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What am I missing. The posts I've read about doing the conversion says its a quick swap. The latches interfere with the sunroof liner a great deal! does this bother anyone else? So much so that I have to angle the latch in order for it to lock down. When it does lock, it only grabs an 1/8" of material. I still can't get other side to even lock down. Any input would be appreciated.
The manual cups will not work when doing the conversion from electric, only the manual SR models (83-early 84) had the mounting points to receive the bolts. I don't recall any of mine being that off-center when converted though. I always removed all the guts, gears, etc and left the empty gear case intact and never had a problem on the 3 cars I did. You can't really improve the fit using your old electric SR panel unless you remove some of the fiberboard behind the vinyl and that requires pulling some plastic pins on the sides of the panel (they will almost always break when removing them leaving you with trying to find those parts or making something similar)
Mine latch fine without the cups, just against the siliver metal bracket. I pull the vinyl back on the headliner, cut the fiberboard and stretched the vinyl and re-glued it.
You could probably glue some thin plastic to the silver bracket to allow it to tighten down better.
Hey Guys.
On my 1983 944 I'm re-tapping the screw holes for the front latches on my sunroof as 3 coats of liquid screw and some time did not prevent 4 of the 6 screws from shearing off.
I was able to tap two of them from the top but I'm going to need to come at the other two from the back.
I'd like to dismount the metal brackets from the sunroof and it looks like I need to disassemble the sunroof to do so.
So, I am out to remove the interior panel.
I removed the metal philips screws but these little plastic round guys still remain.
What would be the proper move to remove my plastic buddies without destruction?
Thanks SOB,
I'll make sure to be ready to make a run for parts ;-)
I take it you just pried the interior panel off and the fasteners snapped.
The panel survives, yes?
That would definitely make them let go SOB
Has anyone done this by prying on the panel?
I'd like to know if prying will kill the panel.
I'm totally willing to destroy the fasteners, but I am curious if there is a way to save them.
You can't reuse those plastic pins twice, they are 25 YO aged plastic and brittle. Just drive out the center section all the way with a small punch and the outer section should pull out now that it's not expanded. Don't try and pry the fiber panel, it can tear pretty easily. Find a small aftermarket trim push pin at an auto parts store that will work as a replacement.
The the restoration:
- drilled out those plastic fasteners and the interior panel came right off
- took this opportunity to practice my sanding/priming/painting skills
- got all the corrosion off of the latches
- sanded/painted the parts
- took acetone to the bits of previously applied (Previous Owner) over spray
- put on store bought fasteners
Guys after a fun day in the garage another piece of my car is gorgeous. No more shabby corrosion for me. My baby is looking good.
11-22-2014, 04:37 PM
Manual Sunroof Latches Install
