Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Location
    Temecula/Murrieta, CA
    Posts
    14

    ZHP convertible - glove box lock cylinder replacement

    Not sure if this is/has been covered here before. If it has, coupe, sedan or cabrio, can one of you point me to it via a link. Thanks.

    Recently acquired a 2005 ZHP cabrio, Titanium/Laser Cloth (see my post on the Intro page). The glove box would not open. Surprise, right...well, I was able to get it open - no hidden treasures in there unfortunately (oh well), but I did find some P.O. and/or prior mechanic kluges and "stuff". Most obvious was a broken wire in the latch mechanism. Ah, right, for those that weren't in the know, the convertible's glovebox lock is tied in to the central locking system - the notion being owners leave the top down and to keep the dishonest types honest, the glove box locks (and most times unlocks) via the central locking system. Most times...

    In my convertible's case, it would not open.

    After watching several youtube videos - sorta helpful but sorta not and involved the use of prybars to force the box to open (a bit destructive imho) I opted to take another, less destructive, route.

    I undid the four philips-head screws that hold the two plastic hinge plates underneath the glovebox, wiggled it about some and got lucky, the glovebox popped open. SUCCESS!! But....this is only part of the story...

    Once open, I could tell the "damper" (on the inboard side of the glovebox) was kaput. Ok, mark that as a part to order.

    And, the actual latch had a wire that was broken. Certainly a good part of the problem as that would prevent the central locking from locking/unlocking the glovebox. Additionally there seems to be some level of a mechanical malfunction where cycling the latch does not result in the two "tangs" retracting and allowing the glovebox to open. Fair enough. And by and large fixable.

    Then I checked into RealOEM, got the p/n's and checked the latch - inner and outer - prices. And had a heart-attack. Pricey buggers they are! Like, north of $250 and counting.

    Then, I checked the same parts on the coupe/sedan's and breathed more deeply - can you say a whole lot less expensive! And, unless I've got it all wrong, they'll work just fine for a convertible with the caveat that they are not/would not be incorporated into the central locking system. And, I'm quite ok with that.

    Now, here is my question for those of you out here, and who may have done this: How do I repurpose the key-operated lock cylinder from my original latch and install it into the inbound replacement latch?

    IOW, how do I remove the lock cylinder from my old latch?

    Any of you done this? What's the trick? I've searched youtube and there are a couple of videos out there but, they don't show me how to extricate the lock cylinder from the old latch. BMW's designers are pretty sensible people - they usually make it pretty easy to do. ONCE you know the "trick".

    I've done this on E24's, E28's, E30's - they are pretty easy. The E46 - especially the convertible - is a bit more complex. And I've not yet figured out the "trick". So....a video, step-by-step instructions, photos....any of you have detailed tips-and-hints to offer up to this E46 newbie?
    Last edited by FLarimer; 12-19-2020 at 07:53 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Southington, CT
    Posts
    1,376
    2 years ago, I was lucky enough on mine to not have to replace the mechanism. The broken wire is a pretty common issue and mine was no exception. Just had to break out the soldering iron....

    Let us know how you manage to get this fixed without having the most expensive glovebox known to man! Locksmith?
    Attached Images Attached Images  
    Pete


  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Location
    Temecula/Murrieta, CA
    Posts
    14
    A follow-on/update

    I sourced a complete sedan/coupe glovebox from a E46 that was being parted-out and used the door/lock/latch pieces to replace the damaged OE corresponding pieces.

    The original glovebox is sitting on the shelf should I end up needing any other spare parts and/or decide to chance my luck and re-install the OE glovebox and it's central-locking functionality.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Austin TX
    Posts
    7,606
    Thanks for the update. Glad the issue has been fixed.
    2005 IR / black / 6MT
    157,000 miles

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Southern California
    Posts
    18,064
    Glad that worked out. Sorry I wasn't able to dig up an answer.

    Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
    Randeaux/Rando/John/jr - '06 Cic ZHP; Southern California
    "ZHP or not, I still like you"


    ZHP Performance Package, Cold Weather Package, Leather, Jet Black/Black/BlackCube, NAV, Anthracite Black "my individual" interior trim
    ESS Stage 1 Twin Screw Supercharger, Sprint Booster, BMW Perf Intake, Magnaflow Exhaust, Dinan TB & STEP S/W, UCC Sway Bars, Apex EC-7 18x8.5 ET38
    Suspension: AST 44100 dampers, Bimmerworld front adjustable end links, Swift springs (8K front, 10K rear), Vorshlag camber plates
    Dynavin D99+, Hardwire V1 (w/V1 Connection), BSW Stage 1 Speakers, Kicker Amp/Subwoofer
    BMW Performance Strut Brace, Orion V2 Angel Eyes, No-holes License Plate, SMG Paddle Shift Mod, Besian VANOS, Gold DISA, Fan Delete, M3 Side Mirrors
    Note: Actual car no longer resembles signature picture

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