'63 356B T-6 Rebuild

[John Pierce]

Time for an update on my sunroof transplant.



The best way to install the sunroof is to have gravity assist you. Turtle up!!



Time to put all those measurements I took to good use. The sunroof frame fit very well.



After measuring and remeasuring, it was time to cut into a perfect roof. It was the only thing that was perfect on my car when I bought it The double lines are for the flange that I will be adding to the frame.



Voila!! How to ruin your car in one easy step



The sunroof frame clamped in place and the curvature measured before placing a few tack welds to hold it in place.



Holes placed in the 2 front and 6 side reinforcements for plug welding to the roof rails.



All welded up and ready for a flip over.



Things always look so much better before you start adding heat from welding.



Good curvature.



The roof panel fits pretty well.

I then tack welded the roof to the flanged frame by alternating spots to reduce the heat build up. I went slowly on a bitterly cold day, but even that amount of heat introduced some warpage to the roof metal. I spent some time getting the correct curvature back with a dolly and hammer. I'll next fit all the sunroof parts and see how the roof panel works.

[ukinusa]

Now here is a man with 'real' gonads... I stand in awe and promise never to whine again . I bet measure "twice or x25" before cutting was true

[Scott B]

John you rocked this out. You are in the runing - way out front - for ABCGT restoration courage award for 2018. For every hour spent on this working you must spent three hours thinking it through.

I would note that a Porsche restorer can never have enough long-arm vice grips. !!!!!!

[JOP]

[JTR70]

Looks fantastic John!

[John Pierce]

If anyone is interested in building a new sunroof headliner frame and reinforcement piece, I previously uploaded images to the Registry Forum:

http://forum.porsche356registry.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38492&p=234947#p234947

[John Pierce]

Time for a sunroof update. Onto the rear drains.



OEM rear drainage tubes removed from the clip.



The 356 B T-6 series sunroofs drained out the C-pillar, unlike the earlier cars that drained into the engine compartment.



The inside roof edge was scalloped as OEM to provide space for the drain. The 2 ends of the rear drain were connected with a plastic tube.



Measurements taken from the clip using a template. The apparent dent in the C-pillar is the Factory seam.



Welded in place. The hole in the quarter window frame is a Karmann drainage hole.



The Factory leaded this area to reduce the size of the drainage hole on my clip, but my hole looks pretty similar to this one.


Thanks for following.

[John Pierce]

Now that the sunroof frame is installed and I've collected all the sunroof parts it's time to fit them and see how things work.



The first components to install are the transmission and cable box.



I took apart the transmission and cleaned all the internals. It originally was quite rusty.



The toothed gear mates with the cables to smoothly move the roof panel. The input shaft will connect to the motor with a cable.



Transmission installed. The two transmission hold down screws have internal threads for the cable box hold down screws.



The cable box is installed next.



The holes to hold down the rails had become enlarged over time and the screws no longer held. I initially welded them closed and drilled new holes, but I didn't like the this enlargement would just occur over time again.



I decided to switch out the oval head screws for #6-32 oval head machine screws with lock nuts. This enabled me to cinch down the rails more snuggly.



The side rails have a plastic nubbin that inserts into a hole in the rear of the sunroof frame.



The side rails have a convexity which is cinched down by the 3 screws.



The 50 year old parts did not fit as well as they originally did. I had to add shims to each side at the junction between the side rails and curved rails to prevent the cable from hitting the rail edges and binding.



There are inner transition pieces for the cable to slide along.



Front and curved cable guides that go along the sunroof frame.



Cable guides installed.



Next is to insert the cables and lifters from front to rear into the top tracks of each side rail and push them all the way to the rear.



The cable then is inserted into the curved and front rails.



The cable are then inserted into the cable box. The right cable travels straight across and then down into the lower cable track. The left cable curves around the transmission gear then down into the lower track.



A plate is inserted to push the cable down so they don't dislodge when moving as there is a lot of pressure here.



Cable box cover goes on next to hold everything in place.



The curved and front covers finalize the process.

[JTR70]

Looking great John! WOW, a little more technical than the one I'm dealing with. I feel very lucky now. Nice work as usual!
Justin

[John Pierce]

The Golde sunroofs have been described as a Rubik's cube!! Lots of little parts that all need to fit together perfectly for the roof to work. I can tell you that it took a LOT of time to figure things out and how to install the small parts in a fashion to allow the cables to open smoothly. There is a lot of trial and error and reworking 50 year old parts to fit together.

Once the mechanics of the sunroof drive train were installed it was time to fit the slider.



The front portion of the slider has outriggers that fit into the side rails. This part is NOS.



The knurled nuts are no longer made by Porsche, but you can still buy them new from BMW!! They allow the sunroof to be positioned higher or lower so it is even with the roof. I bought the other parts in stainless steel.



Fully assembled. The hooked part slides over the side rail and has a anti-friction plastic pad. I had to rework both outriggers to allow smooth sliding. Probably had these on and off the car over a hundred times. Not kidding!!



Before installed the roof panel the lifter needs to be positioned in the rear of the opening. These are now being manufactured, but the cables need to be cut to length.



The lifter dowel like area is inserted into a corresponding hole in the roof panel so the cables can draw the panel forward or rearward. The height of the rear portion of the panel is controlled by positioned the dowel area higher or lower on the lifter and locking it in place.



Many iterations later the sunroof panel fit well at the front. There is a front felt seal that extends around the front and sides of the roof opening to about 8/10th the way to the rear. There is a second felt seal attached to the rear and rearmost sides of the roof panel. If you desire these in black, it is cheaper to purchase the early 911/912 seals then to purchase the others that are sold. There is also a rubber seal that is glued to the horizontal surface of the roof panel to direct water to the side drains.



And fit well at the rear. I had to slightly re-arc the right side of the panel as it did not initially fit perfectly. I didn't want to use a lot of filler later on to make things look even.



Everything installed from the inside.



Outside view. I'm so happy that I installed the sunroof. It'll be very nice to drive the car in the summer with the sun shining in!!



The final test to see if all of my work paid off. Time to install the motor and bracket assembly. The motors were built in 6V and 12V versions. I'm going to convert my entire car to 12V and was able to find a 12V motor that had been professionally gone through and worked perfectly.



The SilentBlocs are installed first, which slide into holders on the frame. These are NOS, but very close approximations can be purchased at McMaster-Carr. I was able to use my OEM ones.



The motor/bracket assembly is slid in over the front reinforcement and the connecting shaft is then installed between the motor and transmission. This piece is also NOS. I connected the motor to a 12V battery......and the moment of truth? I was SO impressed. The roof opened and closed quickly and smoothly. SO FREAKING COOL!!



As an aside. The Emergency Tool was invaluable to fit the sunroof panel as I had to open and close it MANY times. The OEM Emergency tool for the 356's is the lower tool and is quite simple. The upper tool is from an early 911, but is much better to use as it screws into the transmission and stays in place. I'll keep both in my glove compartment.



Next was to put everything in primer.



One last picture before the paint gun came out.

Thanks for following and I hope this is helpful to people trying to get their sunroofs to function better.

[tperazzo]

Well done John! Excellent upgrade.
Keep it up.

[bbspdstr]

Black fuzzy perimeter seals from a 911 are fine, but more correct gray versions (thicker and thinner) can be bought (cheaper) from BMW.....like those other cross-over parts.

-Bruce

[JTR70]

WOW! A lot more moving parts on that one. Really nice job figuring this out John!

Justin

[John Pierce]

Thanks guys.

Yes, I forgot to mention the grey versions from BMW. I do like the look of the black though

[roy mawbey]

John,

Fantastic job you have done there. Many times I have sat on my hot vinyl seats in the summer and really wished the first owner had spent the money and ordered a sunroof.

Great photos too!! So interesting to watch your progress and how helpful if you have one on a 356 and it needs reconditioning.

Well done!

Roy