TheSamba.com :: View topic

Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:07 pm

Hi.

I was recently talking to my dad about our options with the sunroof on my bus. We've thought of just about everything; I've looked at rebuilding the original sunroof (parts are too expensive), I've looked at ragtops (also too expensive), I've looked at a glass top (leaky when rains, too hot in the summer, sun will play hell with the interior and too expensive). Then I came up with another idea. How about welding a hard top in from another bus?

Can it be done?

For those of you that don't know, my sunroof is rusted shut. I've disconnected everything and tried pushing it back, no go. I've tried forcing it back even, and it still won't budge. I'm gonna take the headliner out this weekend, so I might be able to see whats going on a little better, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:16 pm

Do keep your hopes up. Sunroofs are super cool.

Mine has to be helped out when opening and closing but when that babys open...well, its a beautiful thing.

Friends love it (see avatar) even though they aren't allowed to do that anymore.

It's pretty cool having the only sunroof at a show too.

Once you free it up, maybe you wont need too many parts. Mines running on one cable (with mentioned help) as the other one is broken but thats ok with me.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:19 pm

I'm going to try and take mine out this weekend, see how it goes.

Thanks for the input.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:27 pm

Hopefully it works out for you.

I'm sure some other guys will chime in, like VWBusrepairman. He has a sunroof bus as does SGKent.

I also meant to mention that its your bus and do with it as you please. You probably know that but I thought I would mention it. People on here tend to go ape-chit when you suggest something like welding up a sunroof or converting FI to carbs. Your bus, have at it.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:27 pm

take the headliner out and soak that thing with wd40 or a good rust penetrant. sun roof are awesome. id rather have a sunroof than a ragtop. work at it to fix it rather than try to patch it up. :) good luck.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:42 pm

dude - you are doing it wrong.

1) pull the turn handle and screws that hold the gear in. Remove the gear.

2) get on a ladder and bang on the back downwards with your palms / fist
It will drop.

3) slide it back with your hands aboput 6 inches. If you have pried on the inner liner then you have wedged the inner liner and you are in trouble.

4) pop the inner liner free from the front of the sunroof by pulling it down. Leave the sides and back alone.

5) push the inner liner back until it clears the rear cable brackets.

6) remove the front holds downs and unclip the rear springs that hold the cables.

7) lift the sunroof out.

8) Unscrew the tracks and plastic and take the inner liner out.

9) decide whether you want to fix it or weld it shut. It looks really rusty and the whole top may be nothing but pinholes when you start working on it.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:46 pm

Thanks SGKent, but I've tried that twice.

It won't go down because it already is down, and it won't go back because of rust I suppose.

Sun Oct 25, 2009 4:26 pm

I got the sunroof and headliner out today with the help of my dad.
You guys were right, it wasn't very hard. But I think I found why it got stuck and ripped the cables in the first place. P.O. tried to patch holes in the roof with bondo and fiberglass, and some of that got in the rails, causing the sunroof to stick in the closed position, but the back end was stuck down, causing water to collect there and making it rust.

Roof stripped

What was going on with the rails

Worst rust is at the bottom corners

Other corner

Sun Oct 25, 2009 4:46 pm

my personal opinion, based on owning two sunroof buses that were in significantly better shape and still were an expensive pain.

Either find a donor with a good sunroof and replace the whole roof. The issue will be getting the drains to work again, and they must. Or replace the damaged sections of roof with one from a donor and get rid of the sunroof. By the time you get done repairing that sunroof you will be out $3,000+.

If the sunroof part that slides is all that is damaged you might stand a chance by just replaceing it but looking at that photo, experience tells me there are other spots on the roof that are rusted through too.

Take a look at these photos and see what you are up against. This is a mild case. By the time we got done we had $2500 in the body work and parts to rebuild it.

Sun Oct 25, 2009 5:05 pm

There are quite a few places that have rusted through on the rail and side...
I think I'll probably be eliminating the sunroof. I'll have to check though.

Thanks SGKent

Thu Oct 29, 2009 1:53 am

yeah might be a good idea to just trim out a filler panel and reinforce it. sell the sunroof parts on samaba muahahahahahahaha.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:43 am

So I posed a pretty optimistic comment in this thread earlier...I see what you're saying. Its pretty much toast. I know what its like to be on a budget and SGKent is right, the cost of fixing that would be unreal.

Welding it is probably the best and maybe the only option. But still being optimistic, maybe you could throw some plexi-glass over that thing. I saw a guy on here that did that and it looked pretty sweet. Don't know how its holding up.

For a long time I considered covering mine with some type of canvas like they use to cover boats or convertibles and fastening it down with snap buttons like these:
http://shop.coversuperstore.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=catalog.catalog&categoryID=279
I chicken out and never did it though I was afraid there might be too much engineering involved to seal it well.

Anyway, sorry about the sunroof. Have fun with your bus.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 3:44 pm

If it was mine here is what I would do. Repair the rust or paint it with POR15 or similar rust killer. Fit the sunroof neatly into place and wedge it with wooden wedges. Seal around it with butyl sealant as used by auto glass places to seal windows.

This would be about the neatest and cheapest repair. It would also allow you to fix it later if you win the lottery :)

Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:49 pm

TheShane wrote: So I posed a pretty optimistic comment in this thread earlier...I see what you're saying. Its pretty much toast. I know what its like to be on a budget and SGKent is right, the cost of fixing that would be unreal.

Welding it is probably the best and maybe the only option. But still being optimistic, maybe you could throw some plexi-glass over that thing. I saw a guy on here that did that and it looked pretty sweet. Don't know how its holding up.

For a long time I considered covering mine with some type of canvas like they use to cover boats or convertibles and fastening it down with snap buttons like these:
http://shop.coversuperstore.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=catalog.catalog&categoryID=279
I chicken out and never did it though I was afraid there might be too much engineering involved to seal it well.

Anyway, sorry about the sunroof. Have fun with your bus.

Thanks. I looked around with the plexiglass roof option, and I found out that just plexiglass would deteriorate quickly with the UV rays, and that it would be very very very hot inside the bus if I was put in a glass panel.

The cost of fixing it would be pretty much just buying a new sunroof. Everything up there is rusted out, so I would need to get a new sunroof panel, new rails, new cables (old ones have been ripped out), new lifters, new everything.

The canvas thing seems really neat, but don't you think it would rip off at speeds higher than, lets say, 50 mph? Just what I think might happen. Also, the sealing would also probably be a problem.

And Rusty O'Toole, I thought about that, but repairing the sunroof is out of the question. It is too far gone. The whole panel is rotted through in quite a few places. I will be using parts of it for patches on the rest of the roof, so it is just easier for me to weld in a solid piece of sheet metal. There are so many holes in it that even the sealant wouldn't keep water from coming in.

Thanks guys, I will keep you updated on the process.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:28 pm

while I hate to see a sunroof die, I would rather see it welded over and the bus live another 20 years than all the money go into a sunroof and the bus sit. Unless you can find a donor with all the parts. One thing you might also look at is a Westy conversion as I have read some years used the sunroof as the opening for the Westy top.

BTW - Interstate VW in Lake Elsinore sells whole sunrrof tops they cut off buses but I think they get about $1000 for a top. The Brits buy them and ship them back.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:34 pm

Even though I hate to have to close up my sunroof as well, I think it is the more logical choice for me currently. I haven't looked into putting on a camper top yet, but that seems like a neat idea as well. It might be easier than welding a patch panel in, and also easier to restore to a sunroof later.

Hmmmm....

P.S. I plan on keeping this bus for much more than 20 years.

Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:56 pm

maximan1 wrote: Even though I hate to have to close up my sunroof as well, I think it is the more logical choice for me currently. I haven't looked into putting on a camper top yet, but that seems like a neat idea as well. It might be easier than welding a patch panel in, and also easier to restore to a sunroof later.

Hmmmm....

P.S. I plan on keeping this bus for much more than 20 years.

i think thats the best idea yet

Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:30 am

maximan1 wrote: Even though I hate to have to close up my sunroof as well, I think it is the more logical choice for me currently. I haven't looked into putting on a camper top yet, but that seems like a neat idea as well. It might be easier than welding a patch panel in, and also easier to restore to a sunroof later.

Hmmmm....

P.S. I plan on keeping this bus for much more than 20 years.
I just saw this thread- I wish I would have been able to save the entire roof section that was removed from a sunroof bus a while back. Sold my house and didn't have room for the metal, so I had to scrap it. I saved an interior panel with torn headliner, the long aluminum rails and some other misc. hardware if anyone might need those items for their sunroof.

Maybe you can find a donor bus at some point to restore your sunroof. It takes a lot of patience, let me tell ya!