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Thread: Sunroof Gone

  1. #1
    radlaw's Avatar
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    Lightbulb Sunroof Gone

    Finally I got rid of my sunroof. I now have a smooth, trouble-free, non-rustable, non-jamming 1-piece roof. I did it the easy, aka expensive, way-simply replaced it with a sunroof delete roof from Germany. Now the headliner!!!??? Plan to fabricate one from old headliner, with sunroof section replaced. Don't how to do it yet. Any ideas?

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    I have a sunroof delete headliner, but it's still at Wuffer's...
    if we get it down here, we could make a mold and make more from fiberglass...
    '91 Dinan 860 Stage III (new 6L engine)
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    ...and a few other non BMW cars

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    Quote Originally Posted by radlaw View Post
    Finally I got rid of my sunroof. I now have a smooth, trouble-free, non-rustable, non-jamming 1-piece roof. I did it the easy, aka expensive, way-simply replaced it with a sunroof delete roof from Germany. Now the headliner!!!??? Plan to fabricate one from old headliner, with sunroof section replaced. Don't how to do it yet. Any ideas?
    You replaced the hole roof and drilled all the spot welds and welded in a new roof panel? This is nice. I actually have been considering the same thing.

  5. #5
    radlaw's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mikae31 View Post
    You replaced the hole roof and drilled all the spot welds and welded in a new roof panel? This is nice. I actually have been considering the same thing.
    Yes, I replaced the entire roof. Pics to follow.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by cartoonz View Post
    I have a sunroof delete headliner, but it's still at Wuffer's...
    if we get it down here, we could make a mold and make more from fiberglass...
    I'd gladly take it off your hands.

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    Did the same thing with the diamond black car, except welded a new sunroof panel into the opening. Worked perfectly and was less than $500 with the welding and paint. I was fortunate to buy the last sunroof delete headliner on the plant, and in hindsight, should have probably made a mold of it. Oh, well..
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    Quote Originally Posted by TxGR8White View Post
    Did the same thing with the diamond black car, except welded a new sunroof panel into the opening. Worked perfectly and was less than $500 with the welding and paint. I was fortunate to buy the last sunroof delete headliner on the plant, and in hindsight, should have probably made a mold of it. Oh, well..
    I'm sure it works. I am however a bit perfectionist and hate having a big area of filler in my roof and that's why i would do it like the OP did. Waiting for pics.

    The new headliner would be very easy to make from fiberglass if you could flip the car upside down. It is difficult to do anything upwards. The way to do it would be to cut the center section off from the old headliner and then build a new center section using thick fabric and fiberglass. This is pretty difficult to do upwards. Flipping the car upside down it would be childs play.
    Last edited by mikae31; 07-14-2018 at 12:10 PM.

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    Very little filler was used. The normal gap was filled with 3/16” steel rod bent and formed to the opening, and everything was continuously welded (took almost 2 days), and ground smooth. Both the interior and exterior were coated with self etching primer and then painted.

    653A30F6-5337-495E-811F-5CD812CCCF63.jpg
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    Quote Originally Posted by TxGR8White View Post
    Very little filler was used. The normal gap was filled with 3/16” steel rod bent and formed to the opening, and everything was continuously welded (took almost 2 days), and ground smooth. Both the interior and exterior were coated with self etching primer and then painted.

    653A30F6-5337-495E-811F-5CD812CCCF63.jpg
    how did you prevent the sheet metal from flexing during welding?

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    Quote Originally Posted by TxGR8White View Post
    Very little filler was used. The normal gap was filled with 3/16” steel rod bent and formed to the opening, and everything was continuously welded (took almost 2 days), and ground smooth. Both the interior and exterior were coated with self etching primer and then painted.

    653A30F6-5337-495E-811F-5CD812CCCF63.jpg
    Rondell 58s!
    1995 BMW M3 (Avus), 1994 BMW 840Ci (Avus), 1994 BMW 740i (Oxford), 2005 BMW X5 4.8iS (BSM)
    Gone (Too many to mention)

  11. #11
    radlaw's Avatar
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    Here it is! BMW delete top.jpg
    Last edited by radlaw; 07-14-2018 at 03:20 PM.

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    Nice!
    Hopefully you're planning to attend Wrenchfest?
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    Quote Originally Posted by TedBobo View Post
    Nice!
    Hopefully you're planning to attend Wrenchfest?
    That's my plan

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    Quote Originally Posted by mikae31 View Post
    how did you prevent the sheet metal from flexing during welding?
    It was welded slowly over the course of two days. Patience pays off. After grinding down the high spots, all that was really left were very small imperfections that were covered with filler. The whole process start to finish was 4 days.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by radlaw View Post
    Here it is! BMW delete top.jpg
    looks real nice, but why did you have to detract from the clean lines with that hideous shark fin??
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  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by TxGR8White View Post
    looks real nice, but why did you have to detract from the clean lines with that hideous shark fin??
    it was they only way I could get consistent, reliable & strong XM/Sirius and GPS. If there is a better way without it, I love to try it. How do you do it?

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    When I still ran Sirius/XM in my car, I placed the small puck antenna at the base of the front windshield, as far forward as I could get it - never had a problem. You would think that car makers would come up with a better, less obvious solution. I have one of these suckers on my ALPINA, and if I could figure a way to remove it and use something smaller with a lower profile, I would in a heartbeat. Did you use the BMW dual antenna internals too?
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    So I had everything recovered with 1/8" material and still had trouble with the sunroof so disconnected the switch and now now problems. Not interested in fixing the problem and it all looks great.
    EricinConejo

    1995 850CI, 1959 Chev Impala, 1965 Cessna 172, 1986 Mustang GT, 2002 Mustang GT, 2005 Dodge Durango Hemi, 2016 Land Rover Discovery Sport

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by TxGR8White View Post
    When I still ran Sirius/XM in my car, I placed the small puck antenna at the base of the front windshield, as far forward as I could get it - never had a problem. Did you use the BMW dual antenna internals too?
    Tried the under-the-dash method. Had cut out periods of no reception. What are BMW dual antenna internals? I'd like to try that.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by EricinConejo View Post
    So I had everything recovered with 1/8" material and still had trouble with the sunroof so disconnected the switch and now now problems. Not interested in fixing the problem and it all looks great.
    Not sure what you are referring to!

  19. #19
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    My ALPINA has the shark fin and in it are the antennas for satellite radio and for the GPS. Radio is still through the rear windshield.
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  20. #20
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    Me too, on my 840Ci.
    Last edited by radlaw; 07-18-2018 at 08:34 AM.

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