captainawesome said:I think your sheetmetal is probably too thin of gauge for this application. If it comes in a roll, it's not thick enough. Aluminum sheets around .04 is what's used for circle track panels, and could be found pretty cheap. I'm still debating putting brackets to hold the stock lid of mine for now until I can get a sheet of aluminum that's cheap enough.
It probably is too thin, yes. Honestly it really is to keep it somewhat weather tight for now.
FuzzWuzzy said:I've only seen a small few that gutted the original sunroof panel, very slowly welded it back on, body filler to blend, and silicone to protect against leaks.. Honestly looks the cleanest to me, but the most time consuming.
I am thinking about this option more and more. My main concern was the gap, and panel warping. But I have a plan for the gap if I do this eventually, and with how messed up the roof is already, what's a little more warping. Then it would just look like a slicktop car with some weird roof damage. I think maybe once the rest of the car is operational I will revisit this area and spend some more time on it.
In reply to AWSX1686 :
It's likely the route I'll be going on my E30, only because I'm a glutton for punishment. Plus "stock" slicktop just looks so good.
I believe I saw one where the guy gutted the panel and only did bondo to fill/blend. If I were to do something like that, I'd fab up some really really simple aluminum tabs/strips to secure that panel in place and to hopefully protect it from any flex.
Cut an oversized section out of a junkyard car and glue it in with panel adhesive. Should be easy enough to hide the seam with filler, or just don't worry about it. I'd bet the rear half of the roof has a close enough crown for a passable cut/paste if you can't find a non-sunroof car.
If you don't want to use panel adhesive you could flange it with a HF flange tool (or one of the handheld versions for probably the same money, or more) and rosette weld it in.
Crackers said:Cut an oversized section out of a junkyard car and glue it in with panel adhesive. Should be easy enough to hide the seam with filler, or just don't worry about it. I'd bet the rear half of the roof has a close enough crown for a passable cut/paste if you can't find a non-sunroof car.
If you don't want to use panel adhesive you could flange it with a HF flange tool (or one of the handheld versions for probably the same money, or more) and rosette weld it in.
That's not a bad idea, I've been avoiding buying yet another e28 though. Something like that I would like to have myself to take the time and get a good cut on the panel. (A.K.A. not with battery powered tools in a junkyard.
An enthusiastic person with a hammer and a chisel can cut most of roof skin off a car in about 10-15 minutes.
Cut 3"-5" away from the your ideal finished edge and trim it to size (removing the FUBAR edge) when you get home.
I would recommend the flange and panel bond route or flange and tack. I welded a sunroof delete and even being what I thought was careful with the heat it did distort some. If I could do it over I would flange instead. It seems like modern car steel is more sensitive to heat than classics were. 
In reply to GoLucky :
The roof is already distorted some, so I don't think I care too much about that.
What clamps are those though?
Not that you haven't had enough ideas thrown at you, but this is what I'm going to do with the E21.
In reply to AWSX1686 :
Horrible Freight has those clamps for cheap.
AxeHealey said:Not that you haven't had enough ideas thrown at you, but this is what I'm going to do with the E21.
Too many ideas is better than no good ones!
So what do you have going on there? 1/4" plexi and some fasteners?
TurnerX19 said:In reply to AWSX1686 :
Horrible Freight has those clamps for cheap.
Got it! I'm going to have to pick some of those up.
"Butt Welding Clamps"
https://www.harborfreight.com/butt-welding-clamps-8-pc-60545.html
In reply to AWSX1686 :
Yes, harbor freight $7ish gets you 8 clamps I bought 4 packs and it seemed adequate.
Friday night I got the driver's battery cut-off switch mounted and the main power wires run. I think the last one I'll need to do is the alternator wire, but I need to look into the wiring for that a bit more.
I didn't get the curve on the kill-switch mount even, but it's close enough. I might try to even it out a bit more whenever I paint.
It's mounted to the trans tunnel with Riv-Nuts.
In reply to AWSX1686 :
That's not my car, but it's a 2002 (BMW roofline) and what I plan to do on mine. I believe that it's 1/4" and it's riveted in with clear caulk sealing it up.
AxeHealey said:In reply to AWSX1686 :
That's not my car, but it's a 2002 (BMW roofline) and what I plan to do on mine. I believe that it's 1/4" and it's riveted in with clear caulk sealing it up.
Gotcha. I'll definitely keep that idea in mind. Still leaning toward welding a panel in, but that's still a good ways out. Now that I have the main power run, I need to do some relays, etc for fuel pumps, and clean up the engine harness, then see about getting the dash to work.
The sunroof delete talk has been very helpful! Thanks!
AWSX1686 said:AxeHealey said:Not that you haven't had enough ideas thrown at you, but this is what I'm going to do with the E21.
Too many ideas is better than no good ones!
So what do you have going on there? 1/4" plexi and some fasteners?
What kind of rivets? I'm thinking maybe sex screws (look it up!) with locktite would be more waterproof and not have anything protruding into the interior. But I really like the idea of having the roof open for light. Looks sweet.
So, not much progress, but I was getting frustrated with my battery for being junk and not wanting to crank this thing over. Well, turns out the battery may not be as junk as I thought. I had a known good battery out that I was using for another project and threw it in quick to test, and that struggled to crank it over too.
So.
Skimping on the battery cable may have bit me. I'm guessing this issue is a combination of the cable length, and the cable gauge/quality (CCA). I put the battery in the back because that seemed easiest for having an exterior kill switch, but I may have to re-think that setup, and look at requirements again.
Does an exterior kill switch have to be on the back of the car, or can it be anywhere?
Nhra says the back.
Go to the junkyard and look for a BMW with the battery in the trunk and grab the cables from it. That's how I do all my trunk mounted batteries these days and it's incredibly high-quality cable.
In reply to AWSX1686 :
My RX7 had it at the center of the cowl. Check your requirements. For the class the car had to have it accessable by a person standing on either side of the car so middle of the cowl fit that rule. Some of the modern cars have them mounted by the A pillar so that the driver or a person on the outside can both reach the switch. It's all about rules.
I don't have a lot of U-Pull-It yards around, but maybe I should look harder.
Side note, how much do you think the ring lugs I put at all the connections, kill switches, fusebox, etc matter? They are some cheap ones I found on Amazon.
Ive never had an issue with the copper ones from the flaps. Id assume the Amazon ones are solid copper.
Dusterbd13-michael said:Ive never had an issue with the copper ones from the flaps. Id assume the Amazon ones are solid copper.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JQWC1G5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Hmm....
Id be willing to bet that those are a copper/aluminium/tin mix. Definitely not like the ones that i use from the flaps.
You'll need to log in to post.
