khoratfarooq

I shall be removing my swirl flaps thanks to Anzafin brilliant thread on the DIY forum. I have followed his thread and had a look at the condition of my swirl flaps (BMW 525d 2005 with 78000 miles). The 4.5 mm rods looked strong and unsuprisingly were covered in oily carbon/soot.

I cleaned the flaps, manifold and its various attachments (during the final of Britains Got Talent, much to my wife's disappointment) and decided not to dremmel the rods as I wanted to explore other options. So I put the whole thing back together and changed the oil and filter too. The car is now running and purring fantastically, very smooth at idle and acceleration.

I read about a blanking plate that you slot in place of the the removed swirl flap. It is supplied by PMW Ltd in Essex. Check out thier website and an article they published in Total BMW last month. I have purchased 6 of the larger blanking plates (smaller ones for 4 cylinder engines I believe) with rubber O-rings (see pics). I plan to put them in next week or so...time permitting.

http://www.pmwltd.co.uk

http://www.pmwltd.co.uk/swirl_flaps.pdf








For those who want to do this and have no DIY skills what-so-ever ...like me, fear not, (I am a Doctor who can't tell a hammer from a screw driver, but I do know a spleen from a liver!!!), using Anzafin's genius thread the job is absolutely fool-proof. I was apprehensive at first but actually found the whole experience enjoyable and can not wait to insert these aluminium blanking plates.

I shall keep you posted. By the way the cost of these plates (6@ at ?109.00 inc VAT....about the cost of a Dremmel tool I believe and less fuss).

A few pointers that are worth mentioning. The torsion strut bars take a TX45 tourque spanner, most basic tool kits go up to TX40. Alot of might was need to remove these very tight bolts (4 in total). And the 7 bolts to the right of the manifoild inlet (looking into the engine bay) need a tonne of torque to open!!! You will need a deep socket 11mm Hex spanner for these stubborn blighters. A can of Red Bull helped enormously!!! I had to make 3 separate trips to Halfords motor store to acquire the right size tools (using the wife's car to her dismay). My manifold had ?fuel injector cables over the top of it. No big deal...just simply un plug them out the way.

Hope this helps.

Regards

KAZ

Rislar

Nice, i like this idea, i will also be doing this, well when i get the time

Bob525D

Sorry to rain on you parade mate, check out my post below.

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=75341&st=0

They dont sell plates in the correct size if you have the modified flaps, i recon the ones you have are going to be too small.

Rislar

Me or the OP? i will be just cutting them out if you meant me fella

khoratfarooq

I read your thread. I too spoke to a David at PMW. A polite chap when I spoke to him. He specifically asked me for my VIN number and confirmed that I would need th"larger" plate for the modified flaps with the cylindrical housing. The smaller flaps were not in a cylindrical housing (just like in thier article). He seemed to know what he was talking about. Just eyeballing the plates, they look as if they will fit.

I suggest people perhaps wait till I have had a go at fitting these plates (I will have my neighbours dremmel handy just in case). I will take pics to show if they fit. These plate are about 1 1/2 inch across. See pics comparing size to a 2 Pence coin.




Kaz

Anzafin

They look solid!

Bob525D

Actually, you know what. They look to be the correct size, I was told that they didnt make any other size and that I shouldnt have deflapped my manifold as the new ones dont fail. They told me that they had no intention of making the larger size plates, i did have further dealings with David following this when i was getting a refund. There were a couple of problems which we sorted out, to be fair he was ok after we sorted out the issues.

I may give them a call tomorrow to find out if they now make the larger plates, I have a leak there anyway so i might as well bite the bullet and get these plates. Did you get the orings with the plates?

Nice one mate, the pic with the 2p was very useful.

khoratfarooq

Glad the pics helped.

I got the impression David said these plate were new and not previously available...but he definitely acknowledged they were the "larger plate". He automatically suggested that I needed an O-ring because the newer flaps didnt have O-ring that could simlpy be removed and used on the blanking plates. He is right cos the orange/red coloured seals on the swirl flaps were housed within the cylindrical flap housing and not removable.

Do you need these plates Bob because you have used the dremmel/screw method to remove your flaps already? I figured rather than buying a dremmel, these plate cost about the same and less of an headache to install (glue dry time, re-installing flap if unhappy with performance etc).

good luck

Kaz

JeffNNJ

Okay, you may as well have written that post in Chinese because I have no idea what the hell you're talking about.

wasupdu

+1. Now I'm googling swirl flaps and I feel like a fool. LOL