What do you do with a bad/broken euro console?

[vtgti]

Well I got this Euro console from on here. I definitly got what I paid for, but not what I wanted for my car. So I decided to recover it with some suede. (I'm hoping to recover the cracked dash in the same black suede. The grey suede is the same suede that is on my headliner, and matches the grey centers of my Recaro's).

So I sewed up some covers for the side panels:


Sprayed the panels with 3M spray adhesive and pulled the covers on tight.


Used similar screws but silver (stainless and aluminum) to attach everything together.


As I removed the blower motor that goes with the AC system, I needed to install a blower fan so I made my own. Bent up a piece of 16 ga and welded some set screws in to hold it into place, and wired up a couple of computer fans.






And all in place:



Now I just need to make door cards and recover the dash...

[blitzed310]

I would just put them in the parts bin, but your idea is much better!

The fans rock!

[BoostedE21]

Wow good job, defs looks nice.

[vtgti]

There is something screwy with those fans in particular. They are so called "smart fans" in that they are variable speed from 1500 rpm to 4500 rpm, with a difference in flow of 30 cfm to 75 cfm or so. The problem is that they are 'talking" to each other in that there is some interference. I can't get both fans to get full power at the same time. One can run at full speed only if the other one isn't. And they are on the power line for the old OE fan, which should use dramatically more current, so I don't see the current draw to be the problem.

I think I'd like to find just some regular high speed/flow CPU fans and run those instead of these fancy ones.

[UberNoob]

just cut the yellow wire leading to each fan and the variable fan speed will be disabled.

[320ipyro]

i have been trying to hook up a new blower fan. thanks for the idea!

[jkinrade]

just cut the yellow wire leading to each fan and the variable fan speed will be disabled.

Agree.

[vtgti]

Hmmm.... I'll give it a shot, but the yellow wire doesn't go to anything... But maybe because they run next to each other for like 12" there might be some interference.

[pjs323i]

sweet dude! you definitely gave me some ideas for my console. I love the suede!! Where did you get the plastic guage bracket?

i have a air-con dash that i want to convert to non air-con. For 4 Reasons:
1: The CD player i have is a colour screen. It didn't occur to me when i brought it that once it was mounted vertically it would make it difficult to read...(i did impulse buy it, so serve me right)
2: CD players don't like being mounted vertically and like to skip (as all of us e21ers know)
3: Air-con makes me feel nauseous
and most importantly...
4: It allows room for some nice looking gauges!

Anyone have a non aircon RHD dash??

[vtgti]

You know, you could easily fab your own from scratch....

Just trace another persons euro to get the right shape.
Cover them with a thin foam, and then cover with suede/vinyl.
Put your shift surround in.
etc etc

PS: I made the gauge cluster. It's powdercoated aluminum.

[wayfast]

console looks really good, i should of thought of that one of them many times i had mine out

[320ipyro]

they sell some fans at radiocrack that i think i will buy and try to set up as blower fans. do you think they will blow hard enough to be able to work as a defroster or heater?

[320ipyro]

wait a minute. since i took out the blower fan for the ac, does that mean i took out the heater core too?

[BruceH]

I am not tracking with this project. The e21 has two blowers, one underhood for the heater and one for the AC in the console. If you removed the AC console with the AC condensor what are the fans for?

When I pulled the Baur's AC console, condensor and blower I just capped the main duct.

[jrcook320]

The center console looks awesome.

I agree with Bruce, what are the fans for? There is a real heater blower under the cowl panel. When I removed my ac I had to rewire the power to the heater blow for it to work again, but other than that all you have to do is cap off where the ac hooked in.

[320ipyro]

where is this heater blower at?

[scase318i]

under the bonnet, above firewall, below wipers in that lil hidin hole in the centre there is probably a cover there.

[BruceH]

Remove the firewall cowl cover. Blower motor in the center.

[pjs323i]

You know, you could easily fab your own from scratch....

Just trace another persons euro to get the right shape.
Cover them with a thin foam, and then cover with suede/vinyl.
Put your shift surround in.
etc etc

PS: I made the gauge cluster. It's powdercoated aluminum.

there in lies the problem...I live in Australia where a non-aircon e21 is very hard thing to find. But I know of a 320/4 being wrecked and if my memory serves me correctly it was a non-aircon, but i'll have to go and have a look at it again...

You've done a nice job on the gauge cluster its very neat. i just might steal your idea

[vtgti]

See that's what I'm kinda wondering if it would be better to just cap it, because once I got up to speed, I noticed that the amount of air flowing back out that hole (backwards through the fans) was pretty substantial. The reason I got originally confused was when talking to others about how when they removed their AC and they said they lost their defrost/heat. Hmmm. Do you happen to know which wires need to be connected to make the OE heater blower work?

[jrcook320]

There should be a a fat green wire with brown stripe that needs reconnected so the heater blower works again.

Study the wiring diagram, page 4-7.

http://bmw320i.com/library/PDFfiles/...983_secure.pdf

I made a block off panel out of plastic to close the gap off and rewired the heater blower so its like the AC was never there.

also, you'll notice the circuit for the stock aux cooling fan was wired to come on when AC is turned on. You can easily wire a switch onto that line to turn the fan (or an aftermarket fan) on manually and have it run off the stock fuse and fan relay. You can also install a lower temp coolant sensor to turn the fan on automatically. Just make sure to wire in a new diode since the factory diode probably got pulled when you pulled the AC. Otherwise the heater blower fuse will blow everytime the coolant temp switch closes.

[BruceH]

I did what Josh did. A simple plate and a rewire solves the problem.

Who needs euro consoles? I have a line on a cache of them in supposedly new condition.

[xxxnarcoxxx]

im looking for a non ac ctr console, how much? i cant seem to find one. i was thinking fo just getting one from my dealer if they are still available.

[mgleason]

Hey Bruce, you still got that line?

[goinstrong]

I will check with my son. We have a parts car that has a non a/c console in very good condition with the blockout panel. I don’t think we are swapping that into the new car. However you are almost as far away as possible! Haha


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