Sunroof Or Not?

[kingboyk 2]

love my sunroof and she has never leaked.

 

+1. Nothing beats windows down and sunroof open on a nice warm day

[wilyoldave 0]

I am seriousley thinking of putting a sunroof back in mine - it did have a dealer fit one but it was removed and the paint job is not the best. I dont intend tracking the car and it would be nice to have a sunroof.

 

Is it easy to do? buy the bits get a tin opener and away you go I suppose! the one bit I am worrying about is the vacuum bit - is this a pita to retro fit?

 

Has anyone done this before? any hints/ tips greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks Dave

[benny205mi16 19 1 Cars]

I have a sun roof but have never used it because I am scared it will start to leak, or the air seal will not refill.

But after reading what people are saying I think I will give it ago now.

[Anthony 1,003]

I am seriousley thinking of putting a sunroof back in mine - it did have a dealer fit one but it was removed and the paint job is not the best. I dont intend tracking the car and it would be nice to have a sunroof.

 

Is it easy to do? buy the bits get a tin opener and away you go I suppose! the one bit I am worrying about is the vacuum bit - is this a pita to retro fit?

 

Has anyone done this before? any hints/ tips greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks Dave

The dealer-fit / aftermarket sunroof would probably be easy enough to retrofit so long as you got absolutely all the parts I would imagine, as they were after all easy enough for a typical monkey to install and not make a complete hash of.

 

The factory fit vacuum sunroof on the other hand could be somewhat more awkward, although not impossible - the factory sunroof cars had a different roof skin with additional strengthening present, although there's nothing that I've seen that would prevent it being fitted to a non-sunroof type roofskin (which is what the dealer-fit / aftermarket sunroof models started out with) just means more work. The hole is in a different place though, so I really don't know if you'd be able to retrofit easily to a roof that once had a non-vacuum sunroof in.

 

The vacuum bits would be easy enough to retrofit as there's surprisingly little to it - it's basically the main seal, the handle and valve mechanism, and a vacuum feed pipe that runs down the A pillar and T-s off the brake vacuum hose (and has a vacuum box under the scuttle panel, although this isn't strictly needed). The sunroof drains run down the A and C pillars, and the slider cover is attached by screws that go through the roof skin.

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

+1. Nothing beats windows down and sunroof open on a nice warm day

 

a quick CTI does

[eddie bullit 37]

The factory vacuum sunroof loses you headroom if anything - probably a good inch or so, thanks to the slide cover and rails being sandwiched between the roof and lining that obviously isn't there on a non-sunroof car (or models with an aftermarket/dealer-fit sunroof)

With the sunroof closed and blind open must be more room as the glass is above the roof

[wilyoldave 0]

The dealer-fit / aftermarket sunroof would probably be easy enough to retrofit so long as you got absolutely all the parts I would imagine, as they were after all easy enough for a typical monkey to install and not make a complete hash of.

 

The factory fit vacuum sunroof on the other hand could be somewhat more awkward, although not impossible - the factory sunroof cars had a different roof skin with additional strengthening present, although there's nothing that I've seen that would prevent it being fitted to a non-sunroof type roofskin (which is what the dealer-fit / aftermarket sunroof models started out with) just means more work. The hole is in a different place though, so I really don't know if you'd be able to retrofit easily to a roof that once had a non-vacuum sunroof in.

 

The vacuum bits would be easy enough to retrofit as there's surprisingly little to it - it's basically the main seal, the handle and valve mechanism, and a vacuum feed pipe that runs down the A pillar and T-s off the brake vacuum hose (and has a vacuum box under the scuttle panel, although this isn't strictly needed). The sunroof drains run down the A and C pillars, and the slider cover is attached by screws that go through the roof skin.

 

Not sure on the dealer fit 1 would prefer the sliding one tbh - has anyone got any pics of the dealer fit one?

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

With the sunroof closed and blind open must be more room as the glass is above the roof

 

I'm 6ft 6in and if I wore a helmet then it would touch the roof on either, though there was more room in a sunroof car. The problem was that the sunroof hole is not above the drivers seat when fully moved back, which taller drivers do. You have to have the seat more vertical and take the plastic spacers off the seat runners.

[irmscher 0]

convertible for you Henry i forgot you have one