roof transplant

sprintevo

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My current cars roof is rusty, dented, one of the c pillars is full of filler and lead the A pillars are poor near to the roof. I have in my garage a CSL roof section with A and C pillars and am now looking at the best way to transplant it. Has anyone on the forum done this before? what are the pains and pitfalls to consider before I start. I plan to take this slowly and carefully, measure 3 times and cut once, if there are any diagrams as to how the factory put these sections together it would help in knowing what to unpick.

Thanks in advance
 

sprintevo

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My current cars roof is rusty, dented, one of the c pillars is full of filler and lead the A pillars are poor near to the roof. I have in my garage a CSL roof section with A and C pillars and am now looking at the best way to transplant it. Has anyone on the forum done this before? what are the pains and pitfalls to consider before I start. I plan to take this slowly and carefully, measure 3 times and cut once, if there are any diagrams as to how the factory put these sections together it would help in knowing what to unpick.

Thanks in advance
 

MichaelP

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For what it's worth, the lead in the A and C pillars was put there by BMW. Id est, they all do that. Because (a) the roof is an integral part of the structure and (b) the front and rear glass won't fit if the body gets twisted when the roof is removed, roof replacement is a tricky process. You'll need to tube frame the car before cutting the roof (see photo below). I'd suggest calling Matt McGinn if you're on the east coast or Peter Sliskovich if you're on the left coast for some professional advice on the topic.

P1010015.sized.jpg

From Sports Car Restoration website.
 

MichaelP

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For what it's worth, the lead in the A and C pillars was put there by BMW. Id est, they all do that. Because (a) the roof is an integral part of the structure and (b) the front and rear glass won't fit if the body gets twisted when the roof is removed, roof replacement is a tricky process. You'll need to tube frame the car before cutting the roof (see photo below). I'd suggest calling Matt McGinn if you're on the east coast or Peter Sliskovich if you're on the left coast for some professional advice on the topic.

P1010015.sized.jpg

From Sports Car Restoration website.
 

sprintevo

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I am in the UK

I plan to support the bodywork with a tacked in cross brace as described
 

sprintevo

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I am in the UK

I plan to support the bodywork with a tacked in cross brace as described
 

gazzol

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Its not at all a scary process and there is no need to brace the car either if you do it properly.
To do it properly you need to remove the outer skin of the roof only and leave the frame intact. There are two ways that I can think of to do this, the first is to drill out the spot welds that are hidden in the gutter (rain channel) and under the front and rear screen rubbers. The second way (this is how I did it) is to cut the outer skin off using an angle grinder (keeping away from the seams) and then carefully grind back to the seams once the majority of the outer skin was removed.
Check out my restoration further back in this section.
 

gazzol

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Its not at all a scary process and there is no need to brace the car either if you do it properly.
To do it properly you need to remove the outer skin of the roof only and leave the frame intact. There are two ways that I can think of to do this, the first is to drill out the spot welds that are hidden in the gutter (rain channel) and under the front and rear screen rubbers. The second way (this is how I did it) is to cut the outer skin off using an angle grinder (keeping away from the seams) and then carefully grind back to the seams once the majority of the outer skin was removed.
Check out my restoration further back in this section.
 

Malc

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Go with one of Gazzol's plans
tools - You need a decent 4 1/2" angle grinder and spot weld cutters.
Buy your Angle grinder disks at a welding supply place, much cheaper than the B&Q route.
Good spot weld cutters are available from places like Partco, Dingbro etc
If possible use an air drill, lower RPM and higher torque. Run them too fast and you will burn them out very quickly.

Lead loading on the pillars was done at the factory - its the joint between the pillar and the rear wing, same at the front. It has advantages over modern "plastic" fillers but is tricky to do.
 

Malc

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Go with one of Gazzol's plans
tools - You need a decent 4 1/2" angle grinder and spot weld cutters.
Buy your Angle grinder disks at a welding supply place, much cheaper than the B&Q route.
Good spot weld cutters are available from places like Partco, Dingbro etc
If possible use an air drill, lower RPM and higher torque. Run them too fast and you will burn them out very quickly.

Lead loading on the pillars was done at the factory - its the joint between the pillar and the rear wing, same at the front. It has advantages over modern "plastic" fillers but is tricky to do.
 
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