Just before a trip to Italy, I wanted to repair the radio aerial on our 16v, so opened the sunroof. I did the job, then closed the sunroof, but it stopped 50mm before the end. So I gave it a thump from inside the car, and the sunroof panel flew off and landed on the bonnet.

 

I picked the roof panel up, and glued it shut for our trip, disconnected the motor switch, and kind of forgot about it.

 

So the time came to fix it.

 

I removed the roof lining, grab handles, interior light, rear view mirror and trim. Be careful removing the casing around the interior light, there are 2 hidden screws behind the light securing the casing. I removed the sun roof inner panel and main roof lining, I was happy not to find much rust underneath. I took the roof lining parts to an upholsterer for recovering.

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The outer sunroof panel is attached to its sliders with 2 Allen head screws on each side, the inner lining is clipped to the outer panel front mountings. Lift the sunroof back end on the vent setting, grasp the back edge of inner liner from outside the car, then pull it backwards off its clips. The 4 screws securing the sunroof panel to its sliders can then be removed, and the panel lifted from the frame. This needs to be done to allow access to the cassette frame to body fixing screws.

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Then all the drain hoses and cassette attaching screws can be removed, the cassette frame can then be lowered and pulled out of the back door. There is an area of adhesive tape bonding the frame to the car roof at the rear of the sunroof, the frame will have to be gently levered off that.

 

I went to Chester and bought a new cassette from Jim at NW Integrales, his warehouse is packed full of Integrale bits, everything is available, and Jim is a very helpful gentleman. I got the frame home, put it on the bench and attached a battery, it worked well, sliding back and forth. I slid it in and out for a good while, but I still can't understand how it knows when to stop itself. How it bobs up and down again on the vent setting is a complete mystery!

 

Anyway, refitting is obviously the reverse of above, it's quite straightforward again. Care must be taken that there's clearance between the sunroof panel and the roof edge, the manual says the panel should be wound back by hand first, this is good advice. You must check the sunroof panel doesn't rub on the roof edge.

I'd isolated the dashboard switch for our travels, I found the wires behind the dash and hooked it up, it worked fine, and is still working now.

 

I think the wind deflector hinges must have rusted tight, and not let the sunroof close properly, when I thumped it, the little cast alloy sliders snapped. Never again!

 

While the roof lining was down, we addressed the rear roof edge, bubbles were starting to show. That's the next report.