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How to Remove your Soft Top.....56k Beware

Rasalon said:
Hi all, I need detils on how to get the hoop out. I can see how one could from the trunk lever the hoop on the pasenger side out of it's bracket but then what? were do you pull from or push? where do you stand to do so? Please be VERY specific. :headbang:
Click to expand...

It's been a while, but if I understand correctly you've got the hoop free from the clips. Now the hoop must go UP thought the opening. I remember it being a bit of a bitch. I taped off my outside edge to avoid scratching the paint. Then I shifted the hoop at a bit of and angle, working it up from one side (e.g., passenger side front edge) while dipping the other side (driver side rear) so that the angle would give me clearance. Then carefully worked it up and out. Make sure you have the top's side mounting bolts free so the whole top can be maneuvered to assist in the wrangling.

If you're still caught, you can try sending me your email address and I'll send you whatever pics I have ... And I took a lot.

Brian
 
Rasalon said:
Hi all, I need detils on how to get the hoop out. I can see how one could from the trunk lever the hoop on the pasenger side out of it's bracket but then what? were do you pull from or push? where do you stand to do so? Please be VERY specific. :headbang:
Click to expand...

When removing the roof I used this process: pull out the passenger side hoop, then the driver side, then go towards the front of the car to allow the hoop to fully come out. Putting the roof back in is the opposite order. Seemed to work the best for us...
 
Bit of info reposted from another thread, re doing this in Bath / West Wilts in UK:

Just to follow up on this in case it's of use to anyone in the future:

I did the job myself in the end, with the help of shipkiller's guide :thumbsup: - wouldn't have tried it without, so many thanks to that man.

Was relatively straight forwards, just needs care and to take your time. The clips holding the front of the hoop in were the only tricky bit - I had to ping them out from underneath with a screwdriver, couldn't get my head around the what/why/where of the 'pull up and inwards' that shipkiller's guide says to do. And then also it needed a bit of patience to get the main soft top bolts re-aligned and back in place (the two either side that you screw in from the inside of the car).

If anyone else in the area tackles it themselves and wants a hand from someone who has done it before - PM me.

If anyone wants to use a garage round here - I did get some quotes etc from local indies eventually - as the first post said, a fair few weren't up for the job. Of those, most just said they hadn't done it so it would be a lot of labour and I should find someone who had done it before to get a good price. One garage wouldn't do it because I didn't have servicing done there and it's a 'shitty job'...!

Best two options were:

Emtec in Salisbury - http://www.emtecsalisbury.com/ (recommended often on here, seemed decent on the phone - knew what the score was, good price, etc)
Mill Lane Automotive in Warmley - http://www.milllaneautomotive.co.uk/ (found a couple of positive things about them online but no mention on here - guy on the phone knew all about the issue and I believed he knew exactly what was up, what needed doing and had done it before etc)

Redish Motorsport in Bristol would also have done it - but they are busy busy and couldn't fit it in for 6 or 7 weeks.

Hope that helps someone!
Click to expand...
 
I've just completed replacing my roof motor on my 2004 3.0i and (although I'm just a Newbie here, and to BMW's generally) I'd like to offer my thoughts on this job to anyone thinking of attempting it.

- Shipkiller's guides to roof removal and motor replacement are invaluable but be aware that you will run into problems not covered in them. In particular there are almost no instructions covering how to re-install the softop, just that "installation is just the reverse..". Well it's pretty obvious that it is not going to be that easy, for example it's fairly easy to pull off the weatherstrip which bonds the hood to the bodywork, but putting it back is much more difficult. In fact I still have not been able to get the weatherstrip fully back in place against the bodywork at the corner behind the driver's seat (any suggestions as to how to do this gratefully received!).
- You may find that you have extra electric cables from the soft top in addition to those shown in the guide, I had a single cable on the drivers side which connected with the wiring harness below, and a double cable on the passenger side that does not seem to connect to anything. Make sure these leads are free before you try to lift the hood assembly out!
- Some helpful posts in the motor replacement guide threads suggested that the hydraulic cables to the motor should be connected as marked (even cable numbers to even ports on pump, odd to odd), whilst others suggest you connect them the other way round (even to odd). In the first case it's said you will need to reverse the electric cables from the motor. Well I decided to connect them the second way (even cable to odd ports, odd cable to even ports) largely because this corresponded to their physical locations on the old pump. But guess what - I then had to reverse the cables to get it to work!
- Getting the front end of the aluminium 'hoop' back in place turned out to be a NIGHTMARE, it took me 2-3 hours per side to get them to go back into place! Believe me I tried all the approaches suggested in the earlier posts above, but none really did the trick for me, and in the end it was only by using long nosed pliers to bend the clip further open while a helper pushed down on the hoop through the hood fabric that it eventually clipped in.

To summarise I would have to disagree with the comment that "it really is not hard. Just time consuming". On a difficulty scale of 1 (easy) to 10 (extremely difficult) I would probably rate it about a 9.5 and I've done quite a lot of car maintenance and repair jobs. So in hindsight my advice to anyone contemplating this DIY project who is not a super competent mechanic, auto electrician, upholsterer, and contortionist would probably be to not attempt it yourself but to go to an indie instead. It may cost a few hundred in labour charges, but a new hood could cost you a load more!!
 
Shipkiller if you are on the surface..... Expertly written/illustrated tutorial for replacement of Z4 roof motor. I'm just about to embark on my replacement. Do you still stand by your original advice or anything new to know?
Silent service bob
 
I need to remove my soft top compartment floor but can't get past the supposedly simple step of "Disengage the soft top flap that is attached to the floor." The connecting strip shown in Shipkiller's photo (see below) doesn't look like mine. My flap is sewn onto a more rigid looking piece than in his photo. Mine has a square edge unlike the round looking edge in the DIY photo. It doesn't seem to want to detach from the floor piece very easily. It seems like it was originally slid down a channel to attach it. I've pried a little hoping to get it to let go but no luck. If it isn't going separate this way I'm afraid something may break.

Anyone else run into this? Does the version in the guide connect via an interlocking channel that is forced apart? For those who have done this teardown, how are the two pieces joined? My Z is a 2006. The guide is done on a 2003 and it looks like all responders have 2004 or older. Perhaps there was a change in how the flap attaches.

My flap:
softtopcompartmentfloorSMALL_zpsb78c0f7e.jpg

Here is Shipkiller's photo for comparison:

101_0026.jpg
 
ricknau,
Hi there, sorry for the bad english. When you hold the plastic strip with the fabric atatched you can pull iT downwards and ad the same time move it towards the front.
 
Has anybody got the PDF version of this? Need it fairly desperately - all ready to go but none of Shipkiller's pics are loading! :(
 
bladeowner sorted me out. Thanks again Dave. :thumbsup:

I did cheat a bit in the end. Here's a sneak peak...

bvpxk.jpg


f5djxi.jpg


:D
 
Bloody hell MrPT - you managed to do it without taking the whole roof out ! Risky, but well done :thumbsup:
 
Bing said:
Bloody hell MrPT - you managed to do it without taking the whole roof out ! Risky, but well done :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Well we'll see. Still need to put it back together again! Got a few other bits to do so taking my time.
 
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