Interior refresh questions

[liam821]

I worked pretty hard to stay organized throughout the process, was bagging and tagging all bolts etc, but in the end, after everything was back together and working, I discovered two longish bolts that were removed at some point of the tear down and didn't get back in during reassembly. I have no idea where they belong. Everything felt and sounded good, and everything felt solidly secured, no rattles, so, I made peace with it -- maybe I'll figure it out if I ever go back in there but I sure hope not.

You did better than I did. I literally just dumped all the screws into a giant bucket... yolo. Everything seemed to work out okay in the end. haha

[Casa de Mesa]

That is the only short cut, you basically cut it out around the hvac unit and then tuck it up. If you want to have a complete uncut carpet like I did, you need to remove the hvac/steering column/dash support bar. It's not hard, just a pita. I ended up having to pull the intake manifold to get to the two water lines which go into the hvac box, and of course, to pull out the hvac you need to drain the A/C of coolant. Hard, naw, time consuming, very.

You can see a little bit of dove carpet under the hvac in this picture:


And another angle here:


Once you finally remove the hvac unit, here is the piece of carpet that is under it

Dredging up an old thread. I have a couple questions related to pulling the HVAC and carpet.

I'm repainting my car, trying to get as much out of the way for the paint shop as possible. The car currently looks like the photos in THIS POST except the rear carpet is gone, as are side head airbags, and few other things.

I'm trying to weigh, A. pulling the front section of the carpet in order to provide as much uninhibited access for the body shop as possible and reduce risk of them damaging the carpet unintentionally (overspray) against B. the complexity of the job and risk of introducing a rattle, breaking something or whatever. So my questions are:

1. If the carpet is cut as show in liam821 's photos above, does that affect the carpet's ability to stay in place once you reinstall the carpet? It seems like cutting the carpet under the HVAC stack in the center of the dash (above the tranny) is a MUCH EASIER way to get the carpet out, but I'm worried that I'll run into sagging carpet down the road. I know the carpet has a bit of structure to it but... ?
2. If it turns out cutting the carpet is a bad idea, what really has to be removed to pull the carpet? The HVAC and center dash support bars (the near-vertical bars framing the HVAC) I see have to come out for sure, but does the steering column have to come out as well?

Here is a better shot of the car at the moment. Rear carpet out:



Engine bay wiring pulled back into the passenger compartment. You can see the carpet can be pulled away from the rocker panel here (for paint), but it's soooo close to having all of the carpet gone. Still, I'm not sure it's worth the extra effort or not.:

[oceansize]

I cut my carpet and no one would ever know, and I mean it is absolutely impossible for anyone to have any idea it has been cut. There are wires under the carpet so be very very careful.

[heinzboehmer]

Casa de Mesa If you want some added rigidity, you can always "recombine" the carpet with the piece under the dash using some zip ties. Or even sew them back together.

Zip tie method: https://youtu.be/w-rn0GcyhMs?t=2356

[Casa de Mesa]

I cut my carpet and no one would ever know, and I mean it is absolutely impossible for anyone to have any idea it has been cut. There are wires under the carpet so be very very careful.

Casa de Mesa If you want some added rigidity, you can always "recombine" the carpet with the piece under the dash using some zip ties. Or even sew them back together.

Zip tie method: https://youtu.be/w-rn0GcyhMs?t=2356

You convinced me!

Will try the zip tie method. Carpet is coming out.

That dude in the video you linked is hilarious. I thought I was the only one that wacked the crap out of my head all the time, ha! I ended up watching most of that vid. Pretty good stuff. Not sure why I find watching someone else wire up there seats for power so interesting... but I apparently do!

[heinzboehmer]

You convinced me!

Will try the zip tie method. Carpet is coming out.

That dude in the video you linked is hilarious. I thought I was the only one that wacked the crap out of my head all the time, ha! I ended up watching most of that vid. Pretty good stuff. Not sure why I find watching someone else wire up there seats for power so interesting... but I apparently do!

Oh man you're missing out. That whole channel is great. What's not to like about watching others bring old cars back to life?

[Daniel]

If you want to change the color of your carpet, just do it right and actually swap in the replacement color carpet. I can't imagine the dye looking or feeling very good. It's not hard to swap, just time consuming. I spent ~half a day doing mine & I was taking my time.

[Casa de Mesa]

If you want to change the color of your carpet, just do it right and actually swap in the replacement color carpet. I can't imagine the dye looking or feeling very good. It's not hard to swap, just time consuming. I spent ~half a day doing mine & I was taking my time.

Hey thanks man. Agree! I'm changing the color of the CAR, not the CARpet. Carpet just needs to come out so I can paint the car correctly. See here:

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/main-forum/member-build-journals/145270-casa-de-mesa%E2%80%99s-m3-color-change-from-blue-to-blue

If you're talking about the OP, he posted that question about 1.5 years ago. Think he got his answer.

[liam821]

So my questions are:

1. If the carpet is cut as show in liam821 's photos above, does that affect the carpet's ability to stay in place once you reinstall the carpet? It seems like cutting the carpet under the HVAC stack in the center of the dash (above the tranny) is a MUCH EASIER way to get the carpet out, but I'm worried that I'll run into sagging carpet down the road. I know the carpet has a bit of structure to it but... ?
2. If it turns out cutting the carpet is a bad idea, what really has to be removed to pull the carpet? The HVAC and center dash support bars (the near-vertical bars framing the HVAC) I see have to come out for sure, but does the steering column have to come out as well?

Here is a better shot of the car at the moment. Rear carpet out:

Yeah, it stays there cut like everybody else mentioned above. I wanted to change out my hvac system anyway so it was a no-brainer for me. But if you don't have to, I'd recommend against it since you have to drain the A/C system and it's a general pain.

[Casa de Mesa]

Yeah, it stays there cut like everybody else mentioned above. I wanted to change out my hvac system anyway so it was a no-brainer for me. But if you don't have to, I'd recommend against it since you have to drain the A/C system and it's a general pain.

Awesome, thank you. This is very helpful. The motor is coming out (hopefully this coming weekend) so coolant will be out of the motor, but even with that happening, I'm hesitant to dive into the HVAC given the complexity and risk associated with it. If it doesn't need to be done to achieve the result I'm looking for, no sense in overcomplicating things! Which I'm famous for

Nearly every decision I make in the professional world balances risk vs. reward. I'm not sure the reward is worth the risk in this case.

Thanks again everyone.

[liam821]

Awesome, thank you. This is very helpful. The motor is coming out (hopefully this coming weekend) so coolant will be out of the motor, but even with that happening, I'm hesitant to dive into the HVAC given the complexity and risk associated with it. If it doesn't need to be done to achieve the result I'm looking for, no sense in overcomplicating things! Which I'm famous for

Nearly every decision I make in the professional world balances risk vs. reward. I'm not sure the reward is worth the risk in this case.

Thanks again everyone.

If you do want to pul it, it's not the end of the world. You just need to replace the Receiver/Drier Canister ($30 for a mahle-behr) and recharge the system.

[Casa de Mesa]

If you do want to pul it, it's not the end of the world. You just need to replace the Receiver/Drier Canister ($30 for a mahle-behr) and recharge the system.

Oh wow... that Receiver/Drier Canister has to be replaced if you pull the motor? (or rather, depressurize the refrigerant) I didn't realize that. I'm having someone come reclaim the refrigerant this weekend, actually.

Just hit FCP Euro. I saw the mahle-behr was only $35 while the factory BMW part is $270. GULP. 8x the price, it must really dry things well.

Thanks for the pro tip.

[liam821]

Oh wow... that Receiver/Drier Canister has to be replaced if you pull the motor? (or rather, depressurize the refrigerant) I didn't realize that. I'm having someone come reclaim the refrigerant this weekend, actually.

Just hit FCP Euro. I saw the mahle-behr was only $35 while the factory BMW part is $270. GULP. 8x the price, it must really dry things well.

Thanks for the pro tip.

Yeah, anytime it's depressurized and exposed to the outside air. The canister collects condensation from the system, once it's exposed to the outside air it basically goes bad.

[DoubleSidedTape]

Yeah, anytime it's depressurized and exposed to the outside air. The canister collects condensation from the system, once it's exposed to the outside air it basically goes bad.

Are you supposed to do anything special when you install a new one?

[liam821]

Are you supposed to do anything special when you install a new one?

I don't think so. I just installed mine and had it charged later that same day.