I have owned my 2500M for 49 years. A 1974 bought new in 1975. Drove it for 15 years with the original sun roof at some extra-legal highway speeds. Never leaked a drop. When I restored the car in 2019, I rebuilt the sunroof recovering both interior and exterior. I have driven in some torrential rains (most recently at Our of the Woodwork 2024 in Pittsburgh). Still no leaks. One of the things that you should do, at least I did, is bed the aluminum frame rail that attaches to the body with a sealant. It is my opinion that any water that is blown under the sunroof (between the body and the sunroof itself) will be a very thin film and the aluminum frame is sufficiently thick to act as a dam for thin films of water.
Thanks William that is good to know. What isn't shown in the video is that thin foam seal on the front moving bow only lasted one closing, it immediately gets ripped off. I might try to source a better replacement. I will need to rewatch my own material, I guess I didn't cover it, on the back bow I did stuff it full of foam thick seal that got well compressed when I bolted it down. Thanks for the info and the comment.
@@DEMOGarage On the original sunroofs the seal on the bottom front of the sliding (forward) bow was under the exterior material. The seal was glued to the steel bow and the vinyl (in the original) was wrapped and glued over the seal. The rotary latch has a compound action. It pulls the fabric forward, stretching it tight and also has a cam action that pulls the forward bow downward tight against the roof, compressing that seal.
@@williamkennedy3110crap you are right. I went through my photos and I missed that. Thanks I will add that to my description. My cam action seems to work really well. The front bow even in the corners now fit very good after a few operations without me even trying to mess with the fit.
@@DEMOGarage Hope I can help. I forgot to say it but that was very, very nice work on the rebuild of the sunroof. As you have found it is a complex device. Few have to courage to undertake such a task. Fitting the interior liner to it can be difficult. It has to be the same precisely the same length as the outer fabric otherwise it will sag. I think that TVR got around this with a headliner vinyl that had slight more stretch than the outer cover and cut it just a tiny bit short so that when closed it was forced to stretch taut.
Thanks William. I know what you mean about the fit of the inner fabric. Because I sewed my own, if I didn't nail the length between the back welting that slides in the channel and the center transverse pocket I can always sew in a new tuck. Then the front just gets glued on in the right place.
Wow, that's a complicated project 😕. Thanks for taking the time to do a video of it. Very interesting to see how it's all put together, though struggling to see how the interior cover fits. Guess I'll have to wait for pat 2!
Thanks for the comment, Pete. I have sewn the inner part and plan to make a part 2 video. I was thinking that I might wait until I was ready to pull the glass and redo the headliner before I installed the sunroof inner though. Maybe I should rethink that thought and install it sooner and posting the video sooner. If you have a similar project coming up, reach out and I will share with you the info I have prior to posting the video.
I have owned my 2500M for 49 years. A 1974 bought new in 1975. Drove it for 15 years with the original sun roof at some extra-legal highway speeds. Never leaked a drop. When I restored the car in 2019, I rebuilt the sunroof recovering both interior and exterior. I have driven in some torrential rains (most recently at Our of the Woodwork 2024 in Pittsburgh). Still no leaks. One of the things that you should do, at least I did, is bed the aluminum frame rail that attaches to the body with a sealant. It is my opinion that any water that is blown under the sunroof (between the body and the sunroof itself) will be a very thin film and the aluminum frame is sufficiently thick to act as a dam for thin films of water.
Thanks William that is good to know. What isn't shown in the video is that thin foam seal on the front moving bow only lasted one closing, it immediately gets ripped off. I might try to source a better replacement. I will need to rewatch my own material, I guess I didn't cover it, on the back bow I did stuff it full of foam thick seal that got well compressed when I bolted it down. Thanks for the info and the comment.
@@DEMOGarage On the original sunroofs the seal on the bottom front of the sliding (forward) bow was under the exterior material. The seal was glued to the steel bow and the vinyl (in the original) was wrapped and glued over the seal. The rotary latch has a compound action. It pulls the fabric forward, stretching it tight and also has a cam action that pulls the forward bow downward tight against the roof, compressing that seal.
@@williamkennedy3110crap you are right. I went through my photos and I missed that. Thanks I will add that to my description. My cam action seems to work really well. The front bow even in the corners now fit very good after a few operations without me even trying to mess with the fit.
@@DEMOGarage Hope I can help. I forgot to say it but that was very, very nice work on the rebuild of the sunroof. As you have found it is a complex device. Few have to courage to undertake such a task. Fitting the interior liner to it can be difficult. It has to be the same precisely the same length as the outer fabric otherwise it will sag. I think that TVR got around this with a headliner vinyl that had slight more stretch than the outer cover and cut it just a tiny bit short so that when closed it was forced to stretch taut.
Thanks William. I know what you mean about the fit of the inner fabric. Because I sewed my own, if I didn't nail the length between the back welting that slides in the channel and the center transverse pocket I can always sew in a new tuck. Then the front just gets glued on in the right place.
Wow, that's a complicated project 😕. Thanks for taking the time to do a video of it. Very interesting to see how it's all put together, though struggling to see how the interior cover fits. Guess I'll have to wait for pat 2!
Thanks for the comment, Pete. I have sewn the inner part and plan to make a part 2 video. I was thinking that I might wait until I was ready to pull the glass and redo the headliner before I installed the sunroof inner though. Maybe I should rethink that thought and install it sooner and posting the video sooner. If you have a similar project coming up, reach out and I will share with you the info I have prior to posting the video.
@@DEMOGaragethanks Steve. It'll be a few months until I tackle this on my car so no worries, don't rush on my part!
I held up really well for the drive to Coronado and back! Great job!!
The two front corners are laying against the roof real nice after the trip without me making any further adjustment.