I love the W123 Big sunroof. I also enjoy the comfort & safety of my '96 Aerostar truck. The one thing I miss most when I drive it is having a nice open sunroof. I am not at all interested in the typical aftermarket glass flap-roof.

Anyone have any input they can provide if I were to find a good donor car with preferably a manual W123 sunroof so I don't have to do any electrical work / wiring? I am thinking manual sunroof - cut clean off the roof of donor car - smooth the edges & square them - measure slightly smaller opening on my Aerostar roof - and have the sunroof metal rest on top of the truck roof - then sheetmetal - weld ......

Aside from new paint which is needed anyway, then what? * Aside from that I do not have any sheet metal / cutting experience other than a wire or 2 , this sounds like a do-able DIY job to me.

Thanks,

Austin

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
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83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
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"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

I have two complete manual W123 sun roof assemblies setting here.
I might be able to get it to Port St Lucie, FL.
Contact me, and we can discuss a price.

.

__________________
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Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH).
Dynamometer.
Heat exchanger durability.
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Think about sunroof drains - there are four on the W123 sunroof tray - one at each corner...

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I have an entire manual sunroof ---- minus the frame. Yeah, what would you do about drains?

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

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lots of complexity and you have to build a whole mounting frame and ect ect.

id go with an aftermarket ragtop personally. This is eventually what im doing with my 115

40 x 70 sliding ragtop aftermarket sunroof

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Thinking about the drains... So what if I didn't install drains? Keep sunroof closed in the rain. What moisture accumulates in the rails when it is closed?

....

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

[QUOTE=JB3;3160838]lots of complexity and you have to build a whole mounting frame and ect ect.

What I am proposing is to use an entire already complete sunroof by cutting around the whole thing on a junk W123. I think then I have alot less work and less chances of getting leaks by just having to seal it on top of the truck.


..

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

Never heard of an "aerostar truck' just these crappy little excuses for vans.

As we can be reasonably sure that Mercedes did not assume the purchasers of its cars would be driving them in the rain with the sunroof open... I think it is safe to conclude that the sunroof drains are there to channel away the inevitable moisture that will make its way past the sunroof seals....

__________________


Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

If that's your wife in your picture have her give me a call tonight.

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

[QUOTE=Austin85;3160945]
Even if you keep the sunroof closed, the water will get into the seals of the sunroof and drip down. Even if you cut around the sunroof, the water will get in and then just drip into your headlining.

OK so how do I run drains?? There will be room for a couple of tubes pretty sure...

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

The sun roof isn't exactly designed to leak but it is expected to leak - take a look at the brush-like seals on the sides. Only the front and back parts of the sunroof have rubber seals. The brush-like seals are (obviously?) there to allow for a sliding motion that a rubber seal would find hard to accommodate.

In the W123 the sun roof drains run down inside the front screen pillars - does your van have the same sort of hollow pillar design?

The rear drains could be guided down another section (if there is one) and directed out of the cabin under the car.

Ideally you need to find four decent routes from the roof to the underside of the vehicle - rather than tie-wrapping tubes to the interior trim...

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Yep. Will check to see.

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

[QUOTE=Austin85;3160945]OK.
What I have are the complete tray assembly, no roof metal.

.

__________________
ASE Master Mechanic
https://whunter.carrd.co/

Prototype R&D/testing:
Thermal & Aerodynamic System Engineering (TASE) Senior vehicle instrumentation technician.
Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH).
Dynamometer.
Heat exchanger durability.
HV-A/C Climate Control.
Vehicle build.
Fleet Durability
Technical Quality Auditor.
Automotive Technical Writer

1985 300SD
1983 300D
2003 Volvo V70

https://www.boldegoist.com/