Cabbie Hood Adjustment Aaaaargh

[DaveD]

love your pics Will..... but just a note in that on most hoods I have seen there IS a gap but not at the rear but at the side by the hinges where the brushing is

[kman82]

I'm thinking about doing this little job too as the hoop on mine doesn't touch the lid either and the hex screws are at full adjustment.

am i right in thinking though if i lower the hood by adjusting the shims etc that the windows will all need adjusting too?

[e30newbie]

love your pics Will..... but just a note in that on most hoods I have seen there IS a gap but not at the rear but at the side by the hinges where the brushing is

Hey Dave, all 3 of mine have a gap there, but the rear is sealed on all of them. One had the gap at the rear too but once I adjusted the height as per the diagram, all was good.

Will,

You have 3 convertibles, how many e30 do you have ? Just to make sure, screw the hex screw in to push the rear down and screw out to raise it. Correct ?

[johnt0709]

OK - so this is my second attempt at this last night after reading wiki and the E30 manual that BMW use.

I took hood off did my measurements at point a and b, shimmed it till i got it correct.
Made sure that where the frame fits to the studs it had the same gaps on both sides (moving frame from front to rear).
Closed the hood - it was hitting at windshield
Loosened bolts and shimmed back horizontally as far as i could (until the bolt holes were hitting studs)
Closed back down still hitting but only marginally?
Started fannying about with the hex bolts as this appears to be the only adjustment option left, but finding it difficult to hit a sweet spot where
1. you can lift the frame up at the front and it breaks the lock in the frame at the rear.
2. The frame above the door glass is locked straight and not like a half shut knife.
3. The hood doesnt hit at the front
4. The door window glass doesnt overlap the door too much

Seiously what the F is going on here - funny thing is I dont feel that im that far away - is it a case of messing about with the hex bolts and then adjusting the windows to suits or am i missing something more fundamental here.

[johnt0709]

As above with another query am i reading the diagram correctly does the blue and yellow dots on the diagram correspond as I have shown with the picture or am I measuring too high? A few millimetres can make a difference.

In simple terms do I put the straight edge from the yellow or blue dot in the picture?

[DaveD]

OK - so this is my second attempt at this last night after reading wiki and the E30 manual that BMW use.

I took hood off did my measurements at point a and b, shimmed it till i got it correct.
Made sure that where the frame fits to the studs it had the same gaps on both sides (moving frame from front to rear).
Closed the hood - it was hitting at wind-shield
Loosened bolts and shimmed back horizontally as far as i could (until the bolt holes were hitting studs)
Closed back down still hitting but only marginally?
Started fannying about with the hex bolts as this appears to be the only adjustment option left, but finding it difficult to hit a sweet spot where
1. you can lift the frame up at the front and it breaks the lock in the frame at the rear.
2. The frame above the door glass is locked straight and not like a half shut knife.
3. The hood doesn't hit at the front
4. The door window glass doesn't overlap the door too much

Seriously what the F is going on here - funny thing is I don't feel that im that far away - is it a case of messing about with the hex bolts and then adjusting the windows to suits or am i missing something more fundamental here.

imo you have to ignore the glass as all the windows can be adjusted to fit to the roof when it is in its final position and what do you mean in #3...

willnz will be along and give a more informed opinion than mine...

[johnt0709]

Dave - number 3 is that the rubber at the front of the roof and the rubber at the top of the windscreen have an annoying overlap - you can get it down but it shouldn't be that hard - Im hoping that Im measuring from the wrong place and thats the answer. Difficult though to know what the impact a few mm will have.

[trevski]

My cab roof appears to be sitting too high at the rear...



When opening and closing, the rear cover hits on the metal supports.

Is this a shim adjustment jobbie or the rear hex screws?

hi mate, has your hood been replaced lately? My one sat high just like yours and no matter how much you adjust the two fore mentioned hex screws it will not bring the thing down! My problem was that when my hood was replaced a while back the bloke who done it cocked up wrapping the material around the piece that keeps the roof tort! Also check the line of the stitching on the first frame hoop and see if it follows it! Mine was out by 15mm from one side to the other! That made my hood sit up high one side ! My fix was remove rubber gaskit and philips screws unwrap tortion bar ( bit tricky this bit, very easy to damage) then straighten material , reglue, then after it had set it was perfect!
As far as the two screws are concerned if your watch the rubber gaskit as you turn them you'll see the gap increase and decrease , if the hood is still not sitting better then you may want to try my fix.
Becare full though! If your man made a better job than mine wrapping the material around you might damage it in witch case you might have to live it !!!

Hope this helps

[johnt0709]

Thanks - no it looks ok at the back its just trying to get it to close and fold properly - Willnz should no doubt be able to give some words of wisdom

[johnt0709]

Unashamed bump because I can see that willnz is logged on.

[Alex]

My cab roof appears to be sitting too high at the rear...



When opening and closing, the rear cover hits on the metal supports.

Is this a shim adjustment jobbie or the rear hex screws?

Ive noticed a lot like that, is it not to put your hands in to lift it up?

out 320i cabby has like 2 curves that seem to be to put your hands under? The hood was all adjusted by a specialist when the roof was fitted

[johnt0709]

Will - sorry to sound retarded on the rear threaded pin (b 159mm) am I placing one end of the straightedge on top of the quarter which has a finished paint on it or am I placing it to the inside of this I.e the channel which retains the weather strip (sits a bit lower than the actual top of the quarter panel.)

[johnt0709]

Will sorted properly this time just need to adjust windows hood going up and down nice tight fit - key seemed to be locking front latches, gave it an extra mm which seems to have made the difference

[macas]

i need to adjust my front windows and not the hood? as mine dont come right up to meet the hood,i always thought you had to adjust the roof.does any one one know how to do it,pics would be nice

[kman82]

i need to adjust my front windows and not the hood? as mine dont come right up to meet the hood,i always thought you had to adjust the roof.does any one one know how to do it,pics would be nice

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ont_window

[johnt0709]

Macas - I did this last night - very simple but not realy explained clearly in the link. The nut inticated A which sits on a larger circular plate should be loosened and slid up or down,(45o angle). It appears to be a simple block which hits the mechanism to stop any further travel - slide it up to stop window travelling up and slide it down to allow it to travel further up.

Very simple.

[DaveD]

Macas - I did this last night - very simple but not realy explained clearly in the link. The nut inticated A which sits on a larger circular plate should be loosened and slid up or down,(45o angle). It appears to be a simple block which hits the mechanism to stop any further travel - slide it up to stop window travelling up and slide it down to allow it to travel further up.

Very simple.

Edit the wiki and put your method in ...that's what its there for..

glad you have the roof sorted..