Has anyone done a power to manual sunroof conversion? What parts to do you need to do it? Thanks

 

Here's what I did. Completely removed the eletric system aside from the microswitch at the front (only b/c I could find the parts to cover that back up). Removed the eletric sunroof headliner and the latching cups at the back. Replaced the cups with the manual latches and put in a nice condition manual headliner. This required notching the aluminum supports at the back of the electric roof (for clearing the headliner where it's depressed around the manual latches). These supports are overkill in my opinion considering that the manual roofs only have a thin metal rod for the same purpose. If I was more daring I would have heated the epoxy holding them in and removed them completely. I then bought the manual latch strikers which mount on the roof for the rear latches. I made some brackets to hold them in place (1/8" aluminum) and it all works good enough for me. One of these days, I'll finish modifying the rear headliner piece so that it looks right with the new strikers. Or, I'll find one from a manual sunroof car.

 

Oops, that should say "could NOT find the parts".

 

Wait wait... Where's Sid.. I would have expected him to chime in by now ...

If you search for his posts half of them are one-liners:

"Convert to manual it's fun and easy http://www.sidv.org/manualsunroof.htm"

Cheers,
Sach

 

Hmmm, I like that idea. I'll need to take apart one of my electric lifting mechanisms and use it like that. Sid does forget to address the issue of the manual headliner not fitting properly b/c of the supports (but those supports are only found on the late '86 and up 944's).

 

Has anyone actually weighed all of the components? I can't imagine it's much.

 

Supposedly between 6 and 10Lbs for _everything_. Not worth the weight savings...

 

But worth the revenge against the evil hangover-dazed engineer who thought the ridiculous contraption up....I would love to see that guy(s) design a mousetrap, I wonder how many rooms it would fill.

Al

 

now that is simplicity at its best

 

You lose the tilt function with this conversion, right? Can somebody remind me if the old style sunroofs (my 931 for example) had the ability to lift in the rear?

My car has had all kinds of wierd things go wrong with it, but none of the 4 that seem to be really common: clock, sunroof, endcaps for hatch cover or DME relay, strange... It did develop the schizophrenic cruise control, though. I cured that with a complete cruisecontrolectomy.

 

Its seriously a great modification, imo. No more worrying about plastic gears breaking, much simpler to deal with, and weight savings up high (10 lbs would definitely be the upper limit of the weight savings, tho).

Aside from having to fiddle with two levers to "tilt" as opposed to pushing one button, I find the manual sunroof to be more functional. Its easier to remove the sunroof, and not much harder to tilt. The only loss of function is that you will no longer have "partial tilt" ability. Not a loss, in my book, and given that my '84 will only tilt on one side anyway, I am thinking thats the next car to get converted!

Regards,

 

Oh, I missed the PARTIAL tilt part. When I open mine I always open it all the way anyways. I'll keep this option in mind in case mine ever breaks. Should I lubricate anything in there to keep it working, if so, what should I use? thanks. Cool mod, btw.

 

My car's sunroof dosent work, i dont even have a sunroof button. The car has been this way since i got it. Do you guys know of a way for me to remove the sunroof even though i think the motor is broken? thanx

Shea

 

Yeah, but its a bit ugly... you need to remove the rear trim panel and remove the screws that hold the brackets that hold the arms in place, and then you should be able to get it out. Be warned that once you do, you need to be prepared to either fix it (which is a major pain, in my opinion) or replace the electric arms for the manual latches, or else you won't have anything holding the back side of the sunroof in.

Regards,