[firefish]

My 968 is a tad fat, something I intend to cure. At some point in the past the roof was replaced and the sunroof was deleted. With regards to weight this is all good except that the job was not very well done and needs to be corrected. And since I have to take the roof off to fix this I might as well put a carbon fibre roof on it instead [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]. I haven't seen a 968 with cf roof so I'm guessing that it is not a very common modification but considering the design of the roof it looks like a pretty straight forward job. Save for manufacturing the roof off course...

Does anyone know if this has been done before, and if so, are there roofs available?

I'm guessing I won't save<i> that</i> much weight but it would look nice (especially together with a cf bonnet and adjustabe rear wing).

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[flash]

the biggest weight loss would be in replace the glass with lexan, particularly the rear - the hood (bonnet) can save some, but only weighs 39lbs stock, so not a whole bunch - all totaled body panels could save about 100lbs - the rear glass is about 50

to my knowledge, there are no pure carbon fiber parts available to date - the last time i called, gt racing made some fiberglass stuff, and some carbon fiber lain over fiberglass, but not pure carbon fiber vacuum formed parts, which would be he lightest

arktech (sp?) used to make some stuff, but it was thousands of dollars, and in japan

there is somebody who made a carbon fiber sunroof, and said he planned to make more, but i can't remember who it was

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[firefish]

<!--quoteo(post=67110:date=Feb 15 2009, 06:04 PM:name=flash)-->QUOTE (flash @ Feb 15 2009, 06:04 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->the biggest weight loss would be in replace the glass with lexan, particularly the rear - the hood (bonnet) can save some, but only weighs 39lbs stock, so not a whole bunch - all totaled body panels could save about 100lbs - the rear glass is about 50

to my knowledge, there are no pure carbon fiber parts available to date - the last time i called, gt racing made some fiberglass stuff, and some carbon fiber lain over fiberglass, but not pure carbon fiber vacuum formed parts, which would be he lightest

arktech (sp?) used to make some stuff, but it was thousands of dollars, and in japan

there is somebody who made a carbon fiber sunroof, and said he planned to make more, but i can't remember who it was<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Will defo go for lexan in the future - however, I can't at this point decide if I wan't a cool little slide window in the drivers door or just a plain window...

The reason I'm doing the roof is simply because it has been badly repaired and it needs to be fixed and I really like cf roofs (like on the M3 CSL).

Btw, is it fiber or fibre (pardon my limited english).

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[jeffski1]

I've thought about a replacement sunfoof many times. I personally never use it (and yes it still works), and that pieces weighs a ton. Got to be a good place for us coupe guys to shave some pounds.

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[Cloud9...68]

Yes, the sunroof does seem to weigh a ton. I weighed mine once, and I seem to recall it was a hefty 21 lbs, although when you're struggling by yourself to take it on an off, it seems to weigh five times that. Here in Austin, I've simply kept it off 95% of the time, as it's not my daily driver, and I almost never drive it in the rain.

Firefish - do you have access to carbon fiber molding equipment? I talked to the guy who made my naca ducts about making a carbon fiber hood for my car, and it was a heart-stopping $3000 estimate. Quite a sum to save maybe 20 lbs. Apparently, creating the mold for the first one is extremely labor intesnive. How would you attach the CF roof to the pillars?

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[94SilverCab]

<!--quoteo(post=67111:date=Feb 15 2009, 12:43 PM:name=firefish)-->QUOTE (firefish @ Feb 15 2009, 12:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Btw, is it fiber or fibre (pardon my limited english).<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


Fibre is English, Fiber is American LOL. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

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[firefish]

English english, American english - as if a foreign language wasn't tough enough to begin with... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

About the roof. The issue here should be with the a-pillar, and the solution is something that I would have to come up with along the way. Unfortunately it will probably require some sheet metal work but that has to be done anyway since the bad roof job has to be corrected at some point. If the roof was good I would probably not have considered this. Another approach is to use the window frame of the convertible (the expensive route me thinks).
The attachement will be made by glue, same kind as what is used on other cars with cf roof. Available through BMW dealers among others.

A friend of mine has worked with cf and he has some equipment. I haven't tried working on cf in the past, only on fiberglass, so this will be a trial-and-error procedure. I will start with the bonnet first before I get on with the roof. However, I do think that the issues with working with carbon have been blown out of proportions, mainly because it is quite an expensive material to f**k up , and that it's not much more difficult to deal with tha fiberglass (although conductivity could prove to be a real problem). I'll probably regret the last sentence... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif[/img]

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[flash]

lol - it is very similar to working with fiberglass, if you use that same method - in fact, many "carbon fiber" parts are made with the same kinds of resins, and even have fiberglass layers

now if you were going to be really cool and make it from a carbon/kevlar honeycomb and vacuum form it...................

anyway, there are a few ways to attach the new sunroof, so you should be able to figure out something that works, including one that retains the removable feature if you want (i know of one method for sure) - i'll see if i can find the thread that i saw where a guy did his already - wasn't too bad as i remember

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[firefish]

<!--quoteo(post=67162:date=Feb 16 2009, 05:04 PM:name=flash)-->QUOTE (flash @ Feb 16 2009, 05:04 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->lol - it is very similar to working with fiberglass, if you use that same method - in fact, many "carbon fiber" parts are made with the same kinds of resins, and even have fiberglass layers

now if you were going to be really cool and make it from a carbon/kevlar honeycomb and vacuum form it...................

anyway, there are a few ways to attach the new sunroof, so you should be able to figure out something that works, including one that retains the removable feature if you want (i know of one method for sure) - i'll see if i can find the thread that i saw where a guy did his already - wasn't too bad as i remember<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

The plan was not to make a carbon sunroof but rather an entire roof. It is not on the top of my things to do though...

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[Lim Yong]

hey firefish..any thought about making other carbon fibre parts like the front splitter? i'm thinking the
Tech Art 3 piece one..Lim

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[firefish]

<!--quoteo(post=67173:date=Feb 16 2009, 07:53 PM:name=Lim Yong)-->QUOTE (Lim Yong @ Feb 16 2009, 07:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->hey firefish..any thought about making other carbon fibre parts like the front splitter? i'm thinking the
Tech Art 3 piece one..Lim<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
See new thread!

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