By the way, allowing for the sunshade I used 3 cans and a little bit from a 4th can to do the headlining.

Pierre3.

I went through the same as you with the sunroof on the Ascot with the bolts holding the motor but I also had broken bits in the mechanism and a worn cable, hence replacing the whole cassette. You should be able to get the motor to remember where it needs to be by setting it. Drive it fully open and keep your finger on the button for a couple of seconds after it has stopped, then drive it all the way forwards until it stops (even it it stops in the wrong place) and hold the button for a couple of seconds, release the button then press it to tilt the roof, again when it doesn't go any further, hold the button for a couple of seconds, then close it and hold the button. It should then have found where it should stop and the dash will beep and display Sunroof Set.

92p an hour? Surely that's over a Euro, I trust you are going to advise her she needs to declare it on her tax return......

Thanks Gilbert, I have gone through that sequence a couple of times, but I will go through it again. One thing that I notice - when following Martys' suggestion of setting the initial parameters with the motor disconnected if the "Open" switch is kept pressed at the end of it's run backwards the motor stops and then you hear the motor starting clicking. It's a bit strange.

The mechanisms are working fine so it may be that I had got tired and I haven't done a final reset.

Although, I thought that I hade done a reset and when keepng the switch pressed for 10 seconds the motor started clicking when the glass was fully back.

However, with all the distractions of trying to tighten up the bolts that hold the motor, and failing, and having to reposition the cable mechanism on the track it is quite possible that I didn't actually a reset. I will try again on Monday.

I'll get it sorted eventually, I'm sure, because the sunroof worked fine before this.

Pierre3.

So, I thought that I would post a couple of pictures of the end result of the re-upholstering of the headling panel. I am quite pleased with it, considering as it is the first time that I have tried this. I would be more confident if I was doing it again, there are a couple of places that I would be more careful with such as the grab handle insets.

I would say, however, this took three days, and at that I didn't need to wire-brush the fibreglass roof panel as someone had previously attached new fabric but it didn't have a foam back, and I think that it may have been a bit too heavy for a headling. The first day was stripping out all the trim pieces, the roof items, all without beaking any plastic pieces, and removing the sunroof cassette.

The second day was measuring up, checking and double checking the fitting, re-upholstering the sunshade panel, and finally re-upholstering the headlining panel itself. A lot of careful trimming and snipping, to get all the edge turn-overs right. Then leave somewhere warm to ensure everything has stuck properly.

The third day was refitting everything, making sure that all the fittings went back correctly. As I mentioned earlier, the grab-handle insets were a bit of a nuisance because the edges of the inset holes were a bit seperated caused by the original headlining pulling the edges apart when being removed, I would guess.

Pierre3.

Looks a nice job. You have now been elevated to our resident expert on roof lining retrims.
I need to start mine after Easter. I have just found I don't have enough sound deadening panels.

Nice job Pierre. Did you keep the foam backing on the sunroof shade? It looks great. My whole job looks decent enough, but the sunroof shade looks like crap. I did remove the foam backing as that’s how it was originally, but then you can see every bit of glue behind it.

Nice Job there mate I'm looking to do mine so been reading your comments and taken a few tips

Looks great!

How big a difference did the extra insulation on the roof make?

Pierre,
what do you recon the total area is for the sound deadening panels? I need to get some ordered. I only have a few pieces left from a generator box I built. Mine came in 200x300mm and 300x400mm sizes.
Looking at your previous pictures there are 4 smaller panels over the rear passenger seats and 2 full width over the parcel shelf. I don't have a sunroof so I will also do where it normally goes.
Likewise, have you noticed any improvement?

Hi guys, sorry for the delay in getting back to this. As has been pointed out many times - don't fix every problem as the moment that you do this you will immediately run into more trouble. Well, that's what happened. I had finished putting all the trim bits back together, and I was sitting in the car and decided to put the windows down to air the car. So, the rear passenger one wouldn't go down, and then the passenger front went down, but wouldn't come back up up - bol++++s !!!!

Fortunately, I had a repaired switchpack, from Marty, which I had not used and when I swapped them over I was back in business. So, looking good, until I tried to open the drivers door and the inner handle went "boing" and I couldn't get out. Roll down the window and open the door from the outside, I bet that the string in the door has broken !!!! To be honest, I haven't even bothered looking, I just otdered a new one from Rimmers and I 'll wait until it arrives.

While I was working on the sunroof, trying to get the glass to operate properly I was standing on the side-step, and, having been in and out standing on it, it suddenly decided that it had had enough and, again, "boing", I was standing on the ground and the step was hanging down like a big flap door. More bol***s !!!!. The box section part of the step has rusted through. Fortunately, my son is in the automatic gate business so he has a welder and metal tubes, box section etc. He is going to call around and weld in new pieces.

Thanks for the comments from karlos01 and JLImmelman. I haven't taken the vehicle out yet so I don't know how much, if any, difference the insulation will make as it isn't a very big space, just the single thickness sections between the strengthening bars. I have a suspicion that I would really have to do the doors and the boot area inside panels as well to see a big difference but that is a lot of work which I just don't need.

dave3d, I ordered only 2 square meters roll – 4.0m long x 50cm wide, [ https://www.soundinsulation.ie/product/deadsound-car-sound-deadening-door-pack/ ], and I used just under half of it. Bearing in mind that I didn't have to do anything where the sunroof cassette is. I did the rear roof sections between the strengtheners and the rear pillars by the tailgate door. But - I wouldn't class myself as an expert, but I hope that I could give some advice to anyone doing this job. I "uhmmmed and ah-ed" about it for two months until [a] I couldn't get anyone local to me to do it, and [b] I really need the motor to be presentable when the lockdown lets us travel, as I need to go to Scotland to see my daughter. The only answer was - do it myself.

Harv, I did do the sunshade, and I did it the long way - by taking out the sunroof cassette. I really didn't want to bugger up te sunshade panel or the small clips that sit on the edge. I read a few posts by some bloke called ToadhallRR or something like that, who reckons you can take the sunshade out and put it back, with the clips, and all without taking out the cassette. I don't believe this is possible as the two rear clips are right under a strengthening bar which is at the back of the sunroof opening. I did notice that he later admitted that he was wrong and the cassette has to come out.

If you have the headlining panel out it is, as has been said elsewhere, quite straightforward and easy to take out the cassette, it's just eight bolts. I did it on my own, but I needed help to put it back as I had to hold it up while Madame fitted the two bolts on either side and in the centre of the cassette. These held it in place for me to refit all the other bolts.

The sunshade is plastic, I thought that it was metal, and I scrubbed it with a wire brush to remove any old foam, then I soaked it in White Spirits, to soften any adhesive, and used a paint scraper to shift any residue, finally washed it down with warm water - and then sanded it with 180 grit wet and dry sandpaper to give a surface for the new adhesive to stick to. I put a good amount of adhesive on both sides of the sunshade, paying particular attention to the rear side edges, which are very narrow, to make sure that the material sticks firmly and won't try to peel back when the sunshade is put back in position. I was also very particular in putting back those dodgy spring clips, again making sure that they sat in the right position when the sunshade is repositioned into the track in the cassette.

Incidentally, I found that to remove and replace the sunshade you put one hand under the panel and one hand on one side, where the track is, and gently push up until the panel bends and pops out of the track at the front. The back comes out without a problem, but when you look at the panel you will see a kind of lug on the front edge of the panel which keeps the panel firmly located in the track. This is why you need to bend the sunshade panel quite a bit, for it to pop out. Easy when you do it, but a bit disconcerting when you haven't !!

dave3d, just reading your posts - I think that you may have enough stuff to do the roof. The four small panels are only about 14 in x 6 in. I can't remember the size of the full width ones but I think they were about 48 in x 8 in, - I think !!

karlos01, if, like me, you are a bit reluctant don't be. Having read all the posts by other guys on here I did find it a pretty easy job. Just be very careful and take real care of the things like the seatbelt adjuster covers. As has been mentioned before they break easily so try to make sure that you have trim removal tools - don't used screwdrivers if possible as they will break. I was lucky, none of mine did. Other things to watch for are the sun visor retaining clips. They have a small cover over a screw, and that little cover will probably break when you lever it down, but I think that this is unavoidable. I haven't bothered putting mine back.

Pierre3.

Pierre3 wrote:

While I was working on the sunroof, trying to get the glass to operate properly I was standing on the side-step, and, having been in and out standing on it, it suddenly decided that it had had enough and, again, "boing", I was standing on the ground and the step was hanging down like a big flap door. More bol***s !!!!. The box section part of the step has rusted through.

Yes, they do that although it's usually a crunch rather than a boing.

I read a few posts by some bloke called ToadhallRR or something like that, who reckons you can take the sunshade out and put it back, with the clips, and all without taking out the cassette. I don't believe this is possible as the two rear clips are right under a strengthening bar which is at the back of the sunroof opening. I did notice that he later admitted that he was wrong and the cassette has to come out.

He's almost always wrong but just for once, he was right (although I got a weeks ban from .net for telling him he was right in the first place and it can be done, nobody has the right to contradict the almighty). Yes, the two clips at the back are under the stiffening bar but that is only held on with a couple of self tappers on each side, so you just take the bar out first. I've taken the shade out at least 3 times without taking the whole cassette out. In fact, when we had the mass headlining session at Marty's workshop a couple of years ago, we took 6 or 7 out to be retrimmed and didn't take the cassette out on any of them.

Incidentally, I found that to remove and replace the sunshade you put one hand under the panel and one hand on one side, where the track is, and gently push up until the panel bends and pops out of the track at the front. The back comes out without a problem, but when you look at the panel you will see a kind of lug on the front edge of the panel which keeps the panel firmly located in the track. This is why you need to bend the sunshade panel quite a bit, for it to pop out. Easy when you do it, but a bit disconcerting when you haven't !!

If you thought it was metal and didn't realise it is simply an ABS moulding, I can understand why you were worried. As you say, just bow it enough for it to drop out of the tracks.

Hi Richard, thanks for your information.

I don't know what to make of that bloke ToadHallRR. He appears to be very bombastic and self-opinionated. I think that, having read stuff that he has posted, and read your advice and information I know who I would rather believe. Not wishing to praise you too much [!!!!! 💀 ] I would trust you rather more than him !!! [And no, I'm not gay.]

Pierre3.

He almost single handedly destroyed RR.net with his comments and arbitrary bans of anyone that had the audacity to disagree or, even worse, correct him. He is the reason this site was started in the first place. Since the new owners took over RR.net he has had his wings clipped and no longer posts advice, just chips in to odd general threads. Problem is, for the owners, that it is too late, most knowledgeable owners have voted with their feet and left so all that is there now is newer members asking the same old questions over and over again.

Well, well, well, fascinating stuff, thanks Richard. Just as well he is in America. I'll bet he voted for Trump.

Pierre3.

Richard - "Yes, they do that although it's usually a crunch rather than a boing." I think the "boing" was caused by me hitting my head on the door frame.

Pierre3.

Quick question on glueing the headlining. Did anyone fold the fabric over the edge and glue it on to the back? or is it not worth the effort? Just finish it off flush?

Also, I have been cleaning up the pillar trims. I just used warm water and dish washing liquid with a foam scourer pad thingy and a nail brush.
What was the issue with the flock coming off? What flock? Mine are ABS with a rough matt finish. Was there an early and late version of the trim?

I didn’t fold and glue mine but I think I should have.

I think the early ones had the flock and the later ones didn’t

If you finish it off flush on the sides you can refit the little springy things or fold it over and don't bother with them. It needs to be folded over at the front or the edge will be visible when it is open.

Dave3d, I looked at the sunshade when I took off the old material, and it was glued all around all 4 sides. I repeated that, leaving as much material on the front and back edges to get the maximum glueing area. The sides are determined by the spring clips, I think. There is only about 1/2 inch of a lip but I glued the material firmly down each edge and cut off any excess afterwards.

I followed the pattern of the original headlining material around the edges of the main roof panel. I could see that by not leaving as much material as possible on the back side of the panel should provide much more grip for the material. I know that, when the relined headlining is in place, the inner track of the door seal grips the panel, but I do think that by being generous with the adhesive on the back sides and edges you will benefit later as the material shouldn't be able to pull loose.

Looking back at my panel I can see that there is plenty of room to leave excess material. Once it is glued down it can't go anywhere. The only real exceptions are where the grab handles fit, because you don't really want two layers of material to get through when you refit the roof panel. The area above the tailgate are a bit awkward as well, because of the different angles. When you cut the material into the angles you find all sorts of overlaps. I kept trimimg these until they eventually didn't lie on top of each other except for a couple of places where that was unavoidable.

Oh yes, don't forget that the plastic sort of pull handle fits into the sunshade and you have very little material to work with here. It's just a case of extra trimming until the material just folds into the opening and grips the back of the shade panel. The pull handle will keep the material in place afterwards. Just don't forget to fit it before refitting the sunshade panel.

Pierre3.