inner sunroof panel fabric
#1
03-12-2014, 05:43 PM
#2
03-13-2014, 02:06 AM
I normally shoot video on my jobs, but didn't this time. To get at the sunroof, you must first remove the headliner. If your headliner is original, now is the time to get it recovered as well since it will fail soon enough. Headliner removal is a straightforward, logical procedure. Pay careful attention to which screws come out of where, including spacers, washers, etc. You will have an electrical lead at all 4 corners to unplug.
The trick is the removal from the interior. Best bet is to unbolt both front seats and carefully lay them on their sides, hanging out the open front doors. Lay them over on a pillow or something to protect the leather. You will need every last inch to coax the headliner out and having the seats out of the way buys you just enough room. Some will tell you the back window has to be removed, but GENTLE bending of the headliner itself, plus the seat trick, and it will come out.
Now the fun is just beginning.
You will have to drop the entire sunroof unit down. Six or so bolts and the whole thing drops down. For this, set the front seats back into their normal position, no need to bolt them back in yet. Once the sunroof unit is dropped, it can sit/balance on top of the front seat head rests. Again, use pillows or towels to protect the seats. This is really the best way, since the sunroof unit is tethered to the car with electrical leads and drainage tubes.
Now, find a way to crawl back into the car and sit in the back seat. There is a metal bridge across the back of the unit that will keep the sun visor from simply sliding out the back. It's pretty tricky to get at the screws, your ingenuity will have to be sharp. I had to use one of those compact S-shaped screwdrivers to barely fit in between the glass and it took awhile to get the small screws out (luckily only 2 of them). Once the metal bridge is removed, the visor will slide out the back.
On mine, there were 4 black, plastic runners (2 per side). They are about an inch or so long, and 3 of them were already broken and simply fell out when I slid the visor out. I tried all kinds of ways to glue them back in, looked all over the InterWeb for replacements, and even tried to fab some new ones. Nothing worked, and in the end I just slid my newly recovered visor back in without them. The bummer is the visor is harder to slide now, and on closing I have to help it for the first 6 inches or so, or the sunroof motor thinks it's hit an obstruction and instantly reverses itself.
Sounds like a fun job, eh? Whoever spec'd the headliner foam/glue for Jaguar should be strung up by their Buster Browns. Heck, I've got a 1974 Datsun 260z with an original headliner that still looks brand new.
The trick is the removal from the interior. Best bet is to unbolt both front seats and carefully lay them on their sides, hanging out the open front doors. Lay them over on a pillow or something to protect the leather. You will need every last inch to coax the headliner out and having the seats out of the way buys you just enough room. Some will tell you the back window has to be removed, but GENTLE bending of the headliner itself, plus the seat trick, and it will come out.
Now the fun is just beginning.
You will have to drop the entire sunroof unit down. Six or so bolts and the whole thing drops down. For this, set the front seats back into their normal position, no need to bolt them back in yet. Once the sunroof unit is dropped, it can sit/balance on top of the front seat head rests. Again, use pillows or towels to protect the seats. This is really the best way, since the sunroof unit is tethered to the car with electrical leads and drainage tubes.
Now, find a way to crawl back into the car and sit in the back seat. There is a metal bridge across the back of the unit that will keep the sun visor from simply sliding out the back. It's pretty tricky to get at the screws, your ingenuity will have to be sharp. I had to use one of those compact S-shaped screwdrivers to barely fit in between the glass and it took awhile to get the small screws out (luckily only 2 of them). Once the metal bridge is removed, the visor will slide out the back.
On mine, there were 4 black, plastic runners (2 per side). They are about an inch or so long, and 3 of them were already broken and simply fell out when I slid the visor out. I tried all kinds of ways to glue them back in, looked all over the InterWeb for replacements, and even tried to fab some new ones. Nothing worked, and in the end I just slid my newly recovered visor back in without them. The bummer is the visor is harder to slide now, and on closing I have to help it for the first 6 inches or so, or the sunroof motor thinks it's hit an obstruction and instantly reverses itself.
Sounds like a fun job, eh? Whoever spec'd the headliner foam/glue for Jaguar should be strung up by their Buster Browns. Heck, I've got a 1974 Datsun 260z with an original headliner that still looks brand new.
Last edited by SaturnV; 03-13-2014 at 02:10 AM.
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#3
03-13-2014, 09:32 PM
Ok that's way out of my league! 
I could do it but I live in an apartment so nowhere to work. I only had probably about the rear third of the sliding panel fabric hanging down so I followed another posters suggestion regarding a fix that may or may not hold. He mentioned that he used 3M 77 spray and slid the edges back using a putty knife. I started by masking taping all around the edge of the headliner fabric. Then I sprayed both the hanging fabric and the base board of the sliding panel. It was easy to smooth out the fabric right up to the edges of the sliding panel but then the fun began with trying to slide the edges under the headlining. I used a thin metal frying pan spachelor which worked great (except on the fabric that decided it wanted to stick to the masking tape on the headlining! (thankfully I did at least use tape) Then when it was all safely behind the headlining I used a thicker plastic spachelor to kind of wedge between the headlining and the sliding sunroof panel edges in an effort to make the fabric stick all the way to the edges. The problem here is obviously that one is unable to fold the fabric edges over the panel but I will let you know if and for how long it holds neatly in place.....It looks great now but I havent used the roof yet! (The 3M 77 seemed like the right sort of product for the job)
I could do it but I live in an apartment so nowhere to work. I only had probably about the rear third of the sliding panel fabric hanging down so I followed another posters suggestion regarding a fix that may or may not hold. He mentioned that he used 3M 77 spray and slid the edges back using a putty knife. I started by masking taping all around the edge of the headliner fabric. Then I sprayed both the hanging fabric and the base board of the sliding panel. It was easy to smooth out the fabric right up to the edges of the sliding panel but then the fun began with trying to slide the edges under the headlining. I used a thin metal frying pan spachelor which worked great (except on the fabric that decided it wanted to stick to the masking tape on the headlining! (thankfully I did at least use tape) Then when it was all safely behind the headlining I used a thicker plastic spachelor to kind of wedge between the headlining and the sliding sunroof panel edges in an effort to make the fabric stick all the way to the edges. The problem here is obviously that one is unable to fold the fabric edges over the panel but I will let you know if and for how long it holds neatly in place.....It looks great now but I havent used the roof yet! (The 3M 77 seemed like the right sort of product for the job)
#5
03-14-2014, 08:06 AM
Just an update to my comment about the newly recovered sun visor being stiff in the tracks and causing the motor trouble. As of yesterday the fabric seems to have finally compressed enough that the visor is no longer causing the motor to bump/retreat. Should continue to slide easier as the new material wears in.
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