I guess non-one liked my body wrap solution. Maybe a video will help (Hadn't thought of doing whole roof.)

Gloss Black Vinyl Roof Wrap Installation - YouTube

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

I do like the idea of applying a wrap. I have been considering instead of paint for my W123 (but I've been advised not to do that as there'll be moisture under the wrap that will still help the rust). May be do a 50 dollar Hammerite job and then apply a wrap...

...though using a wrap to seal up a sunroof - hmmmmm - I can imagine a "don't press that button" issue!

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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!

guys, I had just taken my entire sunroof out with the plan to get it welded into the car when I saw this thread. . . .What is going to be the best solution here?

My car will become a non sunroof car one way or the other but what is the best solution to seal it up with the rest of the roof??

I am in the process of sanding my car to bare metal atm, so ruining the paint is of no conern.

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1978 300D

Mine's a W124. I've had no problems with it with the exception that the seal in the right rear did pop up, causing the roof to not open properly, so I put some Prestone Stop Leak power steering fluid on it a few times over 2 months. With the exception of 3 times to apply some Prestone to that corner, I kept the sunroof closed to hold it in place while the Prestone performed its magic.

The Prestone is not necessarily "Sunroof Seal" repair fluid" so I might ultimately have to replace the seal, but so far it's worked fine, and it's been 5 months now.

Aside from that, I lube my rails like I'm supposed to with fresh grease, and never had a problem with it.

my problem is that my sunroof tray was terribly rusty, granted mine is an abused 78 that i am trying to show some love

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1978 300D

graham, i think this is a good solution for those tired of their original color. madmax, the best approach seems to be to cut that section out of a non-sunroof car and epoxy it in place.

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'77 240D, 504H, OM617.952, etc.

I still think we should take a page from mini's and have a company create us a German vinyl flag decal for the roof....simplest way to delete a sunroof and add style

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Nah. The sunroof was not a mistake or design flaw. If the car wasn't purchased with the options desired, that's the owner's problem. Second owners can deal with aftermarket mods. That's the way I see it anyway.

If mine didn't have a sunroof, I'd be looking to put one in.

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1982 300CD Petrol/Black Leather

Personally, for an all metal solution down the line for me, what ive done is cut the rear roof section out of a standard 123 with a sunroof. Non sunroof 123s seem to me as rare as 123s with a 5-speed, or close to that. However there are tons of them with a sunroof and the rear roof works. Theres a lot of material, and the added bonus is the sunroof tray is not bolted on the back part, so it just lifts out when you are done cutting.

This piece has the required compound curve and fits pretty close to flat, so I imagine it should be straightforward for a body guy to cut a patch piece out of this section and use it for material.

Id like the added head room also, and my headliner is kinda ratty, so my plan was to first rip out the headliner and sunroof tray, then give the car to a body guy to patch, and maybe install a roof rack off a wagon while I was at it, something classic that works with the car, then have a new headliner installed and put some nets up there for maps.

down the line though, rust is a big problem for me first. attached a few pics of the piece I cut-

Attached Thumbnails

     

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my 78 300d is at the shop now and they are welding the sunroof hole up. I cant wait to see the final product and show you guys how it looks!!

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1978 300D

awesome! im ready to see this

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Its really a big rust thing for me. I'm slowly going through and trying to modify my car in ways to make it lest prone to massive rust issues over time. The sunroof is one, jack points another, catch alls for road salt and places that end up causing issues later. I want to keep this car a while, and I want to retrofit it to withstand winter better from a corrosion standpoint.
Ill still have my sunroof fix, I plan to cut the whole roof out of my 115

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What are you doing about the jack points?

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

JB3, i'm really surprised that a different part of the roof would have a similar enough shape to fit! madmax55, real eager to see the work you have had done!

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'77 240D, 504H, OM617.952, etc.

Ultmately I'm going to cut them out and plate over with solid metal. I also cut sections out of the center of the rockers on the same parts car for this purpose

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