Sunroof Metal Shell - 4th Gen

Post by **simonc** » Sat Jul 04, 2015 11:42 am

There you go guys - recorded for posterity. Better than the Blue Peter 'Time Capsule' eh?

Who knows in which year or on which continent this car and its hidden graffiti will be unearthed...

Post by **vanzep** » Sat Jul 04, 2015 4:27 pm

Brilliant.....

Post by **Donald** » Sat Jul 04, 2015 5:03 pm

We both do R in the same style.

h10ndr · Post by **h10ndr** » Sat Jul 04, 2015 6:49 pm

I hope you rust treated the inside cavities of the new roof panel....you dont want a repeat of this in a couple of years...

Post by **simonc** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 4:27 am

@h10ndr Hi Tim, yes we did do the rust treatment. He didn't have a lot but we put a good covering on there followed by a good slathering of primer.

I hope everyone finds this interesting. On the liner we took out yesterday I just noticed this date stamp. I guess this is the actual date the Blue Beauty rolled off the assembly line. Would that be correct? Anyway, I'm glad I saw it and took a couple of photos to share. Here's the montage that shows the stamp location and a close up of the actual date itself, 28th of October 1993.

h10ndr · Post by **h10ndr** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 6:24 pm

Phew!! Nice work. I think the date stamp might be more of the date of the part production...but its gotta be close to the actual date of birth...

mart609 · Post by **mart609** » Sun Jul 05, 2015 8:08 pm

Wasn't sure if that sunroof swap write up was on here?
Good to see it came in handy

Post by **simonc** » Mon Jul 06, 2015 1:41 am

@mart609. Mornin' fella. I give you exhibit 1, M'lud.

It was very useful indeed. Thanks for doing it.

Post by **simonc** » Mon Jul 06, 2015 6:02 am

Right gents - here's the photo record of our day getting it ready for fitting.

Here's the new one shorn of the brackets and the seal.

Quite a lot of rust round the edges.

Yikes

So, it's out with the wire brush and I'm hard at work.

Bloody hard work but it looked a whole lot better

I really worked hard to get as much crap off as I could.

Almost bare metal

Couple of hours grafting produces this! And I'm knackered.

Did the same on the brackets as well.

The liner was horribly damp and is not yet fitted back as I'm drying it out at home.

Blotchy rust bubbles

Sunroof off and gives me a chance to dust off that rear panel

In much better overall condition that I feared.

Well, there's one of your problems Simon.

The test to check on the front and rear drains

The rear - there's water there honest! (Must be a light issue - or my non-existent camera skills)

The front - big puddle

My horrible bracket (top) Indigolemon's bracket (bottom)

The deft hands of Mr Soon showing me how to paint. It was my turn shortly after I took the shot

(Out of sequence) but this is what happened after we'd gently chipped off the bubbles

We painted all the brackets, choosing the best ones to go back on.

Sealant-porn for wurlycorner

The installation

Bit of faffing with the shims and it fitted perfectly

Anyway, there you have it gentlemen. A great day's work and a happy owner.

Now onwards and upwards to that long-awaited respray.

Actually, I've been sanding down my old sunroof to get rid of the bubbles of rust. Fundamentally, the sunroof itself is sound with no major rust problems, just the bubbles on the surface. Here's what it looks like now I've sanded them off. It this repairable or does it look a basket case?
Here's the front right (looking at the car)

Front left

A closer shot of the one above.

Any thoughts guys? I hope it can be saved as then it can be added to my growing pile of bits of spares.

Thanks.

mercutio · Post by **mercutio** » Mon Jul 06, 2015 6:20 pm

dont see why it cant be saved/treated