e30 cabriolet

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:27 am

I have a new mohair roof for my pride and joy but would like to look into putting the motor system in to her for that finishing touch to have a fully auto roof any ideas welcome

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:49 am

from what i remember its not a straight forward swop something to do with you needing to weld the mounting points to the body of the car to fit the electric roof mechs, i may be wrong though that's either for E30 soft tops or MK2 Astra soft tops lol

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:51 am

From what I've read on here, the electric roof is a fair load of hassle, even when already fitted.

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:57 am

In the interests of your own sanity, the best advice is probably "don't", but if you insist, the best course would be to obtain the complete set up from one of the frequent fraggers on here, possibly seeing the whole thing before it's been removed from the donor to see where and how things fit.
The set up will probably be faulty/been disconnected, so then you will need to repair it and then spend many happy hours fitting and adjusting it.

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:03 am

Brianmoooore wrote:so then you will need to repair it and then spend many happy hours fitting and adjusting it.

And end up swearing more than normal, giving up and going back to manual?

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:42 am

Brianmoooore wrote:In the interests of your own sanity, the best advice is probably "don't", but if you insist, the best course would be to obtain the complete set up from one of the frequent fraggers on here, possibly seeing the whole thing before it's been removed from the donor to see where and how things fit.
The set up will probably be faulty/been disconnected, so then you will need to repair it and then spend many happy hours fitting and adjusting it.

Electric roofs are challenging and fun.....

I would say it's easier to make an auto roofed car into a non-auto roof car, than the other way round..!

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:12 am

As above. The auto roofs were a ballache virtually from the off. Leave it manual is my tip of the day also.

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 1:41 pm

B7 wrote:As above. The auto roofs were a ballache virtually from the off. Leave it manual is my tip of the day also.

+1

save your money and time, electric E30 roofs are a pain to trouble shoot, let alone retro fit.

thats my 2 cents worth.

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:36 pm

It takes me less than 30 seconds to put my manual roof up or down. Given how many people have electric roof issues, I'd keep it simple. Given there are serious common faults like motor casing splitting, you're gong to spend a lot of money for more hassle !

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:38 pm

30 seconds? Are you a wizard?!

I think my car has an aftermarket hood as it is a pig to get tucked into the storage compartment neatly.

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 3:16 pm

FinalD wrote:30 seconds? Are you a wizard?!

I think my car has an aftermarket hood as it is a pig to get tucked into the storage compartment neatly.

Nope, but everything works as it should. 30 seconds can only be achieved if there's a working ram to keep the horseshoe open without manual intervention.

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 3:38 pm

Ah that's true, mine has duff rams...but I find the actual raising and lowering (tidily) is a pain with mine. The car was specced with a blue hood and currently has a black one so I'm going to blame it on being an aftermarket unit that doesn't fold up as neatly as the original. Once tucked away it appears to take up more space than it has, so the shoe in theory won't close (currently don't have the horse shoe fitted)...I'll just have to practice and work it out I guess.

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 3:49 pm

FinalD wrote:Ah that's true, mine has duff rams...but I find the actual raising and lowering (tidily) is a pain with mine. The car was specced with a blue hood and currently has a black one so I'm going to blame it on being an aftermarket unit that doesn't fold up as neatly as the original. Once tucked away it appears to take up more space than it has, so the shoe in theory won't close (currently don't have the horse shoe fitted)...I'll just have to practice and work it out I guess.

If it's not fitting right into the horseshoe it's not folding down properly. Get all the material tucked in and it should close fine.

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:00 pm

It would be nice to sit in traffic and put the roof down though just makes it more desirable

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:17 pm

guss wrote:It would be nice to sit in traffic and put the roof down though just makes it more desirable

Not when it does not work

Post Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:22 pm

pacerpete wrote:
guss wrote:It would be nice to sit in traffic and put the roof down though just makes it more desirable

Not when it does not work

Make it electric - you'll be the badest motherfecker around. nothing more beautiful that seeing the auto roof going up and down....

Not that I would know at the moment, as it's only partially working. It WILL work come the spring, though!