Interior refresh questions

[Casa de Mesa]

And if you’re worried about the carpet looking out of place, I doubt anyone will hop in your car and start tugging at it to verify if it’s been cut or not, lol.

Lol, bastards better not tug!!

[LSBNick]

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.

This. I completed my interior swap in December of 2020 and cut my original grey carpet. As Ocean mentioned, just be patient and mindful of the wiring and you’ll be fine. My carpet looks like and feels like it came that way factory.

And if you’re worried about the carpet looking out of place, I doubt anyone will hop in your car and start tugging at it to verify if it’s been cut or not, lol.

[rbg]

I’ve been looking for a carpet for more than a year now

[Casa de Mesa]

Put red carpet on the dash. Problem solved.

This must have been a post after a couple Friday night beers.

[Arith2]

Put red carpet on the dash. Problem solved.

[Casa de Mesa]

The something special is to attach the receiver dryer last. You don’t want to leave it exposed to the atmosphere very long or you lose the drying effect.

Exactly what I was thinking. Appreciate the heads up on this, I would have had wet AC, lol!!

[dutchhome]

The something special is to attach the receiver dryer last. You don’t want to leave it exposed to the atmosphere very long or you lose the drying effect.

[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.

[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]

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.

[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]

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]

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]

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]

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.