1958 356a sunroof headliner

[Etienne Kerkhoffs]

Hi Bill,

I have an article about sunroof installation that was published once in the magazine I think. If you PM me your email address I will email it to you.

Regards, Etienne

[bob maxwell]

Etienne, I'd like to get an email of the article as well, but I don't know how to PM you. Help, please, and thanks.

Bob Maxwell

[Etienne Kerkhoffs]

Hi Bob,

click on my profile and you will find a link to send me an email. BTW, the article was written by John Tyler and was published in Volume 28, number 4. I'll send it to you once I have your email address.

Etienne

[Bill Wridge]

Hi Bill,

I have an article about sunroof installation that was published once in the magazine I think. If you PM me your email address I will email it to you.

Regards, Etienne

Thanks for the article. I do have a couple questions. If the guides have been removed from the sunroof and a headliner is in place what is the best procedure for guide alignment? I presume trial and error. If headliner was not present it would be simple. The article used velvet on the guides and others have used leather. Have you had experience with pros and cons of each? I was happy to see that the rails have to be forced downward on the front as mine are about 3/4" up in front. This worried me.

LASTLY , Tyler says that the rails cannot be attached to the Sunroof when installing although the sunroof and the rails came out together during dis-assembly. He installs the rails first. So if the rails are already installed , how do you get the supports mounted into the rails ? We have an interference overlap issue of about 1" here, I think.

Thanks again
Bill

[Etienne Kerkhoffs]

Hi Bill,

I have an article about sunroof installation that was published once in the magazine I think. If you PM me your email address I will email it to you.

Regards, Etienne

Thanks for the article. I do have a couple questions. If the guides have been removed from the sunroof and a headliner is in place what is the best procedure for guide alignment? I presume trial and error. If headliner was not present it would be simple.
It's impossible to alligne the sunroof with the headliner in place. You have to loosen the screws of the guides to alligne it. I had installed the sunroof panel, loosened the guide screws and put 4 wooden paint stirr sticks (or how you call them) on the sides, 2 on the left and 2 on the right between the panel and the roof to get a perfect alligment. (the wooden sticks do you have to fit tight and both sides). Then push the guides to the outside and fasten the screws.

The article used velvet on the guides and others have used leather. Have you had experience with pros and cons of each?
I have used leather because I think that it may last longer than felt. Grease them a little bit.
I was happy to see that the rails have to be forced downward on the front as mine are about 3/4" up in front. This worried me.
No worries. It will be fine.

LASTLY , Tyler says that the rails cannot be attached to the Sunroof when installing although the sunroof and the rails came out together during dis-assembly. He installs the rails first. So if the rails are already installed , how do you get the supports mounted into the rails ? We have an interference overlap issue of about 1" here, I think.
The rails are not installed fully. You only have to put in the last 2 screws and don't tighten them fully. Just snug. This way, the rails will still be up in the front so that you can slide the panel in them.

Good luck!!

Thanks again
Bill

[Bill Wridge]

Thanks loads you have been a big help . We are ready for a diy headliner and then glass maybe I will have glass installed for $125 . Moms 90th birthday is in 2 weeks and this used to be her car and she still drives so I want to let her drive it again. Wish me luck on the headliner.

Sunroof has been temporarly installed and looks good. A little issue cropped up and left a scratch on the right side. I found that the hood was too high and there are no shims. It appears that somehow the guide was bent down a little causing the roof to rub on the body metal. It is also interesting that all of the slide adjusters are fully extended and could actually need a bit more to be perfect. I decided to use a heavy HDPE (high density polyethlene) tape for the guide inserts as this tape is super slippery and will never wear out, especially in Seattle where the sunroof will never be open.

[Bill Wridge]

Getting closer

[JohnPierce]

Bill et al,

This is a fabulous write-up. Thank you for taking the time to writing down all this information and updating it. Well done!

I have a 1964 Golde electric sunroof and am going through the same process of manufacturing the headliner frame from scratch. Unfortunately, I do not have any pieces of an original headliner frame to measure from. I plan to use your measurements as a baseline and go from there with some trial-and-error fitting to get it correct. Does anyone know if the measurements are similar? One area which is different between the manual and electric sunroofs is the front curved crossmember, where there is no handle cup on the electric SR. I can get this measurement from the sealing rail on the cover. From the factory diagrams it looks like there is only 1 reinforcement V-shaped piece that goes on the rear crossmember of the frame.

Jim Kellogg's book nicely shows the side rail legs, front sealing rail and cable spring assemblies. What I can't grasp is how these fit together to keep the SR cover in the guide rails. Also: is the headliner frame only attached to the cover by the sealing rail clips and screws on either side? I was hoping someone could provide some insight and maybe some pictures.

Much appreciated.

Cheers,

John

[Howard Hues]

I am currently restoring a 1959 sunroof at my shop Deluxe Customs. This thread has givin me some helpful tips, but I would love to be able to take a look at that article that was mentioned by John Tyler.... Anyway anyone could help out?