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Next mod on it's way...

"M" Specific discussion
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ovrkll
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Post by ovrkll » Sat Jul 21, 2007 2:16 am

^^What he said! I think the suspense would kill me if I had to wait.

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sixspeed
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Post by sixspeed » Sat Jul 21, 2007 11:32 am

LOL...

I am itching to do it - and I know it's going to look fantastic when it's done. But it's more finding somewhere to do it. If we were having a proper summer here in the UK, I'd have probably got it done already. But seeing as it's raining every 5 minutes, and I don't have access to a garage, I don't want to get half way through and get caught out without a roof on the car! lol

That and I'm not here next weekend anyway. But my plans at the moment are to get it done the following week, and hopefully fitted in time for the mini-meet on the 5th...

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Post by peppernick » Sun Jul 22, 2007 10:47 am

Wow! Andy, that looks amazing. Lowering the centre of gravity should improve handling. Will be good to see the difference in weight.
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Post by sixspeed » Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:30 am

Right...

The roof has gone to my bodyshop for a few extra coats of lacquer today. Fitting is scheduled for Saturday (weather permitting!), in time for Sunday at Gaydon! :D

The reason I'm having it re-lacquered is due to a few marks in the original resin/lacquer that I noticed when it was unpacked. I could have left it since they were only noticeable in certain light, but I know it would have bugged me. The bodyshop are going to key up the current surface, and put 3-4 coats of clear over it, then flatten back to give it a mirror-like shine. Should be worth the extra work!

Will take lots of pics during the fitting... and then those of you at Gaydon should get the first looks! :)

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Post by carl » Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:41 am

peppernick wrote:Wow! Andy, that looks amazing. Lowering the centre of gravity should improve handling.
Not always true. If you don't do it right you can screw up the handling. But I think the difference from a CF roof will be negligible.

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inTgr8r
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Post by inTgr8r » Wed Aug 01, 2007 1:03 pm

carl wrote:
peppernick wrote:Wow! Andy, that looks amazing. Lowering the centre of gravity should improve handling.
Not always true. If you don't do it right you can screw up the handling. But I think the difference from a CF roof will be negligible.
I don't agree with the "can screw up the handling" statement.
You're lowering C of G & reducing weight at the center of the car.
BMW did it with the CSL & now the new M3.
The M3 can also be had with tin roof (at least in the N.Am. market) I highly doubt they're running a different suspension for each.

But, in the case where there is no sunroof delete, I would agree, it will be minimal weight reduction.

This mod is going to look sick as hell on a white coupe.... can't wait to see it. :thumbsup:

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Post by peppernick » Wed Aug 01, 2007 1:49 pm

carl wrote:Not always true. If you don't do it right you can screw up the handling. But I think the difference from a CF roof will be negligible.
But when I do a mod like that, I take the 'don't do it right' out of the equation completely; I'm sure Andy has done the same when choosing his nominated bodyshop. Not sure about the weight of the metal roof on an M coupe, but my old E46 M3 had a sunroof and by changing over to a carbon roof, I could save up to 40kgs.
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Post by sixspeed » Wed Aug 01, 2007 2:53 pm

I agree that the weight difference is probably very small. The roof panel on the Coupe is hardly big, and without a weighty glass sunroof and associated motors, you're not losing much by replacing the steel panel with a carbon one in terms of total kerb weight.

However, it should still be a bit of a saving, and of course, the look will be half what I'm after anyway :)

The bodyshop that is doing the re-lacquering is one of the largest independant BMW approved bodyshops in the South East.. it's just lucky I know the owner and can get non-BMW rates ;)

We're going to do the fitting ourselves though on Saturday, in my driveway. The guy that works at the bodyshop is a trained painter and fitter/stripper, so will be helping me pull my interior to pieces. Must remember to bring some scales with me so I can weight the two roof panels though!

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Post by peppernick » Wed Aug 01, 2007 3:40 pm

Interesting thread for those wanting to DIY a carbon roof on their cars. It's based on an E46 coupe but you get the idea ..... :P

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread ... t=csl+roof
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Post by sixspeed » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:20 pm

Already mentioned on the previous page... :P

Where do you think I got my inspiration? :P

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Post by sixspeed » Sun Aug 05, 2007 3:29 am

Well we tried our very best today, but we didn't succeed.

We got the trim out of the car and had the four bolts off in about 30 minutes though. I'd been told by TC Kline that this was all that was holding the roof on, but after much heaving and pushing, it was clear the roof was stuck solid. A bit of closer inspection later revealed that the roof was indeed bonded on, or at least there was a bead of sealant running all the way around it.

We spent a good couple of hours trying to cut through it, but without the perfect tools for the job we decided to call it a day for now. I'll be booking it in with my friend who did the lacquer work on the roof - they have all the equipment necessary which would make short work of the sikoflex sealant that's holding the panel on.

On the plus side, I got to see the roof in the flesh now it's had a re-coat in lacquer and it looks stunning - far better than it did before.

A few pics....

The roof in all it's shimmering black lovelyness :)

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My mate amazed that a roof can be just bolted in! (we were yet to find out the truth!)

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Undoing the last of the bolts...

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The headlining and all the bolts off - but still no joy! :(

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It's a bit gutting we didn't get it finished as somewhere like BMW Festival would have been a great place to show it off. But it wasn't worth rushing and making a botched job of it. We'll get the right tools to cut through the sealant and take our time to do it properly another day.... Can't wait to see the finished article though :)

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Post by Rick Hunter » Sun Aug 05, 2007 5:45 am

Dang... that roof is shiny! :thumbsup: I'm getting excited now.
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'07 Imola Red Image Coupé

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Post by gidge2010 » Sun Aug 05, 2007 9:12 am

:( Shame to hear it didn't all go as planned mate.

But like you said, take your time, do a proper job and it WILL be great when it's finished.

Can't wait to see the end results :D

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Post by Wondermike » Sun Aug 05, 2007 5:01 pm

sixspeed sorry you couldn't get it sorted in time. Looks awesome though, what a shine 8)

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Post by zee42 » Sun Aug 05, 2007 5:47 pm

This place cracks me up....we go out and spend 50 to 60 thousand dollars on the Z4's we have and for the first month we are happy as clams just being able to drive it around.And then come the mods...starts out as a new shift knob or something like that,and before you know it It becomes habitual and we wind up pumping another 20 to 30 thousand into the car in mods....I'm right there with you...the kids can always put duck tape on the holes in their shoes (providing they have shoes in the first place)...and I'm pretty sure they can sustain life with maybe a cracker or two and a glass of water to drink a day!...And who cares about their education,all they really need to know is how to help Install the Mods we get. I wonder how many mail men have died on the job just trying to deliver all the mods we order :rofl: I think they ought to make crack legal and start sending in the troops to break up the Mod cartels :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
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