Growing up, my father always either worked in a dealership or worked closely with dealerships. So in addition to growing up on the shop floor of various German-make auto dealerships, playing with ball-bearings from the hydraulic press area, and collecting various bits and pieces as I matured;
 |
| Euro M3 CSL short block |
I developed an obsession with parts diagrams and illustrations of "how things worked". As I got older this developed into taking every toy I had apart, soon leading to building and racing radio-controlled cars, and ultimately to where I am now.
 |
| E93 M3 M Front Bumper Trim |
All this time, one of my favorite places to hang out in a dealership was the parts department. Maybe it was the neatly organized cabinets full of intricate pieces. Maybe the smell of neatly stacked tires in the back room. Possibly it was all the activity, sort of like an assembly line, of parts coming in and going out.
All these parts had part #'s, all the shelves had numbers on them, and all the conversation was encoded by numbers.
 |
| Microfiche reader |
On the counter was a microfiche reader, just like the old newspaper search machine in your high school library when you were growing up. You could search thru diagrams and determine what the number was of the part you were looking for. These are the days before internet, obviously!
 |
E93 M3 Front Spring strut/Carrier/Wheel bearing |
I was turned on to this website by a Brazilian independent repair shop owner who uses it as his reference for BMW parts. Being a multiple BMW owner and longtime
BMW CCA member, I have found it immensely helpful with my various projects. Very helpful when you need the exact part #, and explaining to the 19 year old parts counter guy at your local BMW dealer that the thingy that goes into the housing part of doohickey portion of the whatchamacallit just isn't working as well as you planned...
Use it! It'll save aggravation and time, not necessarily in that order!
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do
No comments:
Post a Comment