engine and drivetrain Fan Clearance Issue/ Engine Movement - Revisited

[ClayW]

I posted a few days ago about my fan hitting the radiator.

Last Week's Post Here

Basically, I reinstalled the motor and 5-spd transmission....same motor, same (model) transmission, same motor mounts, same transmission moutn (2002haus bracket), same 320i radiator. Right now, the fan hits the botome of the radiator. A the top is 1/2 to 3/4 inch clearance beween the fan and radiator. I can't figure out what changed!

The radiator is tight against the forward firewall. The motor mounts are all present and non-spongy. The rear transmission mount is new and perfectly straight. The retainer for the passenger side motor mount is present and set to zero tolerance.

Everything fit before!

Any ideas?

[Nate.Vincent]

Make sure the mount tab of the radiator is still attached solidly to the radiator. We had the same problem with a car and could not figure out why the fan was hitting. It ended up being that the braze on the mounting tab of a brand new radiator had broken allowing the radiator to move closer to the fan.

[rogerspeed]

If you have clearence at the top but not at the bottom and the radiator is properly installed then the engine/trans is not perpandicular in relation to the radiator, my guess is the trans mount is "low" in other words the trans needs to come "up" at the rear. I would question not changing the engine mounts. The other common problem is many of the cars have been "nosed" so the front body structure could be out whack (or whacked). I've worked on 02's (not my own) that have suffered from nose problems, other than redoing the nose you can trim some of the fairing arround the radiator support in the nose and manipulate the radiator body mountings slightly, so once installed,the radiator is about a half inch more forward.