Thank you, Will do!
Hi Guys!
Thanks for waiting.
Just to let everyone know we have completed our new e36 mold and already laid one panel up. Panel came out beautiful, nice and straight. Also to make everyone’s live easier we are pre drilling panels to match the factory holes. We have also addressed the stiffness department by adding an extra layer of material.
We have one panel leaving to Robert on monday with a rivet kit. At the same time we are planning to lay couple of panels on monday and wednesday.
Thank you,
Alex
S2Rtuning.com
New Item announcement!
E36 Headlight Delete/Covers with corner light integrated. As you can see one picture shows prototype headlight cover installed in the car, and another one is an actual plug being made...
Should be available in November...
Sorry for poor quality pictures.
_______________________________________
New CF panel pictures... As you can see it is very straight!
Last edited by Spitfire1940; 10-24-2011 at 12:32 PM.
Looks good, Alex! Looking forward to getting everything installed - please let me know tracking info once it ships. I'll be posting some CF panel installation pics soon.
Looks good cant wait to get mine
I received the newly revised CF panel today - it looks great and much improved over the original version. I did some buffing to get it looking even better, and it is quite a bit stiffer and holds up well to buffing pressure without flexing now. The top also seems quite perfect in terms of not having any irregularities in the surface - it reflects light evenly now.
So far, so good - will get it installed over the weekend.
I give serious kudos to Alex for sending me a second panel since the first one wasn't perfect - not everyone would have done that, and it's much appreciated!!
Installation pics to follow in a few days ...
Last edited by memphomaniac; 10-26-2011 at 08:39 PM.
I finally got to install my new panel and thought I'd show the result. The panel is much improved over the original since Alex at S2Rtuning.com made a new mold and a more rigid panel. I started by completely buffing the panel with my orbital polisher and some Adam's Polishes products which worked well to get the swirls out:
I removed the driver's seat to make it easier to remove the cassette. After unplugging the wires for the sunroof motor, I removed all the screws holding the cassette in place (one screw for the sunroof motor), and from the back seat, lowered it and slid it out the door. I was really glad I removed the driver's seat, as this sucker was HEAVY and awkward:
The sunroof seal was next. There was a lot of silicone adhesive which was quite difficult to remove from the painted surface, but it was necessary to get it all off to ensure the new adhesive would make a good seal - this was the most time-consuming part of the job:
I then test-fit the panel to get everything checked out and to mark the hole positions for the 4 rear screws:
Removed the panel and drilled the 4 new holes. I used a center punch to mark the spot, then drilled progressively using 4 different size drill bits. It's steel, and is a bit tough to drill through. You have to be careful not to hit the roof too hard when the drill bit breaks through the first layer of steel.
After drilling, I again test fit the panel installing all screws and steel + rubber washers - fit perfectly!
I couldn't believe how tight the gap was - the panel doesn't move at all when loosely installed.
Here's the silicone (RTV) adhesive I used:
I put about a 1/4" bead of RTV all around the perimeter at the base of the 90 degree shelf, pushed the panel into position (it stuck there so I was able to let it go) and installed all 14 screws.
Once installed, there were only a few areas where the RTV had pushed up through the gap to the point of being above the surface, so I wiped those spots down with paper towel. It came off easily, but I had waxed the panel top surface before installation, which I believe made it easier to get the adhesive off easily. Seeing that, and being concerned about water build-up inside the gap, I then pushed RTV into the gap from the top all the way around and wiped off all the excess with paper towels.
It's perfect - looks like the car came this way - thanks to Alex for coming up with a great panel. Most of the methods I explained came from Alex who was patient in answering my many questions.
I'm going to miss my sunroof, but this mod was necessary to get the headroom I needed for the track (6'3" plus a helmet), and it takes about 35 pounds from the top of the car which can't hurt - I can't wait to see if there's less body roll now!
If you want to see more pics in higher resolution, look here.
Last edited by memphomaniac; 10-30-2011 at 09:51 PM.
Thank you! We try our best...
Up Date: 11/08/11
Test Fit of E36 one piece headlight delete/block off's
Do you guys leave the top bare after install? Or install a non-sunroof headliner? What did you do with the switch panel?
I'm also interested and was wondering how much shipping is to 91106? Or maybe can do a local pickup if one is available?
Thanks. Very nice piece of work!
Hi Armorring,
When we installed it on our demo car we left the headliner out, since we use this car for tracking/Racing purposes. I know that many of you like your self would like to reuse the stock headline for street use and just to keep the car clean.
Two ways to handle this matter, 1 is to buy some factory looking headliner material and glue using 3M pray to a piece of cardboard that matches your factory cut out. Just make sure to support your headliner with couple of brackets that you will have to make and attach to the center support of the roof. Will not be that difficult to accomplish. (I can show you when you come over to pick up the roof panel if you decide to buy one)
2nd option is to buy non sunroof headliner, but as talking to couple of our customer that turns out to be expensive and hard to find.
If you are interested you come over and pick up the panel. I would not want for you to pay for shipping since you are that close to me. We are located in N. Hollywood
Just let me know so we can lay one up! I am pretty sure we can have it done for this weekend.
Thank you,
Alex
S2Rtuning.com
I am working on building a piece from fiberglass to follow the shape of my new sunroof delete panel I bought from Alex and mod my headliner panel to include it.
I looked into purchasing the non-sunroof headliner. BMW only has gray available - the P/N is: 51448173541. You can buy them from BMW or other parts suppliers. Just a couple of weeks ago, I had found some for around $600, but I just looked and it seems the price has gone up to around $1000, and there's no guarantee it will fit perfectly, since the delete panel does add an additional component that's not in the non-sunroof car. So I've given up on getting a new one, and I haven't been able to locate a used one.
I created a fiberglass mold from Alex's panel and am using this as the shape for the piece to close out the hole in the original headliner. I want to follow the new shape as closely as possible (even to include the rise in the center), because in my case, the sunroof delete was mostly to get more headroom in the car so I could fit with a helmet, so I don't want to give much of it up. This makes the job a lot more difficult, as I plan to cut a much larger section out of the original headliner - the entire width of the new delete panel. If headroom is not an issue for you, then you can just cover the hole with stiff poster board or a sheet of stiff plastic.
Once I get the headliner panel finished, I plan to take it to a local upholsterer to glue the fabric I bought. I will try to use stick-on Velcro to hold the new fiberglass section of the headliner to the sunroof delete panel, just to prevent it from sagging in the middle. I'll be trying to get this new headliner finished this week - will post pics if I am successful.
Wow! That is awesome, can't wait to see the finished headliner...
You will soon, but we are planning to change it up a little bit... Not sure about the final look, but will see.
As of right not no one has the type of block off's like ours... Easy to install and looks good. Only thing I am not sure if I wanna make carbon version available...
Thank you,
Alex
S2Rtuning.com
Well, call me crazy, but since my car is still a daily driver, I decided to tackle modifying the headliner panel to allow me to have all the headroom I could get and get the car looking more finished.
Below are pics of the new headliner with the sunroof hole enlarged, then filled using one layer of fiberglass mat. The tedious part was making the mold.
Top side:
Inside:
Close-up:
I have test-fit the new headliner in the car, and it fit great. I noticed the single layer of glass across the middle of the panel (large flat area) flexed down some, so I will probably add a second layer of glass to the top. Also, I plan to glue the sunroof control switch panel back in position with the hole for the sunroof control switch filled in. Then, I'll need to clean it all up and bring it to a shop to get new headliner fabric installed. I don't think I'm going to try that part myself when there's an experienced upholstery shop nearby that will do it for about $90.
If you're interested in seeing the whole story of all the steps along the way along with higher resolution photos, click here. Once you go to this site and click on a thumbnail image, you will see a caption below most photos explaining what I was doing, and different resolution options (e.g. medium, large, original, etc.).
do you make a version for the ti?
uses the same panel as a sedan/coupe but im not sure how it mounts
Hi Minicoop900,
After researching I found couple of pics of 318Ti with removed sunroofs. looks to me that it usues 325i ( Sedan roof ) Just compared to to my sedan roof that I have here at the shop. Picture 1 is a 318ti and picture 2 is the 325I Sedan roof... Looks the same too me!
Last edited by Spitfire1940; 11-20-2011 at 11:35 AM.
Hi,
Scratch and Dent Sale: $200.00 Shipped! CF Panel...
Nothing is wrong with the panel just one of the older versions that we pulled out of the mold that had one low spot. Perfect condition and predrilled for 2 door e36.
Thank you,
Alex
Alex@s2rtuning.com
Last edited by Spitfire1940; 11-27-2011 at 12:32 PM.
Starting a new project... CF lux skirts.
Last edited by Spitfire1940; 12-04-2011 at 02:34 PM.
Thank you,
I will let you know! I can't wait to start the project...
More new projects coming up!
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