Roof chopped BMW mini cooper S

[rkde]

Well the weekend came and went, I would like to say it was a good weekend however this was not the case, the first rapid spot of weld on the roof skin instantly caused the skin to change shape...


The roof skin deforms too easily its only 0.80mm thick and too curvy, bit upset as I can't get the temp low enough to weld it. so on to plan B now, make the skin as best as I can, filler it till I have got it perfect, make a mould then off to the grp / carbon guys for a new light weight carbon roof skin

Shame I can't do it in metal but even the slightest weld spot is deforming the roof too much.

However got my engine and also started to collect items from the powder coaters ~ sump

 

[d c]

impressive stuff, keep the updates coming.

 

[german8rcoupe]

Can you gas weld?
If it's distorting...but welding, then it may be easy to do a bit of hammer and dolly work after welding a short bit. Grind the proud of the weld off inside(if any) and out, then hammer "on dolly" to stretch the haz.

 

[rkde]

its too late, took another look at the panels i hadn't welded and the grinder had deformed it... Going to just make a carbon fibre roof skin now which will make me happy

Thanks for the advice, i can't gas weld but maybe i should have used the tig over the mig

 

[german8rcoupe]

Richard, my point was that it may be easier to control with gas. Anyway, any welding will make the panel shrink in the haz, so stretching it back to where it was will kill 90% of the distortion. Timewise, it may take less than rubbing filler for days.

 

[rkde]

I will look into it, I am partly excited now about the carbon roof but do need to take some time and plan out how to sort the mess, it may not be too bad when I next see it if you know what I mean.

I will let you know what I do with it, wish I had more time so I could spend more than one day a week on the car

 

[rkde]

Well after a stressful couple of weeks with the heat from the angle grinder warping the roof skin I have set my mind on having a carbon roof skin made. Firstly I need to get the correct shape and lines for the car, I know this is going to be time consuming but will pay out well in the long run.

This is the roof so far, does look like a patch work quilt and it is being built that way too. Once the mould is made off the shape I will then be removing the metal

 

[Coo]

Is the roof that bad ?

Shame having the extra work of a carbon roof....also are they okay to have on a race/track car ?
I know sunroofs are bad and should be replaced with metal - is a carbon skin deemed strong enough?

 

[chrism]

bit late now but could you have carefully held some other lumps of metal near to the welds to act as a heat sink? Thought it may help stop any heat distortion

 

[rkde]

Is the roof that bad ?

Shame having the extra work of a carbon roof....also are they okay to have on a race/track car ?
I know sunroofs are bad and should be replaced with metal - is a carbon skin deemed strong enough?

The roof skin on the mini does very little, should be fine as a carbon skin, I have a cage in there so that should help with the strength. from what I have read I am OK to change to a fibre roof so I will... Don't know about a race car I would presume they are OK and its done a lot. I will be using this car on the road and will give those in the know a call before just to be sure

Its not that bad this weekend I managed to pull it back in line quite a lot and I could save it. Not going to say I have given up but I would be a lot less work to have a carbon skin.

chrism ~ the angle grinder did more damage than the welder... I will sort it out though

 

[oz.]

Sunroofs are bad because the glass is unglazed. Tape over the inside and outside of the sunroof and most scruts will be happy.

 

[rkde]

^ are you sure? the sun roof in my clio and the one on the mini was toughened or is it a case of some cars?

 

[oz.]

Not all, but many. If you stick the car on it's roof the last thing you want is to be showered in glass shards.

 

[rkde]

This is true, one of my main reasons for taking it out and selling it also I am not too keen on the sun shining on my, burn far to easy...

I would rather be showered with toughened glass rather than glass splinters from non toughened glass. Used to work in the shower enclosure business and the toughened glass was a lot more friendly to be naked next too rather than laminated.

Anyway - no sun roof going in this car ever

 

[oz.]

When I bought my Saxo the previous owner had covered the sunroof glass in gaffa tape. I removed it and replaced it with a road sign. Makes a lovely 'bong' when you shut the doors now!

 

[rkde]

^ Excellent

Also contacted Kev at ACE and asked about the carbon roof skin, along with reading the BIVA manual

info from kev "I don't believe there are any regs covering materials and some modern cars are glued together even when steel , I've got to speak with VOSA tech this week so I'll check and get back to you ASAP"

I hope there is nothing to shatter my dreams there but the manual says nothing so could be on to a win.

PS thank you Kev for replying, top guy!

 

[oz.]

There are cars made with full carbon so I don't see how just a carbon roof is going to cause problems

 

[rkde]

Agreed, but as I am changing the car from the original design I need to ensure at the end of the build if can go on the road.

spent tonight cleaning the castings with the die grinder, messy stuff but has done a good job

 

[rkde]

Started to place some parts into the home made soda electrolysis which will remove the rust from. This is a simple system using electrolysis with an anode and cathode to draw the rust from the component to the scrap metal.

I will update this with the results

 

[rkde]

its working ~ been about an hour