What have you done to your car today?

axelleveau said:
Worth a try, would not cost much if it does not look right

The problem is matching the carbon fibre of the roof . I have some carbon fibre and some carbon vinyl wrap and neither match . I suppose a wrap specialist would have more options . I am going to leave it for a while and maybe try and come up with a blended/fade design as [ref]j3nks79[/ref], suggested .
 
Finished today but started a couple of weeks ago and done in small stages.

Roof motor packed up. Was replaced in 2012 according to receipts.
Started to relocate motor and repair from inside the boot - gave up trying to remove lower part of motor housing.
Removed roof instead - more involved but not overly difficult.
Resurrected roof motor from the dead. It was a soggy, rusty mess.
Roof all working now :thumbsup:
Decided to remove roof drain plugs from rear wheel arches even though motor is now in the boot.
Struggled getting wheel bolts off- had to stand and bounce on extendable wheel brace. Garage and tyre fitters responsible.
Bought an impact wrench and undid all wheel nuts on setting 4 (highest) and then retightened them on setting 2. The wrench will be handy for other stuff also - the tractor for instance.
All done now :thumbsup:
 
Excellent work, well done, luckily my roof motor had been moved by a previous owner but I also left my drain plugs out when I cleaned them. I found a chunk of wood stuck in mine :?
 
MikeyH said:
Excellent work, well done, luckily my roof motor had been moved by a previous owner but I also left my drain plugs out when I cleaned them. I found a chunk of wood stuck in mine :?
I had about 6mm of compost in the well that had the roof motor in it and led to the drain plugs. So even cleaning the hole in the drain plugs from below would have removed very little of the compost covering the bottom of the well.
 
MikeyH said:
You’d think a company as big as BMW would be able to design a better system. :headbang:
I had a car a while back and they put the ECU in a well (plenum). That was a Rover 75 which had BMW connections. Not sure if it was designed by BMW. Maybe it was the same bloke. :D

Google "Rover 75 plenum water ECU" for a host of stories like "E85 roof motor water"
 
Rocket said:
Finished today but started a couple of weeks ago and done in small stages.

Roof motor packed up. Was replaced in 2012 according to receipts.
Started to relocate motor and repair from inside the boot - gave up trying to remove lower part of motor housing.
Removed roof instead - more involved but not overly difficult.
Resurrected roof motor from the dead. It was a soggy, rusty mess.
Roof all working now :thumbsup:
Decided to remove roof drain plugs from rear wheel arches even though motor is now in the boot.
Struggled getting wheel bolts off- had to stand and bounce on extendable wheel brace. Garage and tyre fitters responsible.
Bought an impact wrench and undid all wheel nuts on setting 4 (highest) and then retightened them on setting 2. The wrench will be handy for other stuff also - the tractor for instance.
All done now :thumbsup:
Well done!
A lesson to learn from another owner today. I move his roof motor a few months back. Today, whilst replacing all the discs and pads, we dropped the roof and peered into the well. Full of water again. A few minutes with a straightened wire coathanger saw about a pint of water flooding out the bottom.
So for everyone who has their roof motor relocated: you can't just switch off. That well will still fill up, even with the bung removed.
 
enuff_zed said:
Rocket said:
Finished today but started a couple of weeks ago and done in small stages.

Roof motor packed up. Was replaced in 2012 according to receipts.
Started to relocate motor and repair from inside the boot - gave up trying to remove lower part of motor housing.
Removed roof instead - more involved but not overly difficult.
Resurrected roof motor from the dead. It was a soggy, rusty mess.
Roof all working now :thumbsup:
Decided to remove roof drain plugs from rear wheel arches even though motor is now in the boot.
Struggled getting wheel bolts off- had to stand and bounce on extendable wheel brace. Garage and tyre fitters responsible.
Bought an impact wrench and undid all wheel nuts on setting 4 (highest) and then retightened them on setting 2. The wrench will be handy for other stuff also - the tractor for instance.
All done now :thumbsup:
Well done!
A lesson to learn from another owner today. I move his roof motor a few months back. Today, whilst replacing all the discs and pads, we dropped the roof and peered into the well. Full of water again. A few minutes with a straightened wire coathanger saw about a pint of water flooding out the bottom.
So for everyone who has their roof motor relocated: you can't just switch off. That well will still fill up, even with the bung removed.

I have had my z4 about 5 years and it is kept undercover and never goes out in the rain. My water problems must all have come from washing and I rodded the drains from below about 3 years ago. As you say "you can't just switch off". As I said above, you can rod the drain hole but there may be a lot of compost in the well floor that can soon shift back to the hole.
 
I took loads of pics if anyone needs to see anything. Here is a pic looking down in the well. The roof drain is under the sludge in there some where.

20240611_092902.jpg
 
5C492E95-2049-4F30-8BB5-DD87F927F711.jpeg

Retrofitted the behind-the-seats subs, as well as a new seat belt as it was getting lazy to retract. Ordered some sound deadening too, which is to be fitted before everything goes back together
 
Replaced the coolant header tank which, as usual for me, took the best part of two weekends. Strip down, clean everything not previously accessible, wait for Autodoc, reassemble, test drive, abort when needle started heading to the red, resolve massive airlock, test drive some more. All good.

Whilst it was clear the header tank was pi$$ing out water under pressure, seemingly from the sidewall, there is absolutely no visible sign of a leak. So if you’re looking for a leak, make sure you are doing it hot, not cold.
IMG_2950.jpeg
 
Zedebee said:
Replaced the coolant header tank which, as usual for me, took the best part of two weekends. Strip down, clean everything not previously accessible, wait for Autodoc, reassemble, test drive, abort when needle started heading to the red, resolve massive airlock, test drive some more. All good.

Whilst it was clear the header tank was pi$$ing out water under pressure, seemingly from the sidewall, there is absolutely no visible sign of a leak. So if you’re looking for a leak, make sure you are doing it hot, not cold.
IMG_2950.jpeg

If you've gone aftermarket like I did first time then expect to be doing this job again at some point in the near future, my Febi tank lasted a year before leaking from the same spot as the original tank.

Bought a genuine Bmw tank this time made by Modine and it appears better built and slightly heavier, I'm hopping it lasts as long as the original tank which made it 18 years
 

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Joez4 said:
You didn’t hang about re those s

Haha yeah, might as well do it right. As I’ve rebuilt the interior before, I managed to have all the plastics out of the way in about 20 minutes
 
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