removable hardtop diy?

[spyderg0d]

After alittle deliberation i decided the only rung left on the soft top frame must be removed. So essentially whats left of the soft top frame is the a pillar connection piece with the latches. The window seal sections. The rear window sections welded to the main "pull back" rungs that originally supported the entire frame. And an upside down bracket to fit on the installed soft top enclosed in the compartment.
Its imperative that the pieces be welded firmly and solid. (I found the steel to be akward to weld with a tendancy to be hard to get hot to penetrate)

The rest will be simple. Just removing pieces of the inside structure of the hardtop to make it sit low as possible on the frame and blend in to the car. I will have to wrap the rear section with sheet steel for a good finish in the end. Will also cut at the roof lines as to "fan" the sides, bend to match the shape of the soft top frame weld together. Finish. I might have to add or do extensive "fanning" to the sides of the rear section to get proper curveture to match the rear windows and shorten the width. Will add pictures as the process continues

[Moron95M3]

Man I wish I had as much free time as you! Keep it up!

[spyderg0d]

Eh. I recieved a workers injury about 7 months ago. Then i walked into considerable money on a invention patent. Now I am a stay at home dad. I get school hours to do as I please. The project should be wrapped up this weekend atleast to the dry in phase.

[spyderg0d]

To be honest if I was more experienced in fabrication, this would have taken half the time to get this far. It would take about 6 hours to chop and weld a soft top frame. Maybe 4 hours for an experienced welder to weld the hardtop. Then maybe another 6 to get where im at. And im probably over 40hrs btwn the extra welding, and planning, second guessing everything so i dont mess it up.

Ive decided after this, im going to create a hardtop that fits together with multiple pieces with the normal roof seals a hardtop would have. So that it can me removed or installed in sections. 1.so it can be extremely easy to install and drop. 2. It will fit in a vert trunk.

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Better yet. Not fit in the trunk. But fit in the top cover. A full replacement for a soft top.

[samy01]

i can tell you why welding is hard

you should only weld on blank metal

[Nanniepoo]

Eh. I recieved a workers injury about 7 months ago. Then i walked into considerable money on a invention patent. Now I am a stay at home dad. I get school hours to do as I please. The project should be wrapped up this weekend atleast to the dry in phase.

Can I ask what the patent was for? That's awesome!

[samy01]

if it's that forced-exhaust-sucks-exhaust-gases-out-of-combustion-chamber thing i'm going to jump out the window




or lay under the lawnmower. i dont know yet

[spyderg0d]

Move along with harassing comments to some other thread plz.

Im aware that cleanliness of the metel is detrimental to penetration and strength of the weld. The composition of the metel in the soft top frame is not nearly as clean as the metel in the hard top. Making it more difficult to leave a weld without alot of excess bead in the non clean compositional parts of the frame.

[Nanniepoo]

I'm genuinely interested

[spyderg0d]

Yes. Although my communication skills are horrible. A working model was assembled with more attention to detail , other than the bland idea that was spread on other threads, has been proven to raise VE of an engine. I sold temporary non producing systems rights to a devision of an auto manufacture's technologies group.

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But this thread is not about that. I got enough flack from ppl about it. I prefer if we keep this thread diy hardtop related.

[M3blitkrieg]

Was that what made the car sound like a jet when you revved? It sounded cool AF!

[spyderg0d]

Yes. Im hoping to stick the new "technologically up to date" version on this build. It will be paired with a turbo and hopefully a multi geared sc.

[spyderg0d]

I couldnt get any pics for todays progress as the rainy day didnt cooperate with my crappy camera.
Today cut the most farward excess off the roof. Cut and tapered the sides and bent them in as to make the actual sides of the roof into a wind deflector sort of design for the front windows. The sides of the roof will overhang the windows. This not only allows the window to be open slightly on rainy days and not force water into the car. (I always hated that on my vert). It also drasticly reduces the amount of water exaposed to the window seals and allows a "water shed" system thats away from the car itself at standstill or while moving. For the window seal gap to the hardtop, I will just be welding curved sheet steel to fit tightly to the front window seals and then directly to the outside edge of the rear window seals metel carrier. Then to the inside of the hardtop where the outer "drip edge" creases onto the main roof line. This will be the water ahed channel essentially that moves the water to the back while car is in motion. Then its double check the rear top cover seal alignment and finish it up.

[spyderg0d]

Decided on colors for the entire car. I want it the bright yellow that came on the e36, but i want some sort of design in the hellrot. If anyone can come up with something, I would be more than happy to consider it. The only requirment is to keep it simple so i could stencil it on the car myself. Thanks!

[samy01]

i personally wouldn't mix yellow and red (but if it's your wish, go on)

i think yellow with black details looks good

[LockDots]

[samy01]

i just looked up what stencil means

you really sure about that?

[spyderg0d]

Yes... Im sure about that.. I have a friend that makes signs. He can print out a small basic billboard material that i can cut the negative off and use as a base stencil. ..

[spyderg0d]

Eh. Maybe ypur right about the colors. I would like it to be dakar yellow and have majorily hellrot in it. But i will consider others. Im a fan of the white, blue, and the orange. I was originally going orange. But they are such good colors! The car was originally hellrot, but i dont want it to be too Ferrari when its done.

[spyderg0d]

For instance. I love what happened here. https://www.google.com/search?q=cust...rSmk80pHRkxFM:

[MParallel]

am i correct with my assumption that you are converting your convertible into a coupe

Other way around.

I totally forgot about this topic and honestly I thought it was a joke, but fair play for doing this project.

[spyderg0d]

Why would it of been a joke? Also, it is a convertible. Making hard top... Thought that was an obvious.

[MParallel]

Why would it of been a joke? Also, it is a convertible. Making hard top... Thought that was an obvious.

Yeah my bad, see it now.

Why a joke? Because it seemed completely redundant and far fetched. And it's been quiet for a few years.

[spyderg0d]

Yea... I guess i never thought of it as far fetched. It was incredibly difficult to find a alike roof from another car. Mostly because of the rear window size. Almost any car has 48" to 50'' wide rear window. I think the closest in dimensions i came to was a cadillac. Ofcoarse it was massivly too wide. Idk. I never considered it not finding a way to happen. I knew eventually id find something that would fit the bill. I guess most convertibles hace similar dimensions for roof structure. Obviously hard top convertibles are alittle more rare. I actually think mime will be nicer than the original. The rear glass is beautiful. Maybe its just with how it seems to work with my bodykit that makes me think that.

[extremebimmer]

Seriously, seeing the responses from some people here that are blatantly bullying someone else over their creative idea really is not okay. I may seem new to this forum but I have been on here with other handles since the early 2000's and I have found the bimmer community to be great overall. I am a DIY'er myself and if this guy wants to custom fab his own hardtop then that is awesome in my eyes. I think it is a great idea and might do this for my Z3 roadster as well as those tops are around 2000. I have access to a full metal shop with 3d printers, powder coating room, welders, and vacuum molding. To hear people try to tell this forum member that it would be IMPOSSIBLE is just sad!! Anything is possible with the right tools and knowledge.

Why do people have to come on here just to put other people down. Are you that bitter with your own lives that you need to hate on someone's else's motivation. I am a veteran and can say that it is very healthy and therapeutic to work to keep creative. It is one of the best forms of rehap from physical and mental injuries for veterans. For example I am working on a project right now and my biggest motivation for that project is to inspire other vets to step out of their comfort zone and find new things to occupy their time and minds.

Anyways, I hope those that bullied this guy can see that they are just unhappy with their own lives and it is not nice to take it out on someone else. This is a freakin forum meant for talking about working on cars and you are coming on here and making fun of someone for talking about working on his car. It's his car and he can do whatever he damn well pleases to it. If he wants to chop it up and make it look like a lambo then he can and should not be told it is impossible and the worst idea ever. Think about it...next time before being a BMW snob! This is called "bimmer" forums and not "BMWslobforums" ;-) There is a big difference between bimmer and beamer or at least there used to be.

End of rant, sorry for getting so annoyed but this is not the first time I have seen a-holes on this forum in the last couple of years. It seems like it is getting worse recently. I am sure some people will get upset with what I am saying but again I am guessing those will be the same bitter people who have nothing better to do. I don't take kindly to online bullying.