Mark Hubley

I just purchased a used Saratoga top from a guy cleaning out his garage (he wanted $50 and I gave him $60). It needs a new seal around the edges. Anyone know what to do? It looks somewhat like the seal on the regular roof for my '86 944, but not quite the same.

Perhaps I should just sell the top on E-bay and use the profit to buy something else???

Cheers,

Mark

Friendan

Hey, if you don't want to deal with it, I'll buy it off you, and pay alot more what you paid.

Opeth

I have a brand new sunroof seal (for the reg 944 sunroof) , never installed, still wrapped, paid close to 100.00 plus shipping , PM me an offer if you want it.

Mark Hubley

I think for now I'll take a shot at it. If only to prove to myself that I can! Send me an E-mail, though, and if I give up then I'll give you the first shot at a purchase!

Mark

Friendan

Email sent, Mark. Thanks!

Mark Hubley

P.S. My top is of the "golden bronze" variety. I believe the "grey" version has a frame around the edges. My bronze sunroof has no frame. I'm not sure if that makes a difference with the seal.

Mark

michaelathome

If you have no frame how could it have a seal? You musta already tried fitting it in place and that was a no work. I woulda guessed that if it didn't have a frame then it would use the factory seal.

Just guessing,

Michael

Mark Hubley

The seal that was on the roof was glued on around the edge of the underside. Part of the seal stuck up around the edges, but that part was nearly all gone. When I put the roof onto my car, there was a gap of about 1/8 inch (I didn't measure) all the way around. I can only imagine how much water it would leak and how much wind noise I would have!

It appears that I need to get a new seal of some sort and glue it on. The seal on my regular roof is not glued on. It simply fits on a ridge that goes all around the bottom edge of the sunroof. I'm not sure if I could modify that seal in a way that it could be glued onto the Saratoga top.

82-928/89-S2

Hi Mark,

I actually talked to the original designer of the Saratoga roof a few years back with the same question. He said (for the bronze roofs) he just used a plain-Jane D-profile seal that was readily available at the time and glued it right to the glass top. He didn't have any recollection on the original seal strip supplier nor did Saratoga have any stock left over from the original run.

I deal quite a bit with a supplier called McMaster-Carr for allot of the components I use at work. Although sometimes pricey, they have a great selection of just about everything and 99.9% of the time all of the items are in stock. It should be a good starting point as you can buy several profiles/materials in small lengths until you find one you like. It looked like that seal was about a 3/8" x 3/8" D-profile. From what I remember, it looked like I would have to buy one of the "tadpole - D" profiles and cut off the tail to get it to match the original, although I'm sure there is a manufacturer out there that makes exactly what you're looking for.

For some reason I can't get a direct link for you, but if you look under "Seals" in the "Fastening & Sealing" grouping they have a nice selection of all kinds of seals. You may even want to experiment with different profiles as the original Saratoga designer told me the seals on the bronze roofs always had a weakness with heavy rainfall and they changed to the style that's used on the 924/944 Porsche roofs because of it. You'll need to pick a material that's good with UV and watch your temperature range too.


http://www.mcmaster.com/


Hope this helps,
Nick

mavfan

Hijack: i am in the process of purchasing a saratoga top, and its good, but it's missing its hardware and hindges. my idea is to use the hardware off a normal sunroof to fabricate the hinges. good/bad idea? i dont really know what else to do as nobody has these parts lying around.

josephsc

I did this a month ago. The OEM sunroof seal will not fit (I've tried....). I scraped off the old weather seal with a razorblade, and cleaned it out with GooGone. Then, like Nick said, I took 3/8" wide by 7/32" thick "All Climate Door & Window Weatherseal" from the hardware store -- I found the "P" type. You'll need enough to do two rows. These things come with adhesives - just peel and press tight.

It keeps the rain out just fine, and squeaks just as much as the origina seals did.

Mark Hubley

Nick: Thanks for that information. I'll check it out.

Joe: Can you post some pics???

josephsc

Will do in the morning!

Mark Hubley

I've been under the impression that the seal needs to be complete around the edges, so that there is no gap between the edges of the sunroof and the opening in the roof of the car. After more thought, I wonder if this is not the correct way to think about it. Perhaps it is just important that the seal under the edges of the sunroof is tight. Thus, maybe a gap around the edges is OK???

Mark Hubley

Yesterday I stopped at Home Depot and bought a 10' roll of plain old foam rubber, self-adhesive weatherstrip. It is 3/4" width and 7/16" thickness. I put it on this afternoon and put the roof into place. The sunroof sticks up about 1/8" above the roofline (too bad they didn't have 3/4" width and 1/4" thickness). Other than that, so far so good. I took a drive and didn't notice much wind noise. The top operates fine and is held tightly. Once the weather is a bit warmer, I'll wash the car and see if the seal holds up to water. For $4.00, this may have been the perfect solution. I'll update again after I have a chance to do the water test.