TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sat Aug 02, 2025 2:40 pm

Anyone deleted or shaved a metal sunroof. Mine on my 71 sb is annoying and I could care less if I had it. I've been scheming with my dad and we were thinking that the lip of the sunroof could be folded out then welded flush or a piece of metal to fill the gap.

Sun Aug 03, 2025 8:10 am

Not sure just how seriously you take your screen name or how your metalworking skills are, but there should be an ample supply of donor cars rotted beyond repair from the bottom up that still have good roofs you could splice in.

That way you can be sure all the contours are correct.

Would create a good time to remove any insulating foam before it becomes death foam while you’ve got it apart.

Sun Aug 03, 2025 9:00 am

As Rob said I would look for one in local junkyards, pick and pull, etc and bring your sawzall and section a roof. That I think would be the easiest and produce the best result. Good luck-Bob

Sun Aug 03, 2025 9:57 am

Why is it "annoying"? I rarely use mine but I don't find it annoying- it's just there and part of it's character and history. Besides, I'm one of those "If it ain't broke don't waste money fixing it" kinda guy!

Sun Aug 03, 2025 10:41 am

Marks_Bug wrote: Why is it "annoying"? I rarely use mine but I don't find it annoying- it's just there and part of it's character and history. Besides, I'm one of those "If it ain't broke don't waste money fixing it" kinda guy!

Im tired of dealing with the mechanism and seals. I siliconed it shut cause it leaked so bad. Idc anymore and I also wanna do some cool patterns on my roof.

Sun Aug 03, 2025 10:45 am

The dirt cherap solution would be just to cut another roof skin and overlap it.

Sun Aug 03, 2025 10:55 am

Silicone it closed for now.

Thu Aug 28, 2025 11:07 am

I've owned a number of the metal sunroof sedans and worked on them all.
First, get a Bentley Official Service Manual. Secondly, there are some good videos on YouTube that are helpful.

If your sunroof leaks it's probably the drain tubes. As the manual says, the sunroof seals were never designed to stop the leaks, the water catches in the tray and flows out the tubes.

Before I would "delete" the sunroof I would explore fixing it. With a little time and effort they are not difficult to make work correctly.

And as has been noted, if you get it closed with the seals on, drain tubes clear, and leave it alone it still looks great and part of the history of the vehicle.

I hope this is helpful.

Keep on Buggin'
Brian "Bugone"

Thu Aug 28, 2025 11:30 am

Bugone wrote: Before I would "delete" the sunroof I would explore fixing it. With a little time and effort they are not difficult to make work correctly.

I think the main problem with fixing the sunroof mechanism is the poor fitment of the replacement parts available today. It can be next to impossible to get the sunroof to work with these aftermarket parts. If you know of a source that is selling OEM quality sunroof parts please let us know.

Bugone wrote: And as has been noted, if you get it closed with the seals on, drain tubes clear, and leave it alone it still looks great and part of the history of the vehicle.

Mine works if you baby it, but I really never use it. I agree, If you can get the drain tubes clear, close it up and let it be.

Thu Aug 28, 2025 7:40 pm

I agree, the aftermarket parts we get today are not up to the standard of the OEM and that causes problems in all areas of restoring a VW to original condition. It's sad but it's what we have to work with if we want to keep our old VWs running and enjoy them.

Unfortunately I do not have a source for original quality sunroof cables but I have not had any problems with the cables from Wolfsburg West. I read another post about sunroof cables saying they had trouble with the Wolfsburg West cables "breaking". I do not know what that means but I do know that several years ago it was not possible to get a good set of cables. I waited about 6 months at one point. During that time there were a lot of bad reproduction cables and I know that you had to get a pair from the same manufacturer. If you tried to buy one cable from one source and the other from another they would not work. The problem I saw was that the cable ends would pull off, but I never had a cable "break".

I suspect that many of the problems are with the adjustments. If the cables are not exactly in sync the roof will bind, and if a lot of pressure is applied with the crank handle you will damage the cables.

I did some looking today and I see that JBugs now says that their cables are a "new high quality OEM part". I have not tried them so I can't speak to their quality. Might be worth a shot if you've had trouble with the Wolfsburg cables!

Good luck and Keep on Buggin'
Brian "Bugone"

Thu Aug 28, 2025 7:42 pm

"Its part of the history" "just fix the drains" "preserve your car"

Womp womp its not like a sunroof super beetle is that rare. The car is ruined anyways.

It looks ugly, I need to fix it.

Fri Aug 29, 2025 5:08 am

Ok first off when someone replies with womp womp it really annoys people, people who are trying to help. Grow up a bit.

Here are your options
1. Get another roof section cut out your sunroof and give it to someone who will use it and weld in the new section.

2. Fiberglass the seams and bondo the roof smooth

3. Weld the seam up leaving the sunroof in there.

4. Use fiberglass reinforced bond and fill the seam finish with regular bondo.

Only one of these options is a correct course of fire. It’s the 1st one but it sounds like you don’t care about that so have at it.