22 replies to this topic

[charliebudd]

I have bought a 1275 gt recently and the sun roof has leaked and caused the roof skin to become quite rusty, i am looking to replace it with a complete carbon fibre roof skin. I would like to get the one piece so no join down the middle. I have looked at TDK, ian curely and arc angels. any one ever dealt with any of these companys ? also how difficult is it to fit a carbon roof skin compared to a standard metal skin.

Any help and advice is appreciated.

many thanks

[J960mayfair]

hi from what i have read carbon weasel is the only person that does a complete roof! i may be wrong!

regarding fitting it how rusty is your previous one and were is it rusted? they usually cut it off and leave a gap around the edge then tiger sill it on!

i pressume you have a full roll cage etc as you will lose alot of strength cutting the roof!

regards j960

[charliebudd]

i think arc angels do a complete skin with no join aswell. the roof is mainly rotten in the centre i spose its not that major, the sunroof is an aftermarket thing that hasnt been fitted properly so it looks nasty aswell another reason for going down the carbon route. looking at costs, the tdk carbon roof skin is £250, and could fit that ourselves. i have been quoted £250 for metal skin and then paying some on to fit it and then to get it painted, carbon fibre route seems cheaper.... ?

[Artful Dodger]

It could be cheaper but as you would be bonding it on there would be no strength in the roof section. You would really have to have a full roll cage to keep the strength in the car.

[Bungle]

i pressume you have a full roll cage etc as you will lose alot of strength cutting the roof!

i don't remember Rover fitting a roll cage to the British open classic and the other minis fitted with the large full length sunroof

[charliebudd]

i do have a roll cage i could fit, but from experience with carbon front ends on several cars they tend to be stronger. but i see what you are saying with the roll cage. more peace of mind then anything,, any idea how easy they are to fit ?

[Cooperman]

Actually the roof skin itself does very little in structural terms. It's the structure around the roof, i.e. the gutters and panel joints which provide the shear and bending strength.
If you leave around 3" land from the existing roof all around the edge, remove all the paint and roughen the sheet metal to give a good keying surface when the carbon roof is bonded in with a really good structural adhesive it will be strong enough. The key is in getting a really sound bond between the steel and the composite materials all the way round.
I've also seen an aluminium roof panel bonded and rivetted on and that also seemed fine. You could use some small countersunk head bolts to ensure the sufaces made good contact with each other during bond curing, then just fill the heads and paint the roof.

[tiger99]

Don't forget to tell your insurance company, as it is a major modification which certainly affects the risk. Expect the premium to increase. You may find at some stage that you need an IVA test, which your car will not pass without very major modifications.

Fitting a new steel roof is relatively simple, and avoids all insurance and IVA complications.

[mike.]

As bungle says though, minis fitted with a webasto sunroof as standard didn't have any extra reinforcements. So don't see why you'd need as IVA. If you wanted you could cut a webasto sized hole and put the skin over that. as far as anyone knows thats how the car was as standard

[Cooperman]

I fitted a new steel roof skin in a day the last time I rolled a Mini! Properly welded on too.
There was a very well known Mini racer from Watford called Mo Mendham and he was an aeronautical engineer. He made an aluminium roof and rivetted/bonded it his race car. You couldn't see it was ally and the scrutineers never discovered it was not steel.

[Andrew O]

Can you fit a carbon roof skin straight over the metal roof without any cutting ?

Andrew.

[mike.]

Yes if you like. An expensive thing to do for no gain though.

[Andrew O]

The gain would be that it looks nice haha.

Andrew.

[Noah]

The gain would be that it looks nice haha.

Andrew.

Carbon Wrap and Some clear coat may work out cheaper

[Bungle]

Don't forget to tell your insurance company, as it is a major modification which certainly affects the risk. Expect the premium to increase. You may find at some stage that you need an IVA test, which your car will not pass without very major modifications.

Fitting a new steel roof is relatively simple, and avoids all insurance and IVA complications.

you are fine cutting a full length sunroof sized hole in a mini roof as the roof skin isn't classed as a structural area

no IVA needed this time