Rear window repair is it possible.

[Vince70]

I popped into the upholsterers the other day to show him pictures of whereabouts around my window the stitching has come undone and he is not hopefull about being able to repair it as he said it might open a can of worms and it would be easier just to replace the roof.

It's booked in on the 6th so fingers crossed it will be ok to repair as I don't have £900 for a new one.

 

If not I was thinking about buying a new outer zip like this one.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi... 1316241561

And taking my old zip off the roof and reinstalling the new zip to the new window then hand stitching the lot back in..

Do you think it could be done ok on a DIY basis.

I may have to ask someone who has better sewing skills than myself to give me a hand and obviously will have to use a good quality thread and needle and it may take awhile to pin it perfectly in position first.

[Skizzer]

Um, what car are we talking about?  What's up with the window?  Linky not worky...

[Vince70]

Sorry I should of said its a Z3 bmw.. I bought a new window to zip into the old zip around the frame but I will have the get the outer zip sorted which is coming away.

I don't mind paying a couple of hundred for a repair as the roof is in good condition apart for the window.

[Vince70]

Sorry here's a link to the outer zip again.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=201316241561

This ancient IPhone is terrible to use lol

[Stanky]

Out of interest (I have never owned a soft top) is it £900 for a brand spanking new one, or £900 for a second-hand hood from a breaker? Can they be procured more cheaply from a broken Z3, or are they all utter shite and if you're going to bother to replace the whole damn thing you might as well use a new one?

 

I ask because I am genuinely interested.

[Pillock]

I think the place I used for the MG does Z3 windows too....

[messerschmitt owner]

£900 should be a brand new one fitted. I got a new roof on a punto and it was £600 fitted. A new wndow was £250-300.

[spike60]

I re windowed by Z a couple of years ago, it was a faf about but worth it. The edge of the fabric you can see should be tucked under the plastic beading on the outside of the hood, it is not where the zip attaches. When you buy a new window it comes with 1/2 the zip to attach to the hood, the sealing is done by double sided tape a few mm from the edge of the fabric so it shouldn't matter if not tucked as in pic. Yours should have good access as doesn't have roll bars, you do it from inside.

[spike60]

I paid £70 inc p+p for my window from Germany a couple of years ago, took about a sweaty hour to fit. If buying yourself, if possible you want as broad a bead as can get, it won't leak but will look scruffy when the hood come untucked.

 

Once you get the old window out it should be straightforward to sew the zip back onto the hood by hand.

[vulgalour]

Gaffer tape comes in black.

[Vince70]

The window I bought for the car was the £70 eBay window.. it must be the same company.. How did you find the quality of the window spike did the zip line up ok.

Here's the one I bought.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=371278202631

I'm feeling a bit more optimistic now about getting it repaired as it looks worse than it actually is as most of the problem is due to outer edge not being tucked under the rubber.

I forgot to mention to the earlier post £900 gets you a new roof fitted to your existing frame but I think if you shop around it should be cheaper.

 

You could most probably buy a second hand frame and roof for £150 and bolt the lot on but the problem is that the chances are that the rear screen will be knackered on that one also.

[spike60]

I don't think it is the same company, mine only did windows and roofs but I can't find them at the moment but should be much the same.

You can get them off a tooth or two, I think mine is off as the window had a minor ripple in it but two years later I can't say I notice. I would have probably gone back for another go but mine has factory roll bars behind seats making access a twat, you fit it inside with roof up.

My new one had a much narrower bead than the original and the fabric comes untucked in a couple of places after the roof has been down some time (like 5 months, hardtop taken off on Tuesday!) but this does not affect the weathproofing.

The zip on mine was tight enough to need pliers to pull, I would recommend silicone spray or similar to lube it up especially if your zip stitching is a bit raggy.

The only quality comments are the screen is soft so it marks easily and the outer bead was narrower than the original.

My listing had a video where a Fraulein fitted one in about 6 minutes, where was she when needed? I may still have the English instructions if I can find them.

Let me know how you get on.

[spike60]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z3-Convertible-Cabriolet-Hood-Rear-Window-Zipper-in-clear-not-tint-/141220917008?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item20e16c2f10

 

This looks like the one I got, it has a small video on the listing showing installation, if you're smart enough you'll be able to expand it. I'm probably not.

Edit, -perhaps I am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGMi8XneLhM

[Vince70]

Cheers for the link Spike if the guy decides it's not worth repairing I will now have a go at repairing it myself..

 

Now that I know that the hood actually tucks into the frame I think it will only need a little bit of stitching in a couple of the corners so it's looking more promising to repair it now once I've got the mould off it.

 

I'm going to wash the roof down with a bit of Milton bottle steriliser then give it a recolour in Renovo and after that give it a brush of tent seal.

 

I did this on my Audi Cabriolet and it came up as good as new..

But I will see if the upholsterer says first as he may be able to put my new window back in for me.

 

I've also recently been told of a place in Croydon that does z3 roofs for about £350 so I think fitted it should come in at £500 if I take it to them.

 

I used them about 10 years ago when I had a GTI cabriolet and the finish was fantastic I also needed a new frame around the glass and the company sourced me a decent second hand one for £40 rather than having to go to VW.

 

I can't grumble really as I did only pay £1300 for the car and apart from a small crack on the bumper (and window) the car is immaculate.

 

And with only 60000 on the clock it should last a few summers

[spike60]

If you've already got the window give it a go, access is better on yours and repairing the stitching will be straightforward with the window out. Get a useful assistant though, not a reluctant teenager!

[Vince70]

I was going to get my mother to give me hand with the stitching.

The video really makes it look easy but I do realise that in reality it will take someone like myself with no sewing skills about a week lol..

 

I might just cancel the roof repair now as I'm about to be laid off anyway in a couple of weeks so will have some spare time to have a go myself.

[New POD]

You should contact these people http://www.mazmania.co.uk/page.php?domain_name=mazmania.co.uk&viewpage=Hoods 

 

Give them your old roof and get them to use it as a pattern.

 

I paid £250 for a mohair one with glass rear window, 5 years back and fitted it to the MX5 myself (Only took 6 hours)

[DSdriver]

Generally the stitching goes long before the material because it is affected by UV. Try and use the old holes again if restitching otherwise you can suffer from postage stamp syndrome.

[Vince70]

I've had a good look at the roof today when I got home and it looks like quite an easy repair as the zip isn't damaged and it's only come away either side of the window by about 3 inches.

 

I've still got the roof booked in for the repair but hopefully it should be an easy repair for the upholsterer (so hopefully cheaper than expected) but the window itself hasn't done bad as its got the original BMW stamp in the corner so it looks like it's lasted 18 years and now that I've cleaned the roof up it's come up as good as new so I'm quite chuffed with my little Zed.

 

So last weekend and this afternoon I thought I would have a good look underneath the car and check it for any rot and all I could find was a bit of surface rust on the edges of the over sills which I dealt with with a drill and wire wheel and a bit of krust and hammerite and then I used an old black touch up stick and you would never know its been painted

 

Also It had lost one of the four jacking point covers so I bought another one via the local BMW dealer and it cost £10 with free delivery whereas on eBay I was going to get charged £20 for a secondhand one, so it sometimes pays to go through the main dealer.

 

While I was at it I dedided to take the other covers off and cover the underside of them in grease to stop any rot and I also covered the inside of the wheel arch lips with grease so it should last a few more years now before it needs to go near a welder or a paint shop

 

So next week when I'm home it's going to get some fresh oil and a coolant change plus some new filters then an oil inspection reset, I was going to change the plugs but to be honest it's running so well that I don't want to jinx it.

[spike60]

The ends of the over sills are showing a little rust on mine too, they seem to object to stone damage. In 3 years mine has had a rear window, inlet and exhaust cam sensors, inlet trunking and a set of pads and discs which is good in my book for 15 years old /97k. Mine is one of the last 2.8's, very frisky in the gears and make a great noise.

The hard top is off for the summer now and it also has a set of 17" black OZ wheels with excellent Conti's that it came with but I'm not sure about them, a bit Gothic for me.

[Vince70]

That's one nice car and the 2.8 is the engine of choice in my book..

 

Have you had the leaky boot yet spike.. When I got mine home I found that it held more water than my bath, I must of drained a good couple of gallons out of it but it seems fine now since I changed the perished high level brake light seal (only about £4/5) .

 

While I was at it I thought I would take the paint off in the tool kit well as mine looked like it must of been full with water for quite some time and I was worried that it might of eaten it's way into the floor pan but it was still as good as new so the quality of the metal in these old BMWs can't be to bad.

 

Also I thought I would take the mirrors off as mine had a little bit of alloy corrosion so after a clean up and a bit of etch primer and paint I'm more than happy with the results.

I would love a hardtop but the prices of them seem to be way out of my price range as it seems you can buy a Z3 for the same price of a hardtop, did yours come with the hardtop.

[spike60]

When I got the car it had previously had a leak, there was an old green high tide mark in the left well with some corroded electronics in the bottom. Something to do with the alarm IIRC.

I bought the car from a friend with 2  sets of wheels, though not the ones in the pic, and the hardtop.

The top is BMW a one with heated screen etc and weighs a ton, it's a 2 man job to get it on or off though it transforms the car making it much quieter and stiffer. I didn't want it at the time but paid £500 so as not to split it from the car, I'm glad I did now though does defeat the point of a convertible a little!

The pic doesn't show a couple of scars, it has some tacky stick on bullet holes on the rear bumper to cover a scuff (previous owner) and a ding in edge of the bonnet from the heel of my hand, trying to fully shut it when I closed it on an aerosol and it jammed, neither up nor down!

[Vince70]

I popped into the upholsterers today and was told it couldn't be fixed unless I paid out £900 for a new roof so as I already had bought the window I thought I would give it a go at repairing the rear screen anyway.

 

So I took the old window out and cleaned up the old thread and managed to get the exact same thread and got my mother to pop over to restitch the zip back in and the repair is completely invisible

 

The thread had only come apart due to sun damage over the years so there was no damage as such to the zip or the hood so tomorrow once I've got a spare half hour I will zip the new window back in.

[Vince70]

The rear window went in a treat in the end and looked ok but I found that everytime I put the roof down the zip would undo at the bottom so I had to keep undoing it and reinstall (I was supposed to stitch the zip together but every time I inserted the needle I would push the zip apart) the window so I lost my temper with it in the end and it ended up in the recycle bin lol.

 

So I just booked the car up for a new hood as although The old hood looked ok there was some slight shrinkage on the front of the hood and although I could of made an invisible repair it would of still bugged me so it's off to Surrey soft tops on Thursday and a new mohair hood is only £325 fitted so now it's a decision if I should go for a red or black hood.

 

Being a tight arse I might go for black as it's cheaper plus I imagine the red roof might look better once fitted but I imagine in a years time it would look stained and dirty.

[Vince70]

I got a new soft top fitted at Surrey Softtops and rather than playing about with trying to fit a new window I should of taken it straight there..

The quality is superb and is as good as the original roof and only cost £325 fitted rather than the £900 I was originally quoted local to me..

So if anyone needs a roof I can highly recommend them..

[Pillock]

Window looks good but they've fitted the car to it the wrong way up.

[Felly Magic]

It's the gravity defying version. It does go to show that the place wanting £900 for a floppy top were taking the piss

[spike60]

My local trimmers who have a good name wanted £250ish but me being tight wad went for £74 DIY version. The same trimmers did an old Aston prototype refurbishment for Aston themselves a couple of years back as a slightly connected aside.

[Vince70]

Only thing was I only went about a mile down the road in it yesterday and in that time the gear knob came apart and I then closed the drivers door only for the pattern part mirror glass and backing plate to fall out on the floor and smash lol.

 

That will teach me to buy pattern part..

So yesterday evening it was straight on eBay and I bought a genuine NOS leather gear knob and a genuine mirror glass with backing plate..

 

So at the moment it cost me yesterday £40 a mile.. I hope it's not the shape of things to come lol