This week I received the trim parts from Germany that I ordered last week, these included the rubber seals that fit between the aluminium trim and the roof. I have been eagerly waiting for these seals as it is only these seals that are preventing me from fitting the front and rear screens in place. The seals are not cut to length and so can be cut to suit.
The seals (and the aluminium trim) are fitted after the headlining is fitted and help to hold it in place, the trim also provides the mounting for the top door and rear quarterlight seals (which I have yet to find).
Before I can fit the headlining there are still a few small items that I need to sort out. One of these was to properly mount the sunroof motor - This is one of the jobs I did this weekend. I fixed the motor to the roof frame on one side and made a bracket on the other side. I used electrical grommets to make anti-vibration mounts from. I also used grub type screws to fit the motor into the grommets, this will allow the motor to be easily removed through the zipper in the headlining if necessary. The original mounts are fitted in a similar manner.
The other job I did was to make the metal trim panel that holds the headlining in position below the sunroof itself. I did not get this part with the sunroof, although I did get some dimensions and a sketch of what it should look like.
I started by making a template out of stiff card to check that I had the dimensions correct, I fitted this to the sunroof and wound the sunroof open and closed by hand.
The next job I decided to tackle was to extend the electrical wires to the motor and then check it was working correctly. I had already bought some wire of the correct size, along with a 3 position switch to use, I soldered the extension wire onto the existing wire and then used heat shrink to insulate the join, I refitted the motor and drilled a hole in the roof frame to connect the earth connection to. After connecting up the switch, I hooked up some jump leads from the truck and for the first time opened and closed the sunfoor under it's own power.
Whilst getting the sunroof to work was great, it did leave me with a nagging idea that something wasn't quite right. When I obtained the sunroof motor, it also came with the greabox and drive connection. This was great as my gearbox seemed to slip too much. With the sunroof motor now working it seemed that the gearbox was too noisy.
I decided to take a closer look. I fittted my original gearbox - this slipped too much and didn't move the roof - so I decided to strip it down. Upon inspection the answer was relatively simple - my gearbox was missing the adjuster screw that set the tension, I had mistakenly thought that the additional screw on the other gearbox was simply some kind of cover for where the manual crank handle attached.
I found a suitable screw and washer and after fitting them to the original gearbox fitted it back into the car. The gearbox was a lot quiter. To my mind the roof moves too fast, the motor is a 12V unit, with a marked output speed of 4500 RPM. There's a video of it in the media library
I also made some brackets for the rear bumpers. These were pretty simple to fabricate. I welded two pieces of flat bar together and drilled mounting holes in them. I then splayed the ends apart so that I could fix them to the bumpers. A little rebending is still needed to line everything up properly, I will do this when I take them off to paint them.
Trimming
Another thing that I have been chasing up is getting quotes for retrimming, but somehow I dont seem to be having much luck. Best price so far is AU$2700 for a full leather interior (panels + seat covers) from SewFine, but with obvious self fitting. Local trimmers seem to be around the AU$3-3.5k mark (fitted) irrespective of who they are or what their reputation. I've got a few more contacts to chase up and then I'll decide on what to do.
