Roof skin swaps
Moderator: martauto
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BristolE30
- E30 Zone Regular
- Posts: 532
- Joined: Thu May 16, 2019 7:43 pm
- Location: Bristol
There is a guy who does carbon fibre conversion. I think it’s called BM conversions. You should check him out, if my roof ever rots I’m going to get them to do it.
BMW E30 316 ‘87
BMW E30 325i ‘88
Bristol, UK
BMW E30 325i ‘88
Bristol, UK
At the moment rust-free roof skins are like unicorns, and as cars with no sunroof are less common than ones with so they are like rare unicorns.
If you do find one it is a job that has been done a few times before but it is a bit fiddly to keep the correct brazed joint at the four corners. Otherwise it is either welding up your sunroof hole properly or waiting for people like Valcas or E30 Garage Norway to produce roof skins.
Why are you taking the factory original sunroof out of an M3 anyway if you want to keep the originality of a metal skin?
Hi, I was thinking non sunroof skins would likely be pretty sound, although that's only based on my experince with my car where water has sat in the cassette and rusted this out and traveled up to the roof skin.
The cassette is being removed and at best needs a better part locating and fitting. The car is a bare shell, so was wondering if its that much extra work to either fit a non sunroof skin , over replacing the cassette and repairs. Obviously it is more work, but posibly not as labour intensive on a bare shell that's going for a full repaint.
I never wanted an M3 with a sunroof, just doesn't seem right or look right, but as most do, little choice and overall car condition was a bigger factor, plus I didn't imagine 10 years later it would rust out so badly.
I don't actually intend to ever sell the car, but just seems to sit better with me that a steel skin is used and brazed in , over a welded-up hole or a carbon roof. But then the days of plenty of cheap scrap 2dr E30s is gone.
The cassette is being removed and at best needs a better part locating and fitting. The car is a bare shell, so was wondering if its that much extra work to either fit a non sunroof skin , over replacing the cassette and repairs. Obviously it is more work, but posibly not as labour intensive on a bare shell that's going for a full repaint.
I never wanted an M3 with a sunroof, just doesn't seem right or look right, but as most do, little choice and overall car condition was a bigger factor, plus I didn't imagine 10 years later it would rust out so badly.
I don't actually intend to ever sell the car, but just seems to sit better with me that a steel skin is used and brazed in , over a welded-up hole or a carbon roof. But then the days of plenty of cheap scrap 2dr E30s is gone.
Still a few scrap E30s around just all rotted in the same place unfortunately
Moredoor roof skins are the same AFAIK so if you can live with having a bit of moredoor above your head, will give you more options.
Sunroof panels are available new and good sunroof roofs come up now and again but there is a bit of competition these days from people that do this for a living
Non-sunroof roofs come up a lot lessEach to their own, your car your rules etc but I wouldn't have one without a sunroof, I quite like them. The one time I ordered an M3 new, I put sunroof and aircon on the tick list
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BristolE30
- E30 Zone Regular
- Posts: 532
- Joined: Thu May 16, 2019 7:43 pm
- Location: Bristol
Fair enough, can you not paint the carbon fibre? Only you would know and you'd be a fair few kg lighter....
BMW E30 316 ‘87
BMW E30 325i ‘88
Bristol, UK
BMW E30 325i ‘88
Bristol, UK
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BristolE30
- E30 Zone Regular
- Posts: 532
- Joined: Thu May 16, 2019 7:43 pm
- Location: Bristol
Don't get exited it was an E36 (was an evo though
) film cameras back then, I'll have to find them first.Interesting, I just assumed 2dr and 4dr skins would be different. After playing in the ETK with M3 and 4 dr 318, it gives the same part number for both.flybynite wrote: ↑Wed May 27, 2020 3:51 pmStill a few scrap E30s around just all rotted in the same place unfortunately
Moredoor roof skins are the same AFAIK so if you can live with having a bit of moredoor above your head, will give you more options.
Sunroof panels are available new and good sunroof roofs come up now and again but there is a bit of competition these days from people that do this for a living
Each to their own, your car your rules etc but I wouldn't have one without a sunroof, I quite like them. The one time I ordered an M3 new, I put sunroof and aircon on the tick list
I changed the sunroof panel out not long after getting the car. One high speed run and was left wondering where all those flakes of rust were coming from...
Back then, that panel was available for something like £75 . I see today its 520 Euro new !! I guess the sale of a mint one could go some way to paying for a skin and transplant.
The cassette panel is not available and at best I need to find a breaker and remove and refit to mine. This is the second sunroof repair, hence partly why I don't want the damn thing.
Thanks for the mention of that Valcas site, looks like he has some useful stuff. Any word on the quality of parts ?
http://www.m42club.com/forum/index.php?topic=19025.0
This looks like a better option if you want to delete the sunroof, but it depends if you can live with the knowledge of having loads of filler on the roof
I also remember appletree from the zone did a roof skin change, albeit on a non-m3 shell
This looks like a better option if you want to delete the sunroof, but it depends if you can live with the knowledge of having loads of filler on the roof
I also remember appletree from the zone did a roof skin change, albeit on a non-m3 shell
He does a fiberglass skin , but think this is more for a car with a cage. Not sure if the carbon one is recommended for a non caged car, it doesn't say on their site.BristolE30 wrote: ↑Wed May 27, 2020 4:00 pmFair enough, can you not paint the carbon fibre? Only you would know and you'd be a fair few kg lighter....
The basic carbon is £750 and probably just as much labour to replace. It also sits on top of the lip of the original roof skin left on all the way around, so there is actually a step down on to the original skin.
In the one example of an M3 roof skin swap I did see, the hid the join under the M3 roof trim piece for the different C pillar to regular E30. On the carbon roof I don't think that would be possible and it look like the whole C pillar has to come off and be jiggled to allow for the fact the carbon roof is effectively sitting on top of part of the old roof. That's another whole load of work on top of an expensive skin. Not sure how much lighter it would be either. Just dumping the cassette , and mechanism and double skinned sunroof panel would be good though.
See the video that shows what i mean on fitting.
Hmm, I guess that could go horribly wrong with the amount of welding. Not that I do welding or bodywork, but guess that could be a warping nightmare and bucket of filler job.tha881 wrote: ↑Wed May 27, 2020 4:57 pmhttp://www.m42club.com/forum/index.php?topic=19025.0
This looks like a better option if you want to delete the sunroof, but it depends if you can live with the knowledge of having loads of filler on the roof
I also remember appletree from the zone did a roof skin change, albeit on a non-m3 shell
The trick is to get paint on the underside of the roof, it was only ever bare e-coat from the factory and that is end of life now. The rot starts where the mastic hardens and shrinks and leaves bare metal underneath.
To be honest if you got a sunroof cassette like this one.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E30-M3-3 ... SwYxxdhjYT
Remove the old cassette and paint the roof like was done here:
viewtopic.php?f=112&t=266832&start=105
With a clean painted cassette onto a properly painted roof and a new panel you would be good for the next 30 years, better than BMW did it originally.
That is exactly what I am doing on one of mine.
No first hand experience but people seem pretty happy. However lots of those bits are NLA and rotted out of most fraggers so there are not many better options unless you are handy with your tin-bashing hammers
I changed my roof skin during the complete rebuild.
Bought a roof chop of a 4 door, mines a 2 door.
The skin is the same.
£100 of fleabay.
Nearly a full day to collect from down south.
Not as bad as everyone makes out, fairly straight forward.
Cant tell now.
Just need a 2 door head lining, the 4 door 1 obviously dont fit. It's sort of fits!
Bought a roof chop of a 4 door, mines a 2 door.
The skin is the same.
£100 of fleabay.
Nearly a full day to collect from down south.
Not as bad as everyone makes out, fairly straight forward.
Cant tell now.
Just need a 2 door head lining, the 4 door 1 obviously dont fit. It's sort of fits!
Cheers. Could you guesstimate how many hours it took ?
Here's why its needed.
Uh-oh...
IMG_20200525_155552 by Brian Green, on Flickr
Here's why its needed.
Uh-oh...
IMG_20200525_155552 by Brian Green, on Flickr
Sand the underside of the roof down and see what you are left with, from the pictures I would say the roof skin is fine.
Are there any blisters under the paint on the top of the roof?
Sanded down and a good treating with jenolite, etch prime, prime and paint then put a good cassette back up when the paint is properly hardened and should be be good to go.
Check the drain hoses and possibly replace
Are there any blisters under the paint on the top of the roof?
Sanded down and a good treating with jenolite, etch prime, prime and paint then put a good cassette back up when the paint is properly hardened and should be be good to go.
Check the drain hoses and possibly replace
How long ago was that? couple of years have made a big difference to the availability (and price) of good roofskins.
Did you unpick the pillars to lip and braze in the corners?
It is not a difficult job especially with a non-sunroof skin but fiddly and a bit time consuming to get right.
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BristolE30
- E30 Zone Regular
- Posts: 532
- Joined: Thu May 16, 2019 7:43 pm
- Location: Bristol
I think the carbon skin would be quite cool! Not to mention the weight as well. I reckon the roof has got to be at least 40kg right?
BMW E30 316 ‘87
BMW E30 325i ‘88
Bristol, UK
BMW E30 325i ‘88
Bristol, UK