» Site Navigation | | » Recent Threads | | | | | | | 05-12-2010, 04:40 AM | #1 | Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Bath, NC Posts: 6 | California Roof Motor Repair The infamous gear in my California Roof motor is stripped, and no longer fully engaging the worm gear. The Cali Roof will not completely close now.... I take it from reading this forum that the gear itself is not available as an individual part, Correct? Is one forced to buy the entire motor?! I have been searching eBay for a motor, and there are plenty of e36 sunroof motors. But no Calif Roof motors. Has anyone disassembled one of the sunroof motors from an e36 (or any other model for that matter), to determine if its gear is interchangeable with the gear in the California Roof motor? Or does anyone have a link for schematics for various BMW sunroof motors (including the Cali Roof motor)? Thanks for any leads. | | | 01-13-2012, 04:16 PM | #2 | Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: greenville south carolina Posts: 35 | Desperate for a functioning roof I know this is an old post but I decided to revitalize it with a reply. I've actually tried this, my California roof gear is also stripped, fortunately enough for me I have an e36 m3 so I pulled the sunroof motor to see if it was interchangeable, and its not. The gear is different in almost every way. I tried to call B&M (my local machine shop) to see if they could custom fabricate a metal one for me, this shop was unable to do so. So if anyone out there has any suggestions or knows of a Craigslist post in their rea with a salvaged california roof 318ti please let me know because I don't have the 300 extra dollars for a new motor, I do get a discount because I build BMWs but still the price is ridiculous. | | | 02-15-2012, 06:53 AM | #3 | Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 50 | i have the same problem. But thank god it was completely shut down. I saw a schema for how to take off the cali top in here but motor. If you can find a solution pls post it in here.. | | | 02-15-2012, 06:57 AM | #4 | Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 50 | | | | 02-15-2012, 12:30 PM | #5 | Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Elizabeth City, NC Posts: 3,877 | If someone could take pictures and measurements of the gear it would help. As far as I know, pnosker never came up with a solution for the gear problem. __________________ ~Dave~ 98 328ti Morea Grun slicktop 11 128i space gray slicktop 13 JGC WK2 Deep Cherry Search | RealOEM | | | 02-16-2012, 09:41 AM | #6 | Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 50 | i think all cali top owners are alone with this problem Spidertri, i sent u a pm to get ur ideas about those rims, im waiting response by the way.. | | | 02-16-2012, 10:16 AM | #7 | NOBODY F's with the Jesus Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Ventura California Posts: 7,824 | Quote: Originally Posted by spidertri If someone could take pictures and measurements of the gear it would help. As far as I know, pnosker never came up with a solution for the gear problem. | +1, if someone could remove the gear, take a few pictures, measure the thickness(precisely) then place it on a piece of cardboard, spray paint over it so it leaves a silhouette, then send me the piece of cardboard, I might be able to make a few out of aluminum on my milling machine I don't even own a cali-top, but I think this would be a fun project. | | | 02-17-2012, 06:48 AM | #8 | Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 50 | thank you cooljess76! Seems like you will be cali owners' hero I will try to take that thing off this weekend. | | | 02-19-2012, 08:42 PM | #9 | Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 50 | Unfortunately Atlanta has a terrible weekend weather this week, as always. However, I took some pictures of the motor's gear and top's gear to give you some idea. In my case, the motor gear is fine but top's gear. I couldnt clearly see the top's gear because you have to take off the headliner to see what is going with it. Hopefully, we will have a nice weather next weekend Here is the pictures, 1. Only 2 screws, [/IMG] 2. [/IMG] 3. 4. [/IMG] 5. 6. [/IMG] 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. | | | 02-20-2012, 12:49 AM | #10 | NOBODY F's with the Jesus Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Ventura California Posts: 7,824 | ok hmmm... I'm pretty sure I can cut the outer teeth with no problem, but the inner splines exceed my capabilities. The only way I see that even feasable would be to cast it, but if you're going that route, you might as well cast the entire gear. So it would be a multi step procedure involving really tedious work. | | | 02-20-2012, 01:03 AM | #11 | Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Elizabeth City, NC Posts: 3,877 | Need measurements, thickness, outer diameter, inner diameter, tooth thickness, and better picture of the inside of the gear, use macro setting on the camera. __________________ ~Dave~ 98 328ti Morea Grun slicktop 11 128i space gray slicktop 13 JGC WK2 Deep Cherry Search | RealOEM | | | 02-20-2012, 05:01 AM | #12 | Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 50 | Thank you for your help cooljess76 and spidertri. Im 100%ly dedicated to this job. I saw some manuals about the top but they are not clearly showing the procedure of removing the parts. So i will be challenged by it. All my work so far was just to know what was going on on the inside. All the measurement details will be posted with better pictures next weekend, hopefully Additionally, i bought the rims spidertri. They werent that much bad. | | | 02-26-2012, 11:17 AM | #13 | Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 50 | The folding top repair is delayed little bit due by windy Atlanta weather and scary Mallard's resources Anyway, i spent some time for replacing the rims instead of cali top repair for this weekend. But still im in progress i guess At least in some ways | | | 08-17-2014, 07:03 AM | #14 | Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Portland Oregon Posts: 1,363 | any updates? | | | 08-17-2014, 07:49 PM | #15 | Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Atlanta Posts: 50 | My car's head gasket blown when I was trying to fix the top. So, i delayed to fix the top again at that time. Currently my ti is not under of my ownership | | | | | Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | | Posting Rules | You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is Off | | | |