E30 Zone

There's been a few posts about this recently and when I tried to explain to someone how to fix it by e-mail, it did all sound a bit confusing. A step by step photo guide was suggested and as it turned out, I needed to sort out a badly folding hood/not locking horseshoe today.

So, here we go. Are you having trouble folding your convertible roof? Will the horeshoe not close properly - particularly on power hood versions?

The chances are that the problem is caused by the tensioning straps folding themselves the wrong way - probably as a result of them being jammed in the horseshoe at some point.

Anyway, Does your roof look like this when it's folded?



Or maybe this?



In both photos, you'll see the loops of the tensioning straps - circled in the bottom picture. Both of these are wrong.

This is how the roof should look when folded



This is the same roof as the first picture just a few minutes later with the tensioning straps fixed.

How do we get from picture one to picture three?

All you need is a pair of pliers.

Here's the same roof in the middle of its folding operation.



See how the straps are folding out away from the roof and not hugging in close to the canvas? That's your problem right there. These tensioning straps have wire running through them to preserve the shape and the wires in this roof have somehow been bent or moulded into the wrong shape.

So get your pliers out and bend and crimp the wires so that the straps fold inward towards the canvas like so:-



Now, instead of folding away from the canvas, the strap hangs in towards the canvas



And the roof folds perfectly



One of the simplest, most rewarding jobs you can do on your car.

Superb!! Il be doing that soon as I get 5 mins, doing this on top of a service (as from the wiki) should improve things massively I'm guessing. Do you know how to adjust the travel on the horseshoe? Mine doesn't lock down wether it's up or down.

How many kinks on each side do you do? The more the better?

That one kink folded the roof properly. Basically where the strap folds out, force it back on itself and crimp so that it folds in. If you need to do another, it's the same process.

If it's a power roof and the horseshoe won't lock even with the roof up, I'd be looking at the microswitches.

Brilliant bit of advice, thank you! My one is in for it's MOT at 2pm today - fingers crossed, but things should be okay, and it will be out for the sunny summer days again.

My problem is the above, but also I disengaged the motor to do something (probably something stupid knowing me) but now when I re-engage it, it doesn't work at all. Any ideas? Does the hood have to be in any particular position when I re-engage the motor?

Hood works manually, but the lid doesn't lock in place.

All help is very gratefully appreciated

My mates m3 roof would only go up and not down, even after the re sync process, turned out to be the switch burnt out on one side, now works spot on. I'm gonna spend this Friday servicing , crimping and re synching my roof, if it don't work after that lot it's 5 litres of unleaded and a box of matches!!!!!

Can anyone show me where these switches are, please?

I mention the actual switch on the dash!

I thought you meant the micro switches. Do you know where these are. My car failed it's MOT yesterday on a couple of minor issues such as headlamp alignment...! When I get it back today, I'll take some pics of the motor position and start a new thread to solve my problem and see if I can get it working again.

Thanks.

Perfect timing for me this as it's next on my list of things to sort out on my cab. I had no idea the roof was supposed to stow away as neatly as that - mine's way short of the ideal. If I remember correctly, the folds of the hood lie horizontally rather than vertically, which explains why I was having so much trouble getting the horse-shoe down flat. It's an electrical roof, but the mechanism is all bust, so I only use electrics to move the shoe up and down, doing the rest manually.

i will be crimping tomorrow!!!

Gert_8 wrote:I thought you meant the micro switches. Do you know where these are. My car failed it's MOT yesterday on a couple of minor issues such as headlamp alignment...! When I get it back today, I'll take some pics of the motor position and start a new thread to solve my problem and see if I can get it working again.

Thanks.

will be looking out for this..

Just got my roof working and locking properly!!!!!!!!! Replaced the cam shaped cog on thehorse shoe and hey presto! Bet it rains now though.

You legend I've been struggling with these since I got my cab I'll try this later.

It was bent so I straightened it but it bent straight away, must have gone week. Only about £25 from BMW though. Result.

hi cecotto im refering to your pic number 2 in your post that is an electric roof correct me if im wrong i have just had the part that i belive is in the middle of the horshoe that lifts it up and down snap as i went to put my roof up i had to get the missis to hold the horse shoe open while the hood went back in, it locked down ok while pressing the button is that a straight swap over part or is the motor fooked... ?????

This is what has Happened .......

I think I can answer that, if you mean the bar that lifts the horse shoe? It's a straight swap and I think they are around £40 from BMW .

here is the pics of all the horseshoe parts

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=54&fg=10

Halleiluyah or however you spell it ! Iv,e been struglling with that one for a couple of years now. can,t wait to store the hard top, and get her cab roof sorted !

this thread might give a bit more info

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... t=crimping

Anyone know how to manually lock it in place - if you refer to my two pic and point out where something needs to be done, that would be excellent.

Sh*** the pics I referred to are in my own thread....

Ugh my wires didn't want to crimp that way it looks like they've been crimped the other way round I'll get more manly pliers.

Tried this today and it worked a treat. Still needs a bit of persuasion to fold the right way but it's so much better than it was.

Many thanks.

Did mine yesterday too, the flap nearest the front still needs a little tuck but the straps dissappear perfectly.

brettE30cab wrote:I think I can answer that, if you mean the bar that lifts the horse shoe? It's a straight swap and I think they are around £40 from BMW .

Thanks Brett

DaveD wrote:here is the pics of all the horseshoe parts

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=54&fg=10

Thanks dave..

hi cecotto im refering to your pic number 2 in your post that is an electric roof correct me if im wrong i have just had the part that i belive is in the middle of the horshoe that lifts it up and down snap as i went to put my roof up i had to get the missis to hold the horse shoe open while the hood went back in, it locked down ok while pressing the button is that a straight swap over part or is the motor fooked... ?????

This is what has Happened .......

Does anyone have any pics of how the small nylon bag thing in those pictures fits? I think it is meant to be a cover for the little horseshoe lever and rod but cant see how it attaches without getting in the way!

the nylon bag i refer to is part 25 in the real oem link!

Its actually a sleeve and just slips over the rod (part 2 ) I think its there to stop any oil/grease getting on the top of the roof

Just re crimped my works a treat
Just need to see why the electrics dont work as far as i can see all the wiring is there and connected,need to work out how to test power to swithces and motors (leccys not my best subject )

I rember finding a link how to test the swithces and sync it all but cant find it now.

^ bimanut I'd like to know how you do this too
Please.

Gert_8 wrote:^ bimanut I'd like to know how you do this too
Please.

Found this... i`ll try and give this a whirl tomorrow if the sun stays out.

http://www.e30ic.com/powertop.htm

Well my roof now works and locks down although still not perfect, so I tried the crimping and it still folds exactly the same, mine is a replacement roof though so I suppose it won't be perfect.