E46 Carbon Roof - The Ultimate Sunroof Delete

[Cement 871]

Parts from BMW arrived a little early ... not much to say really here but will leave the pics in case anyone wants to replicate. Most of the videos don't show how the bow was welded into place etc and the detail of where it actually meets the B pillar.

It's all about the roof bow and getting the first cert inspection out of the way at the moment. Will make some mock ups of the plug welds I need to do, to get the settings dialled in ... that first one will be hella nerve racking !!!

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by Cement

[Cement 871]

Got the roof bow welded in which is a milestone task ... got very specific with the prep on the car body since this will be buried and generally speaking the weld through primer blows.

Prepared the exposed side of the bow for welding ... will epoxy coat all of the welds and surrounding area.

All done pending 1st inspection, then will do the epoxy and I'm free to mount the roof itself (after sanding the clear coat flat and applying a few more coats, then ... probably sanding it again and polishing)

[Cement 871]

Certifier came out on Thursday and was happy so am free to bond the roof on now. Popped some epoxy primer over the bare welded areas today, and where I had ground a spot for the welders earth.

As far as the roof itself, I wet sanded (400 grit) the clear coat to remove the orange peel and reduce the fish eyes. Applied additional clear to the fish eyes which i will sand back flat tomorrow ready for some more coats of clear. If we can't get it good enough straight off the gun then I will be sanding and buffing before final trim and bonding to the car.

[Cement 871]

Still in a bit of a holding pattern ... should be doing the clear on Thursday fingers crossed then maybe installing it on the weekend if i bake it shut in the bathroom for a half day with two heaters going 😂

[Cement 871]

Slow progress still, but progress none the less !! Got 4 additional coats of clear on the roof last weekend which was great, less orange peel than last time and no new fish eyes thanks to triple cleaning with wax n grease remover. However did manage to get a lot more dust and crap in it 😂 So back onto the sanding (hence the 4 coats) ... this time have gone for 800 hand then 1200, 3000 (pictured) and then 8000 machine before polish.

Biggest issue at the moment is getting a hold of a dual cartridge caulking gun that can take the BMW (SikaForce 7888) adhesive ... the one I got from RA Johnston can't deal with the girth of the thing. Short of getting a gun from over seas at great expense for a one off job I will have to make something ... that's the weekend project, so I can bond the thing on finally !!

 

[Cement 871]

3000 then 8000 sand then polish and it's looking pretty good. Still some fine sanding marks remain but at this stage i think it can be bonded on and will see about some more work on it later.

Top priority now is making the Mad Max caulking gun

[Karter16 404]

4 hours ago, Cement said:

Top priority now is making the Mad Max caulking gun

Yeah that's what Dad and I did a few years ago when we were applying 3M 7333 epoxy to the RACP reinforcement plates - ours looked like the below. It worked great, and was better than spending hundreds of dollars on something we needed to use once.

 

 

[Cement 871]

Love to see the DIY solutions !! Great concept you put together there @Karter16 👍 I got my creation complete today, just need to buy some dowel in case I need to get more travel out of mine after the gooping starts.

[Karter16 404]

30 minutes ago, Cement said:

Love to see the DIY solutions !! Great concept you put together there @Karter16 👍 I got my creation complete today, just need to buy some dowel in case I need to get more travel out of mine after the gooping starts.

Oh yours is next level! You could just about slap a badge on that and sell it!

[Cement 871]

Finally the lid is back on the can !!! The Mad Max dual cartridge gun worked well but you'd be well served to be on a program of 'roids for a few weeks preceding to get the most out of it 😆

Taped all of the under sides to prevent any excess adhesive from dropping onto the seats etc

All clamped down to cure. The sides were a good fit along the car body so didn't need to clamp them down.

Tomorrow will get the clamps off and pop some seam sealer along over the top of the joints. Will be ready then for the second certification inspection which is holding up putting the head liner in, so i can get the B pillar's in, so i can get the rear door cards in, so i can get the back seat in etc etc

[Palazzo 477]

I love the work you’re putting into this.

[Neil McCauley 394]

Love that dual caulking gun! Will it be for hire?! I need to do some panel bonding at some point. 

[Cement 871]

22 minutes ago, Palazzo said:

I love the work you’re putting into this.

Thanks, it's certainly at that point where I want it to be done and back together now !!

7 minutes ago, Neil McCauley said:

Love that dual caulking gun! Will it be for hire?! I need to do some panel bonding at some point. 

For sure just sing out 👍 Any dual 300ml cartridges should work fine in it 👍

[Cement 871]

Got the seam sealer in and I await the certifier to come and take a look again before i can start to put things back together. Will be installing wiring before the head liner goes in for a dash cam also.

[Cement 871]

We're almost there folks ... second cert inspection done and the glass is going back in today. Have re-sanded and polished the front and back where the new window moldings will go also. Hopefully tonight will complete the sanding polishing of the rest of the roof then can put the rest of it back together 👍

[Karter16 404]

2 hours ago, Cement said:

We're almost there folks ... second cert inspection done and the glass is going back in today. Have re-sanded and polished the front and back where the new window moldings will go also. Hopefully tonight will complete the sanding polishing of the rest of the roof then can put the rest of it back together 👍

Can’t wait to see the end result!! Such a cool project

[Cement 871]

Forgot to add I found the very start of some rust in the left A pillar. Only piece of rust I've seen in the whole car !! Was essentially just a paint bubble and I assume an imperfection in the e-coat which allowed the start of it. Got onto it with a little wire wheel, rust converted it then added epoxy primer and some colour matched blue over the top.

Glass back in !!! The tint looks awesome and will be sweet once it's done all over. Will get to finishing the roof sanding and polishing tonight Then tomorrow ... wash the dusty thing !!!

[Cement 871]

So I finally got a good finish on the roof, and learnt how to polish something properly finally it seems !! Never really had the hang of it before it seems. I'll likely leave it like it is and then get it re-cleared after summer perhaps so I can be sure there is a good thickness for UV protection.

Only thing left to do is reinstall the weather strips now, these will be glued in with polyurethane. It's pretty hard to get a good picture of it in the garage ... will try and get something more fancy in the future.