When I bought the car I knew the electric roof didnt work but had no idea what was wrong. After a bit of searching the web I realised the top motor casing mount had sheared off and also that there were some bits missing.
The first thing I did was clean the hood compartment out, see
and
The broken top motor casing can be seen in
There should be a mount where the left hand hole is but it is clearly sheared off.
So to get things working first I needed to get replacement parts for those that were missing and then I needed to sort out the broken top motor casing. I called Bill at the E30 centre who was really helpful but after several months of waiting they couldnt get the replacement casing in. Instead I bought a part from Ebay in Germany that bolts into the hood compartment and cost £45.
This was really easy to fit, see
This basically gives a new mount for the rear bow arm to attach to replacing the one that has sheared off. The mechanism will now sit slightly higher so to avoid the parts rubbing, a washer is supplied with the kit that fits into the tube in the motor where the oval lever part bolts in. This raises the oval lever part higher. I found this was still rubbing so had to add an extra washer too, problem solved, see
This shows the levers all connected back to the motor via the strengthening plate. Thanks to Boyd Beattie for supplying the triangular shaped lever second hand.
Finally all the arms were connected back up
I bought a new arm and the joining screws and bolts from Cotswold BMW so thanks for your quick and easy service.
Im not sure if there is meant to be a covering for the mechanism but if so I dont have it!
I then greased all the mechanisms to keep them moving freely, the more grease the better for this I think.
Finally I had to resync the motors. Followed the 325ic guide and it was suprisingly easy. The top motor fitted right in place and then I moved onto the horseshoe. I closed the lid, opened the boot and locked down the horseshoe with the allen key. The horseshoe motor then just clicked straight in to place. I thought this would be difficult to do as per the 325ic site but maybe I was lucky!
Moment of truth I started the engine and tried the hood..... success it worked perfectly!!
I lubricated all the joints and it was really quite smooth when operating. Hopefully with a bit of tlc it will stay that way.
I now need to replace the rear screen which has a split in it. I have ordered one from the US so when it arrives I will take a few pictures of the fitting and let you know how it goes.
Hope those of you with broken roofs find this useful as with a bit of time and effort you should be able to get yours up and running again too.
