Welding up sunroof

[skippy]

I have decided that I have to get rid of the sunroof on my Mayfair 1.6 as it just restricts the headroom so much that the car is uncomfortable for me to drive.
The headlining is in a bad state anyway and, through this forum, I have managed to buy a good non-sunroof headlining to replace it.:cool:

I have arranged with a local bodyshop to have a plate welded in the roof in place of the sunroof and really I'm looking for advice about sourcing a suitable plate. It obviously can't be a plain piece of steel as it would be difficult to get the right contours in it, so it has been suggested to me - and it seems a good idea - that I should get part of the roof from a scrap car and have that cut to fit.

If that is the right way to go, I am now wondering how to go about obtaining such a panel as I don't have the tools or the skills to go and cut one from a scrapyard myself - and anyway here in Scotland I reckon Maestros are pretty thin on the ground even in scrapyards!

Any suggestions or offers would be very welcome - I will be driving south to collect the headlining later this month so if anybody could help me locate a plate I could possibly fetch that at the same time.

[MG MAL]

As far as I am aware, the centre roof panel is still available from rover/rimmer bros.

It won't be as cheap, but would give a better finish and be easier for the body shop to swop over.

which could mean a lower labour charge.

It would also look much neater and remove any need for them to use any filler to smooth out the welded area.
(which in time would crack as there is a certain amount of 'flex' in the roof itself)

Mal.

[skippy]

Thanks. The panel is not mentioned in Rimmer's online catalogue but I will give them a call about it tomorrow. I assume this is the entire roof panel between the rubbing strips on the roof?
To my untrained eye, this job looks worse than just welding up the sunroof aperture, as it would presumably involve removing the windscreen and I imagine also the tailgate. However, I can understand the advantages you mention of doing it that way.

[mgdavid]

AL did this on #496. There's a thread in the archives, with pics - do a search. I do remember it was a home-fabricated panel and was not too much trouble.

[mgdavid]

that'll be on triple-m BTW

[skippy]

Thanks for that.

Rimmers advise that the roof panel is not available.

I've had a look at that thread on Triple-M but it's difficult to tell from the photos and I'm not too sure how good the result is going to be and whether as MG MAL says, it is liable to crack over time. In a way, I feel that I should not be doing this to my car, which apart from the headlining is in near perfect condition. On the other hand, the lack of headroom is spoiling it for me so I would really like to have the sunroof removed, but I need the finish to be worthy of the rest of the car.