My 2015 vintage condenser has sadly succumbed to incontinence, in the same week that my BMW rubbed through one of the lines and also emptied itself of its precious refrigerant.

Anyway - back to coolpartsuk on eBay and ordered another one. When this turned up, I was sure it was the wrong one...

Upside down and the fact its narrower with pointy outy brackets threw me off... but it does in fact fit! And as a bonus, the fan mounting holes line up perfectly, whereas the previous couple of aftermarket in the 'old style' have been a bit of hit and miss... mostly miss.

Has held vacuum, so off to get it and the BMW gassed at somepoint.

That looks good. I'm impressed you got the front bumper off, I changed mine with it still on by using a 3/8 drive socket though the vents to get at the bottom bolts. Not laziness (well, not entirely) but the one time I tried a socket on the bumper bolts there was this feel of a twisting bolt rather than one that was coming loose so rather than shear them off when the time comes to replace it, I'll just chop the bumper off and use the angle grinder on the bolts.

Ah - my bumper seems to come off enough the bolts stay cooperative!

I think the first time I took it off I probably used my impact gun to break the E14 bolts loose, which may have helped.

+1 on the impact gun for shifting bumper bolts. I expected mine to shear but cheap LiDl special electric impact gun shifted them just like that. Looking at the bolts after removal the actual engaged thread and bolt shank was decently clean and rust free. Thick rust on the bit sticking up past the thread holding it in. Now on the tri-annual pull out and lubricate schedule.

Easiest bumper to remove & refit that I've ever met. Heavy but easy.

Hafta say I've been very impressed with how the various nuts and bolts have stood up to the environment. External corrosion yes. But quite light really given the age of the car. Business part, threads and where the bolts go through things have all come out very clean. With one exception. Those darn radius arm bush bolts. One out, three cut. Un-surprising as the inner sleeve of the bush is alloy, on mine at least. Asking for trouble.

Clive.

When I did mine the bolts came right off, no problems there.

With a smaller condenser do you need to reduce the amount of refrigerant in the system to avoid over-pressuring it?

It isn't really smaller in terms of capacity by the looks of it - its narrower in width, but taller. Perhaps a smidge thinner and with thinner rows that are common on more modern condensers. It also looks like it has quite a few more rows, which should be more efficient. All in all - with no steel encasement around the edges at all, it should have fewer issues with corrosion.

Haven't got it gassed yet sadly - at this point it'll probably be next week before I do.

That condenser appears to be a newer style “parallel flow” condenser. It operates in a slightly different fashion than the older conventional serpentine or tube & fin designs. They do appear to have the added benefit of being more efficient given the additional surface area due to the design of the cooling passages and the way the refrigerant flows through. I have one in my e34 Touring, and one will also be installed in my post-engine-swap e30 here in the near future.

Hopefully it works as well if not better. Interior is black top to bottom and with leather seats... when we actually get those three days of summer a year, it is...toasty.

People that think AC is a waste of time in this country are either just too cheap to fix it, or don't feel heat. I become a moody bastard if I'm too hot very quickly :) I have it on year round on auto so it helps keep the interior dry too. Not like it really makes a prehistoric V8 any worse on fuel either!