part #8 in the image you linked is the oil cooler air ducting that attaches to those studs. I came across that info. after years of ownership, but I have never actually seen a US M6, or 635 with that ducting under there. Well, I happen to have found, and purchased one of those ducts this summer. They seem rare as hen's teeth, but I can take a pic. and post some measurements.

Jose
1987 M6 - My dream car
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