the PO of my 96 disco decided to pull out the motors and rails for the sunroofs and just silicone the glass into place. well, they leak as if they weren't even there.
i'm tossing around 2 ideas. i don't want to spend the money on new roof parts.
option 1: take out the glass, drill a bunch of holes around the opening and use acrylic/plexiglass and bolt it in with a rubber seal. this will allow me to tighten it evenly around the entire seal.
option 2: taking it to the metal shop down the road and having them weld a blank into them getting rid of them all together.
any other suggestions? anyone try either of these before?

 

I personally like my sunroofs. I wouldn't cover them with sheet metal even though they can't open. I would find a better way to seal them off and retain the glass.

 

get a tube of clear caulk, and finish what the PO started.

 

that's already done. i'd have to redo it. it doesn't work at all. because the motors and guts are removed, the roofs themselves are wobbly and easily lifted and moved around. without something to hold them down, they will never hold a seal.

 

The sunroofs are actually pretty simple. Go down to the you pull and save, fine a donor truck, (it can be a series 1 or 2 since they use the exact same sunroof) and put them back in. Taking down the headliner is a 15 minute job. doing the actual replacement takes about 10 minutes each, which is the time to remove the screws, faster if you use a cordless screwdriver.. While your at it, grab replacement screens, as they tend to break at the fastener, I keep an extra set of them on hand here, and can replace them if need be without dropping the headliner. If your headliner needs attention anyways, then take care of it. Local shops around me charge 100 bucks labor and materials to recover. Of course you can do it yourself or paint it or?. It's so easy to do it right and you'l be happier in the long run.

 

Apparently some sunroofs are installed better than others. On my '95 I had to use a heat gun to get the adhesive to finally let go so I could get them out.

I have two manual sunroofs that I was going to install in their place, but neglected to measure before removing the rear old one, only to find the manual sunroof is smaller.
My plan now, once I have some extra cash, is to weld in panels, then cut new holes for the smaller sunroofs.

If you want to get rid of yours, that would be the best way. Sheet metal bolted to the roof won't look very good, and will probably end up leaking also. It might be less prone to leak if you use a really thick piece around the perimeter of the opening, on the inside.

 

Alrighty, if your going to get stupid with it do this!

Cut a much larger hole in the roof from front to back leaving the reinforcement.

Next put a permanent heavy duty bead around edge of hole. Actually what might be perfect is the weatherstripping that fits around thin door sills,

Next get a peice of plexiglass cut to a little larger than the size of the hole. Don't half *** it make the corners round.

Now mount some latching setup to the glass and to the remaining roof. Something like one of them lunchbox latches or a jeep hood latch something that would provide downward as well as lateral retainment.

Man if only I had a spare truck.

Oh wait the discos roof is offset.

 

So if my sunroof don't work and I believe the front one is not on the track (If I push the button I hear the sound but the window does not move) how do I go about fixing this? Taking off the headliner, then what? I have 2 disco 1's sitting in a junk yard near where I live. What would I need?

 

Ok here is what I did to my sun roofs. They leaked something extremely bad and I pulled them out. I went to a local shop (Columbia Rovers) and got the rubber seal for the inside of the glass and then they told me to get weatherstripping 1/4" thick closed cell. They suggested that I get 3/8 wide or a tad wider. Then to check and replace the drain hose lines. Oh yeah they also suggested removing the old rtv gunk that holds the drain thingy to the pan.

I did what they said and it works like a champ. Took me about 3 hrs total and they said they charge 1K for all that work. Other rover shop said 750 to seal permanently and disconnect the sunroof switches. Me was only 80 bucks plus time.

 

i think i'll check out a junk yard for pricing on roofs from a donor. this vehicle is just a toy, so even if my fix doesn't look good, i don't mind. i just need to stop my rear seat passengers and stereo from getting drenched daily.