Sunroof Removal guide

[RickyJ]

I'm going to take advantage of the fine weather (Fingers Crossed) tommorrow and tackle a couple of Jobs on my VX - I'm hoping someone can help me on the following:

1st Question: Does anybody know if the Guide from the old site on Sunroof removal is anywhere on the new site? I thought I'd printed it off and saved it somewhere but can't lay my hands on it at the moment.

2nd Question: The rear pads need changing and although I've done this many times before, I always have issues with getting the new pads
in - Is there a particular/correct way of winding the caliper back in? I seem to remember the rear piston facings have a groove on them unlike the fronts.

Thanks in advance

[MattNoVAT]

Ricky,

If you can't find the document then let me know - I'm just about to refit mine so I'll document the procedure again as refitting is just the reverse.

Cheers

[RickyJ]

Thanks for the offer Matt - I want to try and at least get the sunroof out tommorrow so if I can't find the print out then I'll have to wing it. The sunroof doesn't "engage" back into a flat position against the roof when you push the handle back home - I think it's going to be a case of making up the little plastic "cams" that lift it up as I think they're the problem. If I can at leat get the sunroof out tommorrow that's a start. I can't even remember now who did the guide, it may have been Hutch or Mark though.

Does anybody have any advice on the calipers? I'm sure you just wind them in (clockwise?") but some reassurance would be great

Ricky

[RickyJ]

Found it on the new site - It was Hutch that put it together - Thanks Hutch!

It's under the articles section.

[RickyJ]

Looks like one of the front "Cams" is broken - Don't suppose anyone has a sunroof and mechanism for sale??

[MattNoVAT]

Ricky,

Post up a picture of the bit that is broken as I have spare sunroof bits when I was playing around with mine a few years ago.  Also when I scrapped a couple of VX coupes I kept a few odd bits out of the sunroof assembly.  You may be lucky here!

They are in my "last resort box" where I go looking for obscure parts as a last resort !


I have a little tip with the sunroof removal is that the philips head screws that hold the "arms" with the plastic runners tend to seize or then people use the wrong size screwdriver to undo them and rounded them out - To remove them if they have just seized then use one of those little kitchen blow torches - flame is far smaller and controllable and only puts heat quickly into a very small area.  If they have been rounded then cut a groove into them first, then heat them up with the kitchen blow torch and then remove using a large flat blade screwdriver.  It works a treat.

[RickyJ]

Apologies to the creator of these pictures as I've had to use the JPEGS from the "Sunroof Guide" - I haven't got access to my pictures at the moment. Whilst I was looking at these I realised that I'm missing more than I thought - There were no nylon/plastic guides on either of the front supports. Now that I think about it and compare it to my old car, the sunroof has always been a bit "creaky" so the lack of front guides explains this.

Matt - These are what I'm missing:





The Guides are probably the things that I'm most in need of - The other part (with the hole in it) I can make up from metal - If you have any of these bits you'd be a lifesaver - Drop me a PM if you can help out. I have to own up to having fallen foul of the stuck bolts - In the end I got 1 out completely and had to drill the rest out.

[MattNoVAT]

Ricky,

I get home at 7pm and am going out almost immediately (after throwing in some food to keep me going)

I'll be working from home Thursday so will have time to go rummaging - so will get back to you ASAP tomorrow.

Lets keep our fingers crossed !

[HFStuart]

If not Felix at Lancia Services Cape Town has a decent selection of sunroof parts - you might get lucky with him.

Stuart

[MattNoVAT]

Ricky,

Good news and bad news...

I have located the plastic guides but can only find one front (NS) and one rear. I'm sure I had a few more of these, but not sure where they are or whether they were the ones that were "past it"

PM me your address and I'll pop them in the post to you FoC.  If I come across another front I'll send that too.  I've not goy any of the plastic cams (vaguely recall them being broken when I removed the sunroof from the VX)

[RickyJ]

Matt

You are a true gentleman! - Sending PM now

[MattNoVAT]

They are in the post 1st class so should be with you tomorrow!

Job for the weekend maybe 

[RickyJ]

Matt

Recieved these today - Thanks so much for helping out on this. If I can avoid any household jobs the wife may have planned for me I'll crack on with this at the weekend!

[MattNoVAT]

While fitting the sunroof back to my car I noticed that the back of my sunroof was not pushing up properly at the rear end, where the rear fingers are next to the cam.

Had to take it out again and bend the fingers so that there was more leverage against the bar that is operated by locking / unlocking the handle.

However, once I had sorted this out I noticed that there is about 1-2 mm gap at the rear of the sunroof between the roof line and the back edge of the sunroof panel. with the curvature of the roof its 2 mm in the very centre, towards the sides it tapers down to 1 mm then to zero at the corners.  Now I am getting old and its been a while since I saw a Beta Coupe with a sunroof that hasn't seen as much restoration work as mine... is this gap normal?

One part of me is saying its a good idea as it allows air to move through the sunroof box and allow moisture a chance to escape?  wishful thinking... I wonder??