[Tinsta]

Originally Posted by Ao1

I'm wondering if it is really necessary to strip our the roof liner. (?) Maybe its easier to get the spot welds on the cross brace, but I reckon I could get them off without internal access. Is there any reason you know of as to why the roof liner needs to come off?

You probably can, but to take out the spot welds will involve a fair bit of heat, which will inturn transfer and possibly burn the headliner. If you planning on cutting the metal roof, to get to the cross brace, you still need to be very careful not to damage the liner.

Originally Posted by RajB

I agree wholeheartedly it was a brave move. I was very unsure tbh BUT after Tin did the same with his 135i and a new roof from Geoff Steel Racing I figured sod it. In all honesty I bought the first roof before I bought the car LOL.

Hahah yep, its a scarey thought, but definitely worth it saving weight, where you can. mine came in at 40kg lighter than a stock 1M back in march, that's before the recent additions .. hoping for under 1400kgs and less than a M3 GTS

[Ao1]

^ I found a good tutorial on M3Cutters and it does look like its better to remove it.

I’ve just finished getting a CF roof off a scrap car. The perimeter was bonded with a hard set adhesive. Splitting the CF and steel roof was difficult and took a lot of time. When I did spilt the CF roof it had loads of the hard set adhesive on it, which I had to carefully grind off. I was expecting SSG, but that had only been used for the cross bars.

The roof could do with a re-lacquer as there are a couple of minor areas that have delaminated. I’m strapped for time and facilities so I’m looking for someone to re-lacquer & fit it. Any suggestions in the Milton Keynes or London area?

[RajB]

Richard, if the resin has started delaminating then sanding it back and lacquering won't help as the resin will have started to some away from the CF material itself (if that's what you mean), in which case you need to get it properly sorted. I've got 2 spare roofs sat in the garage lol and one has delaminated and the other is scratched a bit. The delaminated one I asked the body shop to do what you were thinking and they refused as said they couldn't just lacquer it over. The scratched one was going to be sanded back etc but then I found the roof I finally fitted which was mint and was cheap enough to be a more viable option than the cost of re-lacquering the scratched roof.

[RajB]

So it's been a little while since the roof went on but have a couple of small updates.

First couple were needed before attending Gaydon. The 313's have always looked a little tired with the curbing etc so the car was dropped off to The Wheel Specialists to get them refurbed in black chrome. Basically all black with the face blown over in a nice high silver to blend into the black as well as adding Eibach 10mm spacers all round and a stud conversion with TPI closed cap nuts:





Then at Gaydon I decide to replace the crappy side indicators with some F* style dark ones (I know not to everyone's tastes):



And then finally the Performance CF side mirror covers:



Will get a full side pic with the indicators and mirror covers.

More to come in sure lol.

[Nickos]

Raj, what sort of cash was the wheel specialist for the work. PM if you want to keep it hidden

[Sparky68]

Looking good Raj, think the side repeaters look good personally.

[Ess]

Looks awesome Raj, so OEM+, I love it! That finish on the wheels is just perfect, and even after all these years of seeing that moulded aero lip bumper, I think it looks just as great as ever. Nice!!

[Ao1]

The F style indicators look good, much nicer than the OEM indicators. The wing mirrors are also a nice match with the roof. Little things add up to make a big difference.

[mob17]

I do like the F Style indicators

[RajB]

Originally Posted by Nickos

Raj, what sort of cash was the wheel specialist for the work. PM if you want to keep it hidden

PM'd buddy.

Originally Posted by Sparky68

Looking good Raj, think the side repeaters look good personally.

Yeah I was unsure to start with but love the now.

Originally Posted by Ess

Looks awesome Raj, so OEM+, I love it! That finish on the wheels is just perfect, and even after all these years of seeing that moulded aero lip bumper, I think it looks just as great as ever. Nice!!

Thanks buddy. I love the stealthy look. That sounds like a strange thing to say but when parked up at Pod she doesn't really grab that much attention which I actually quite like in a way.

Originally Posted by Ao1

The F style indicators look good, much nicer than the OEM indicators. The wing mirrors are also a nice match with the roof. Little things add up to make a big difference.

Cheers and appreciated. Mirror covers and roof are actually different weaves which is a little strange as they are perf ones.

Originally Posted by mob17

I do like the F Style indicators

Agreed. Mine were looking worse for wear so had to replace em anyway but glad I went with these.

[Ao1]

Originally Posted by RajB

Cheers and appreciated. Mirror covers and roof are actually different weaves which is a little strange as they are perf ones.

I don’t think it is possible to get the mirror covers with a plain (1×1) weave due to the geometry of the cover. A 2×2 weave is more pliable for creating curves.

[RajB]

Originally Posted by Ao1

I don’t think it is possible to get the mirror covers with a plain (1×1) weave due to the geometry of the cover. A 2×2 weave is more pliable for creating curves.

You can get after market variants in the same as the roof as Paul off Cutters that I bought these off did that to match the roof and other CF pieces he has on his M3.

Still look great though.

[S4DNX]

Fantastic post! Makes me now go hunting for parts....

[RajB]

Originally Posted by S4DNX

Fantastic post! Makes me now go hunting for parts....

Thanks It's certainly addictive and nice to have positive comments with all the effort.

[RajB]

We'll have been a little quiet of late deciding on some of the next mods to do.

I've always liked the seats etc as they are but always found myself checking out performance seats and the like but at the ridiculous cost of them I haven't been able to justify it.

So as a nice compromise I found a really decent set of M3 interior in Black Novillio leather. And at a pretty good price too.

So after a few hours cleaning them up and treating them over a couple of days I got them all fitted.

All cleaned up. The small indents have all come out as they were just from being stored:


Comparison of the 2 fronts. You can see the larger bolsters and shoulder support:




I did have to sort out a small connection issue as the live pin wire on the seat connector is in a different position depending upon whether your car is pre/post 2007 or something.


The rears were quite time consuming as getting to the 2 small bolts that hold the bracket where the split folding meet was a bit of a pain. Gave me a chance to give the car s good clean too lol.

All striped out:


And all in (really like the new centre console with the cup holder unit):


Pictures don't do them justice tbf.

Thanks,

Raj.

[S4DNX]

Its the best feeling changing standard seats to performance! I remember I did this in my Megane 225, only made me want to go into corners quicker to see how much it would keep me in my seat before slamming me into the door lol

[AWBimmer]

Looks great Raj!! Rear Cup Holders FTW!

[RajB]

Originally Posted by S4DNX

Its the best feeling changing standard seats to performance! I remember I did this in my Megane 225, only made me want to go into corners quicker to see how much it would keep me in my seat before slamming me into the door lol

Thanks. In my old V6 4motion I added R32 seats and they were unbelievable. Still can't beat the M active ones I had in the M5.

[RajB]

Originally Posted by AWBimmer

Looks great Raj!! Rear Cup Holders FTW!

Cheers bro. What's FTW? Lol

[AWBimmer]

"F**k the world"

LOL

[Ao1]

Don't you mean For The Win

[AWBimmer]

I was hoping to start off a riot in here but you have just stopped it all Sir! LOOOL