Thinking about taking a stab at removing the a/c condenser and
compressor (and keep the fan/heater working)... is this difficuilt to do?

I found this thread by megatron:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174054

For the aux fan in front of the condenser...
1. Is it legal to remove it by SCCA STU rules?
2. Will the car still have sufficient airflow after the fan removal?

Thanks,

don't remove the aux (electric) fan. your motor will for sure overheat.

the clutch fan is the one you want to get rid of. it's not really necessary as long as the aux fan is in place, and if the clutch fan grenades from a torn belt or water tube, it'll fuX0r up the whole front of your car. understeer.com has the directions and stuff for this.

Pulling the whole thing out is very simple. It's even easier when the motor is sitting next to the car. ;)

Oh, and I didn't exactly bleed the system. :help

so how much weight does one actually save by pulling AC?

30+ lbs. When I removed it on my bros race car, I bled the system myself. I know it wasnt the best thing to do but hey... it worked. Just be prepared with a bucket and a lot of paper towels if you do. The car had no suspension and I wasnt about to pay somebody to bleed the system. Luckily, on my race car Im preparing, I have no A/C as its a LTW. Makes things a lot easier. Like others have said, the heaviest part was the condenser which we saved and tried to sell but couldnt. It ended up in the garbage along with all the lines and hardware.

My stuff is in a box with ALL of the rest of the stock parts from my car. At first I would have been able to put the car back to stock in an afternoon, then it changed to an entire day, then a weekend, now it's over a week. :confused

You're talking about the fan delete?
I can't legally remove that for STU class.

I'll keep both fan in... :)

don't remove the aux (electric) fan. your motor will for sure overheat.

the clutch fan is the one you want to get rid of. it's not really necessary as long as the aux fan is in place, and if the clutch fan grenades from a torn belt or water tube, it'll fuX0r up the whole front of your car. understeer.com has the directions and stuff for this.

How about sunroof? Anyone did a sunroof delete?
Just heard that it's worth some 100+ lbs??? :eek:

found this by m3ltw98:


For the sunroof delete, take out the whole black piece held in place by the torx bolts. Drop that down and the sunroof panel will come free. When your cage is done, have the guy weld tabs from the body to the sunroof or tabs to the cage to fix the panel in place. We've gone one step further on our race cars and have pulled the weatherstripping out around the sunroof and filled it in and sanded it smooth and painted over it. Cant even tell a sunroof was there.


not exactly sure what he's talking about though.. :p

I did sunroof delete. I don't think it's 100lbs, but maybe 30-40. Maybe a search or another board member can verify.

no not quite 100lbs. it's a bunch tho.

deleting the cassette and the motor is a boatload. ~25lbs.
then the panel itself weighs 13lbs. you can get this down to about 1lb with a carbon panel like i did.

so ~40lbs. but in autox that's only legal in street mod.

in stu, you have it much harder. you can only do it via an update backdate, and that involves removing the entire roof and replacing it with a sunroof-less panel.

Not only is it significant, but its removed from the highest point on the car, which really helps lower the center of gravity.

no not quite 100lbs. it's a bunch tho.

deleting the cassette and the motor is a boatload. ~25lbs.
then the panel itself weighs 13lbs. you can get this down to about 1lb with a carbon panel like i did.

so ~40lbs. but in autox that's only legal in street mod.

in stu, you have it much harder. you can only do it via an update backdate, and that involves removing the entire roof and replacing it with a sunroof-less panel.

Instructions for this as well please :redspot

look for a post by gary... gwrichardson42. very good explaination. the only thing i did differently was i made a carbon filler panel instead of using the stock roof.

if i ever make time to actually work on my car again :( :( i'll finish up the carbon cassette and manual tilt+remove roof out of carbon i was doing before nats last year. goal was <4lbs total mechanism, but still a tiltable, removable sunroof... but right now, between gmat prep and shipping a v1 product at work, the car stuff is low on the prio list. :( :(

Here it is...

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1930863&postcount=32

Those of you that took out the a/c and the fan, did you also take out the aux fan? and if you did, did you add an a manual aftermarket fan?

no keep the aux fan and all is good. if you remove the clutch fan, make sure to swap the thermostat and aux fan temp switch to the lower temp ones or ye'll overheat yer shiot. look on understeer.com for the clutch fan delete kit.

I did the whole fan delete mod w/ thermostat. This is on my race car. Is there any reason to keep the aux fan?

I did the whole fan delete mod w/ thermostat. This is on my race car. Is there any reason to keep the aux fan?

i still have my aux fan but have been thinking about pulling it....i may pull it off this summer and see how that works out....once you are moving that fan isnt doing anything anyway...

i'll probably end up getting an aftermarket rad and an electric fan to run on cool down laps and in the paddock...

I did sunroof delete. I don't think it's 100lbs, but maybe 30-40. Maybe a search or another board member can verify.

30-40 lbs sounds about right....removing the sunroof was not exactly the most fun part of gutting my car...

I did the whole fan delete mod w/ thermostat. This is on my race car. Is there any reason to keep the aux fan?

is overheating a big enough reason? With no fans, any stop and go traffic or pitstops or whatever are going to be invites for overheats. The aux fan is tied in with the function of the AC but that isn't its only function.

It is legal in DSP on at least some cars as well.

But not with a carbon insert. you have to weld on the stock non sunroof panel.

no not quite 100lbs. it's a bunch tho.

deleting the cassette and the motor is a boatload. ~25lbs.
then the panel itself weighs 13lbs. you can get this down to about 1lb with a carbon panel like i did.

so ~40lbs. but in autox that's only legal in street mod.

in stu, you have it much harder. you can only do it via an update backdate, and that involves removing the entire roof and replacing it with a sunroof-less panel.

So it should be legal for ST rules as well right? Since there are E36 M3s that
come with no sunroof.

It is legal in DSP on at least some cars as well.

But not with a carbon insert. you have to weld on the stock non sunroof panel.

So it should be legal for ST rules as well right? Since there are E36 M3s that
come with no sunroof.

It's legal in stock to convert to an available option in your year and model. But you have to do it like stock, which is more work that what Ryan did (megatron). That means getting an OE roof, and OE headliner. It's been done before, but it's expensive to meet stock class rules (and of course would be STU legal per stock rules).

Chris