Wanted: Illustrated step-by-step guide to removal of sunroof panel

[Legoman]

Just noticed the first bubbles of paint around the seal on my sunroof which means it's up for another rust repair 12 years after the last one. Just been to the rust repairer who says he can do it, but is so overloaded with work at the moment he can't possibly store the car while the roof is out, but he can possibly squeeze it in if I only give him the panel and do all the remove & refit work myself. I've never fully removed a BMW sunroof before. Is there a step-by-step I can download somewhere?

[shogun]

see David's Project Note, sunroof http://www.e38.org/e32/
and more on the shogun site under fixes >>> body http://twrite.org/shogunnew/topmenu.html
David e E32: Removing the sun roof: English
Shogun E32: Clearing sun roof drains: English
Take E32: Rebuilding seal on sun roof: mostly photos

and in the workshop manual https://www.bmwtechinfo.com/repair/main/Index_cd3.htm

[Legoman]

Brilliant, thanks for that. This is tomorrow's job. Got a really good rust repair guy tuned up and a paint guy sorted for a proper Glasurit job on the finished product.

Sunroof out and at the painters now. Rust spots appear to have been caught very early. No sign of rusting through on the inside skin panel, just the outside. Seal looks probably past its use-by date though and will need a new one. What kind of sealant should I use on the seal to hopefully close up the gap between the two skins and delay the ingress of moisture again for as long as possible?

[Legoman]

Finally finished the sunroof replacement today. The rust repair/repaint was done a few weeks ago, but was only temporarily refitted with the old seal in the meantime to make driveable while waiting on a new seal. That arrived yesterday, so popped her back out again today, cleaned up the seam between the two skins, painted on a thin drizzle of contact cement along the seam gap as a filler under the seal and pressed the new seal on. Very careful not to stretch it while putting on, but still had to trim about 8mm off the length to get the two ends to butt perfectly together.

I must say I am surprised at just how hard the new seal is against the metal roof. It was so stiff in fact that initially the motor wasn't strong enough to pull the panel down to retract at all. To get it to work I had to lubricate the seal and all the edges it rubs against with silicon lubricant spray. I am presuming with a bit of use it will slowly conform to the required shape and not be quite so stiff in time. Apart from that though, all worked well and I reckon I should get at least another 10 years out of that panel without having to bother about rust again.

[Ricky318i]

I'm glad it all worked out. I am planning a similar exercise soon on my E34 and I managed to find a local rubber company that can sell me the similar profile as the OEM rubber seal. Let's hope it fits nicely.

[Legoman]

My sunroof is still very stiff against the metal surround of the roof cutout. I would recommend coating both the inner edge of the roof cutout metalwork and the seal itself with as much silicon lubricant spray as both surfaces can tolerate & hold while putting it back together. A brand new seal needs all the help it can get to slide into and out of contact with the metal cutout edge when transitioning to/from tilt to slide movements.