Passat Moonroof conversion or repair original???

[Jamie 1]

Right just been messing with my sunroof again and lets just say things didn't go well! I've spoken to a main dealer and the repair kit is £90ish but I've found a complete B4 Passat estate Moonroof for £60 (+20 delivery). So what do you reckon - is that a decent price and should I go for it, or just repair the original?

 

PS Got to ask - I'd need a second opinion if my arse was on fire :D

[Henny 0]

the B4 moonroof sits a little low in the corners when viewed from the outside. They can also act as a condensation trap if the car is stood outside for a while.

 

If neither of those points bother you too much, then I'd go for the moon-roof... ;) I've had one on both of my last Corrados and love 'em to bits! They brighten up the interior like nothing else can and make it a much nicer place to be... Be aware though, the actual mechanism is basically the same and subject to break in the same places!

[Jamie 1]

Cheers Henny :)

 

Nah not too bothered about the corners sitting low as long as its not too[/] obvious and the car lives in a garage so shouldn't suffer from condensation too much.

 

The only worrying thing for me is that you are saying that they are as prone to breakages as the Corrado one - I thought they were the same design but made with stronger components?

[Henny 0]

the one that's fitted to the Corrado I'm in the process of selling to Dox has a broken arm on the passenger side. It doesn't stop it from working or make the panel catch when sliding, but it looks to have broken in the same way as the metal panels' mechanisms I've seen in the past. I think that some of the bits are slightly uprated due to having to slide the inner panel separately, but I'm not 100% on that. That said, it's the only one I've known to be broken, (it was broken when I got it :( ) and I've done about 7 or 8 conversions over the last 10 years!

 

The other good thing with the moon-roofs is that I think that they don't tend to be fully opened as often as a metal panel 'cos you can just slide the inner cover back to get the light into the car without all the wind noise! On both of my Corrados where I fitted a moonroof, I tended to only ever use them on tilt or with it closed and the inner panel open 'cos otherwise it was just noisy! I know a couple of the people I did conversions with/for found they used it in the same way as I did, and I think most B4 Passat owners were of the same thought! ;) :lol:

 

The corners being a bit lower isn't that obvious at all.... you're talking around a millimetre or two in the back corners over the last 2 or 3 centimetres before the corners on the back edge... If you were a perfectionist, it'd probably do your nut, but for the gain of having a glass roof, it's easily worth it! :) I'll see if I can grab a picture of mine/Dox's tomorrow morning before work...

[Jamie 1]

1mm??? I would probably would never have noticed but now you've told me... :D

 

Cheers Henny I ordered it and it should be here tomorrow so will try and whack it in Sunday. Read plenty of how-to's now and it looks pretty straightforward*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*obviously will now take 3 weeks and will end with me needing a new headliner and all new a,b and c pillar trims :D

[Henny 0]

I got it down to between 60 and 90 minutes from start to finish doing it on my own, so there's your target! ;) :lol:

 

The advice I'd give is to take your time, and don't force any of the trim..... and be VERY VERY VERY careful with the head lining as it creases pretty easily...

 

Oh, and have a few thin 6mm washers handy as you may find you need to pad the front of the mechanism down a little to get the best fit possible... ;)

[Jamie 1]

An hour??? Yeah sounds doable :lol:

 

Getting the headlining out in one piece is the only bit that looks like it may give me a bit of bother but as long as I'm careful it should be fine.

 

With regard to the washers, I take it you mean for spacing out the frame from where it bolts into the roof panel?

[Henny 0]

yeah, headlining will come out via the boot... you don't need to removed the B pillar trims, in fact I actually found it easier to leave them in, as it gives you a resting place for the head lining whilst trying to get it out/in! :)

 

Washers go between the top of the mechanism and the the roof skin's captive nuts. This allows you to drop the mechanism down a little, which lowers the front edge of the panel slightly for a better fit... The number/thickness of washers needed varied on every car I've done! Worth taking your time over before you put the interior back together though...

 

Oh, and take the front seats out completely, makes it much, much easier... ;)

[Jamie 1]

Good tip on the B Pillars cheers mate :) Yep will have the seats out anyway as will probably combine running the cables for my stereo while it's all apart.

 

Just got one more question for you Henny then I swear I'll leave you alone* - if I need to swap the inner sliding cover for mine due to a difference in colour, can you and is it straightforward?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*until I break something and need to know how to fix it :lol:

[Henny 0]

Sorry, I have no idea how you'd swap the inner cover, the moonroof units I've fitted have always had the same colour cover as the standard Corrado headlining, so I've never had to take one off... They normally need a clean though, which is much easier to do without the head lining in place! The inner cover is completely different from the Corrado one though, as it has a handle so you can open it with the roof shut... it also has vents in it so you can have the inner shut with the roof tilted. :)

 

I've attached 4 pics to this post which show the B4 moonroof fitted to my (Dox's!) Corrado which I took this morning with my phone camera... As you can see, the rear corners sit a little lower, and the middle of the longer edges sits a little proud of the roof, but only by a millimetre or so... From memory, this one doesn't have any washers to space it out, but on my previous (later model) G60, I had to use 1mm washers along the front edge to drop it down a little...

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Henny speaks the truth! Once you've done it a few times, it does become one of those 2nd nature kind of jobs you can do quickly.

 

FWIW, the passat estate moonroof on Quicky1980's car seemed to sit really well imo. I'm as picky as they come and I couldn't fault the panel alignment on his.

[Henny 0]

I'd heard that before Kev, but have yet to see a B4 estate with a moon roof to take out! ;)

[Jamie 1]

Well according to the place I'm getting it from its from a 94 estate but they have been messing me about for the past two days now so may have to start looking elsewhere.

 

It's gone from yep it's all here and ready to go, to the motors here but the sunroof is in our other depot but it will go out today (yesterday), to sorry it didnt go out yesterday but will definitely go out today, to one of the drains is damaged but easily repaired or you can use one of your own drains, to there's a problem with your card but if you can give us another card it will go out today. Then heard the cheeky twat saying to someone else while I was on the phone "it's been not authorised - that means he's got no money" which really, really ****ed me off even more so since I spoke to the credit card company and was told there's no reason why it should not have been authorised, which I already knew! Not happy at all now

 

*rant over*

[Jamie 1]

Right got the old one out in 30 minutes which included cutting out the rear trim piece that had been Sikkaflex'd in. Bolted the new one up and plugged in to test aaaaaaaannnnndddddd...

 

 

IT DOESN'T BLOODY WORK!!!!

 

Tilts but doesn't slide and the mechanism is as tight as anything - wont even turn on the Allen key.

 

Now the thing is B4 Passat estates aren't exactly a common site in scrappies these days so I don't know whether to just keep it for the glass and get a MK3 Golf mechanism or just send it back, get a refund and have the car off the road until I manage to find one :(

[Stonejag 10]

Pretty sure the Mk3 mech isn't the same fit - the frame is different (though the insides are the same).

[Henny 0]

MKIII is supposed to be a direct fit, BUT it is a totally different profile along the panel so the fit is nowhere near as good as the Passat unit...

 

---------- Post added at 12:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 PM ----------

 

Jamie? Strip the mechanism down and give it a damned good clean and then a coat of white grease.... you'll probably find it's just full of crap, especially if it does tilt and drop OK... should only take a couple of hours to get it out, stripped and back in again... :)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

MK3 has a different subframe. It looks the same but when you go to fit it you'll see the locating dowel holes are in the wrong place, as are some of the holes for the 10mm bolts. In a nutshell, don't waste your time!

 

Sounds like the Passat roof you have has a snapped water plate guide. You can still get repair kits for them. I would also get a tube of the hideously expensive "Sliding mechanism grease" from VW.

[Jamie 1]

Yeah I'm pretty sure the MKIII mech fits just the glass has more of a curve to it.

 

The place I bought it from is giving me a 50% refund so I have the B4 estate glass which fits perfectly and a 100% working motor (plus a knackered mech :) ) and I've found a MKIII mech locally, so fingers crossed I'll be able to build a working sunroof out of the three broken ones. Stay tuned :lol:

 

Really appreciate your help on this you blokes :)

 

---------- Post added at 1:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:45 PM ----------

 

Ok I'll have a crack at stripping and cleaning it at the weekend cheers Henny.

Kev I could've sworn I read someone on here had fitted a MKIII into theirs and it was just the glass which fitted but was the wrong shape?

[GlosterOx 0]

I may be wrong but I'm sure I read that as well Jamie -Use a MK3 Golf roof, remove the "wrong" shaped glass and replace it with the steel Corrado one and it fitted perfectly?

 

Ian.

[P3rks 11]

I have a 1997 MK3 Golf VR6 sunroof mechanism in my 1993 (Dec) Corrado VR6.

 

It's a direct swap. Literally I swapped everything from the Mk3 then used a B3 Passat glass panel as the Golf one is way too curvy - It'll fit as a temporary measure but the corners sit way too low as a permanent solution. The B3 Passat panel isn't as flat as the Corrado's but it's damn close - I've had mine fitted all winter with no ill effects. The MK3 mechanism is uprated and stronger too!

[robo22sri 10]

I have a mk3 sunroof going spare!!

[humi 10]

I've got one from B4 and it fits quite good. :scratch:

[geoffersmaher 10]

Really like the sound of this . Pics anyone?

[Jamie 1]

 

:D :D :D :D :D :D

 

Needs a wee bit of adjustment but it's in and works a treat. MKIII Golf GTi mechanism with B4 Passat estate glass :)

[GlosterOx 0]

Looks good!!

 

Ian.