M325i vs SR20DET.

[|ncary 0]

Haha yes it's a fantastic way to spend lots of money

Project high weight removal is done. All I need to do is get the sunroof skinned over with fibreglass and siliconed into place.

Sorry for not like linking the pics and making them all big so you don't have to go through and click on them all, but meh.

As you can see I've left the front edge of the cradle on, that is where the upper panel (with the check light in) mounts to, best to leave it there. The headliner usuall mounts to the back and sides of this hole in the cradle, but I'm working on gluing some fabric over where the sunroof used to be to make it tight and nice. mmm

Front side.

I couldn't work out why the cradle around the hole wasn't coming out, the glue was so degraded.. But there was a hidden ass spot weld that you can see I've now drilled out on the left there. Keep that in mind if you ever do this.

...

It was so rusted I bent the metal back and forth to break the spot welds..

This is how much sh*t comes out. It weighs so much. This'll be the most noticable weight reduction mod BY FAR.

And a layer of Rustkill to sort it out. Will do 2 coats.

I know why there was so much rust up there, and I would say that 80% of e30's 4000 nautical miles from the equator would have this rust problem. On cold mornings since I've had the rear cradle out there has been a massive thick layer of water droplets up in the roof, actually dripping onto the rear seat.

[huff3r 347]

I know why there was so much rust up there, and I would say that 80% of e30's 4000 nautical miles from the equator would have this rust problem. On cold mornings since I've had the rear cradle out there has been a massive thick layer of water droplets up in the roof, actually dripping onto the rear seat.

I get this too, having not replaced my headliner on the Race car, on a cold day there will be a skin of condensation across the inside of the roof, which fortunately like yours is coated in rust-kill.

Sounds like rusty sunroofs are very common on these...

Good work getting it out nice and clean, mine involved a lot of use uf a cut-off wheel and angle grinder

[|ncary 0]

I wouldn't say clean ha, I only used a angle grinder and drill and lots of rough tugging and bending But I'm very pround of my headliner re-installation here, haven't tensioned the front half too much right now, going to get some black fabric and glue in over the hole and tension it up nice and tight then.

Hot.

[QuickSilver 0]

Lookin good, motivation for deleting the sun roof was just weight reduction? Any damage to the roof or outside?

[|ncary 0]

There was no damage. I'm not a fan of sunroofs on car's that should have come without them. I took the sunroof out of my last E30 and the difference was INCREDIBLE. The lack of body roll on the first round-a-bout I went around was amazing, and I hadn't even taken out the cradle... So, I'm hooked on making my car like a CSL ahaa.

UPDATE! Wow: GC are sending the suspension today! So it'll arrive right in the middle of exams... Tops.

[|ncary 0]

Hmmm, just got back from having a good drive of a S13 Silvia with 210rwkW.

I want a S50

Turbos are insane in the damp!!! So much easier to modulate the throttle than I thought it would be though.. I could live with one. Too bad the BMW open class can't..

[Jamez 2147483647]

haha S50 FTW

[Boost Junky 1]

S50 Turbo

[Jamez 2147483647]

they sell kits in the state's that say you will get 1000+ horsepower dooooo itttttttttt

[|ncary 0]

I would definitely need corrected camber then!

And 10 inch wide wheels ahaa!

I expect a detailed report from you James, when you get your project on the road. Would love to know how it responds and puts the power down from anywhere in the rev range.

UPDATE WOW! Mainly for Riley and Jed.

The daily transaction limit has set sending the parts back a couple of days. Had to work out why it wasn't Accepting. Will be doing the transaction in 2 parts because the amount is so big. Other than that, FULL STEAM AHEAD!

[Apex 693]

Hmmm, just got back from having a good drive of a S13 Silvia with 210rwkW.

I want a S50

Turbos are insane in the damp!!! So much easier to modulate the throttle than I thought it would be though.. I could live with one. Too bad the BMW open class can't..

Had to check if you were from South Auckland after that comment. Someone in a 200SX just pulled off a mean J turn followed by 200m snaky up my road. Looked like dangerous fun.

Does the sunroof make that much a difference, that’s interesting.

Good luck with the new expensive bits bud.

[drifty325i 0]

Sweet all good mate

[|ncary 0]

I think turbo cars are crazy, never really have had a proper drive of one, I see how so many gumbys get into trouble with them every friday and saturday.. Good on ya all the people on here with turbo Bimmers! I would love to join you one day..

Random splew:

But for now, I'd call my driving training 'Initial D style'. Practise, practise. practise, then upgrade the car. Engine is last. Apparantly it takes 10000 practise hours to master something, tennis, golf, Downhill MTBing etc. That's a week more than a year of constant corner thrashing. There's no one under 30, at least in NZ, who can say they have mastered driving. A style based on sound theory and practical limit testing will lead to the highest personal satisfaction, and the makings of a pure monster behind the wheel.

A long way to go yet..

[Forrest 35]

Hey Henry, my mate is getting his sunroof panel replaced by a panel of lexan sealed in...option? only costing him $120 for mad racer styles yo

[Jamez 2147483647]

Apparantly it takes 10000 practise hours to master something, tennis, golf, Downhill MTBing etc. That's a week more than a year of constant corner thrashing. There's no one under 30, at least in NZ, who can say they have mastered driving. A style based on sound theory and practical limit testing will lead to the highest personal satisfaction, and the makings of a pure monster behind the wheel.

A long way to go yet..

where did you hear this, my English teacher spent a whole hour going on about that on Monday......

[|ncary 0]

I heard the 10000 hours thing on some doco about Roger Federa, that man has thrice those hours under his belt I think. The rest is what I think about every single day. Most people call me a smart cookie heh, the ones who don't get ripped on..

Hey Henry, my mate is getting his sunroof panel replaced by a panel of lexan sealed in...option? only costing him $120 for mad racer styles yo

Is it 5mm bigger on each side? 10mm total bigger in other words. Is that for clear lexan? Really wanted something dark, but it can be tinted... I'll see how much the fi-glass will cost me. Thanks!

[Jamez 2147483647]

with the E30S50 we just glued the old sunroof in, looks pretty standard, doesn't weigh much either

Edited June 11, 2009 by Jamez

[|ncary 0]

I weigh the old roof panel at over 7 kgs.. Was hoping for 1kg in that place ha. The more weight taken from the greatest distance from the roll centre, the better. Good ol' Moments.

T=F.r.sinθ

Actually, because I'm in the middle of study week. I'll do some calcs.

I estimate the total weight I'm saving on the roof to be close to 20. I'll say 18kgs, and about 1.2 metres from the roll centre or so. At sin 90 during cornering so that just equals 1.

Torque = (18*9.8)*1.2 = 211 Newton meters* of rotational force saved.

Edited June 11, 2009 by Incary

[|ncary 0]

Well, that's at 1 G force. And it's actually measured in Newton metres. So almost the torque the engine produces is going into making body roll. See why they put carbon roofs on the new M3's?

[CamB 48]

I'm no engineer, but it seems to me without knowing what percentage that is of the whole car (or something) its just numbers on the screen...

... I'll put it another way, how do I know that 211 nm at 1G is meaningful.

[|ncary 0]

Well thats the Torque the weight is putting on the roll centre Z axis line. Doesn't really depend on the car's total weight. just during a good hard corner at 1G there will be that much force rolling the car. The amount the car actually rolls depends on springs/sways etc. Note that thats only the weight taken out. To add up the total torque on the roll centre would mean weighing every small piece on the car and it's distance to the roll centre. Which would be a high number yes. But the greatest effect in decreasing this number would be taking weight from the largest distance possible from the RC.

I only know it's meaningful from having taken out the sunroof in my last e30. The difference was incredible. And the physics match that. 211 Nm is a hell of a force though.

If that 18 kgs was on the roll center, there would be a torque of 0 Nm. So it makes sence to get all weight centralised. That's why I'm not taking out the floor sound deadening. Being below the roll centre (I believe) It actually helps roll the car into the corner (it helps the centre of gravity stay low, if it was taken out the CoG would rise), not out of it (think, like a motorbike)

[JiB 0]

Well, you could just make some assumptions from windows up? Take Centre of Mass for sum of those masses as inertia around Centre of Gravity (of whole car) and then seperate the 7kg and do a particle CoM as a percentage of CoM (windows up) to give some indication as to how significant the change is? (you'd probably end up +/- 1000000000N after all the assumptions though )

I'm too lazy to do it now 'cos I'm on a study break for my Statics & Dynamics exam tomorrow haha.

edit: I tried making it less confusing..I think I failed

Edited June 11, 2009 by JiB

[|ncary 0]

Hmmm yes yes yes. The weight of the windows would act through halfway up them.. And the weight of the remainder of the roof and pillers.. The 7 (or 18 total) would certainly make a difference. How much though I'm not sure haha.. The glass is very heavy indeed. But closer to the roll centre.. I think loosing all this weight would be like deleting a windscreen.

[tire 10]

This is getting wayy to technical. Just do a skid already

[drifty325i 0]

This is getting wayy to technical. Just do a skid already

+1 DO A SKID