Sunroof problems, should I just get rid of it? body work gurus' help needed

Okay so when I purchased the 98 XJ Sport it came with an aftermarket sunroof. It's a Webasto brand sunroof, looks like they cost around 560 brand new. Anyways, this damn thing doesn't even work. It's got electric power to it but the rails are all messed up. So right now, it won't even shut properly. If I go over 45mph, I start hearing wind noise and it's pretty irritating.

So I was thinking about either getting the sunroof repaired or just taking it out. What would my options be? I was thinking about welding it shut and getting a new headliner and be done with it. No more trouble with the sunroof. I don't know if this is possible but it would be nice if it was lol. So is this easier than replacing the sunroof for $$$$?

ill take your sunroof if you do decide to get rid of it... lemme know.

Your best bet would be to take out the sun roof and sell it to swbooking, then find a nice piece of aluminum and weld it in place. If you don't want to weld it alot then give it a few good tacks and fiberglass over the seems to seal them, then use a reinforces body filler (Duraglass) to match the body lines. This should work as long as you don't throw anything that weighs more than a few pounds up there without a rack. PM me for some body work questions if you have any and I'll try and help out.

rockclimber24315 said:

Your best bet would be to take out the sun roof and sell it to swbooking, then find a nice piece of aluminum and weld it in place.

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Weld aluminum to steel? hmmmmm I'd suggest sheetmetal instead.

If you don't want to weld it alot then give it a few good tacks and fiberglass over the seems to seal them, then use a reinforces body filler (Duraglass) to match the body lines. This should work as long as you don't throw anything that weighs more than a few pounds up there without a rack. PM me for some body work questions if you have any and I'll try and help out.

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Wouldn't the fiberglass have a tendency to crack if the body gets really flexed?

Yeah I was thinking about some sort of metal and then putty over it...would this work better than fiberglass and aluminum?

blackhawk411 said:

Yeah I was thinking about some sort of metal and then putty over it...would this work better than fiberglass and aluminum?

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I'd get it welded...... You can rivet it and put putty over it, but if you flex the unibody, I'm pretty sure the putty might start cracking.

okay my bad on the aluminum, I had just gotten up. Isn't he purpose of the unibody to stiffer than a frame, If the body flexed that much then there would cracks in the paint. If your afraid of fiberglass or putty then you'll have to have the sheet metal bent to match the body lines exactly, put into place, and weld around the whole thing and grind down the welds.

Just get a new roof section out of the junk yard,20$.Then if you want it to be perfect,go to Harbor freight and get the "flanging" tool(like 30$).From there you will never know it was there!Heres what it does!
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=41696

I'm doing the same thing to my 88' right now. I'm tired of the seal leaking and the air noise at any speed above 15mph. Plus cooking under the sun. I've had it plus I haven't opened it in years. I'm making a reinforcement crossmember if you will to run right under the new sheetmetal. Than paint the roof white. Along with this all the holes in the roof from the stock rack brackets are being filled in so the roof is smooth. I just need to get a new head liner without the hole.
Juice

Personally I like having a sun roof and use it all the time on my 4-Runner (XJ doesn't have one :-( ). So I would get it fixed.