Howto replace sunroof seal

[ramonesfreak]

I'm trying to search for threads on this subject with my phone and can't find anything. Can anyone point me to some threads or give suggestions

My concern is the seal that is attached to the rear edge of the actual sunroof door. Mine needs replacement but obviously when you open the sunroof, the door hides inside the roof

So how is it done?

[930chef]

Try "sunroof cable repair and new seals 87 911".
I'm doin mine now and this thread is really helpful.
That's in the 911 tech archives.
Kevin.

[wildcat077]

I was just going to recommend the same thread ... lol
I have it saved in my favourites for future reference

Cheers !
Phil

[ramonesfreak]

thanks. here is the link

Sunroof cable repair and new seals 87 911

so it looks like the roof has to come out which seems pretty easy.

[930chef]

I hope you didn't jinx it. Lmao.
Every time I say " this looks easy " it turns into the project from hell.
Good look with your project, I'm in the middle of it myself.
Thanks,
Kevin.

[ramonesfreak]

Well 13 years later I finally just did this job. I put it off for a reason. Started Saturday and finished today. It actually was hell. Those that claim this to be simple are likely not the perfectionist that I am. In the end I ended up with a 2mm gap in the rear corners. I will end up redoing the entire project some other time. Also, no thread anywhere talks at all about how to deal with the rubber tubing at the ends of both seals. The seals I took off my car were original factory and it was obvious that there was no rubber tubing in the final one inch of each end. I trimmed the rubber tubing on the rear seal by peeling open the seal to expose the tubing and then snipped. I did not cut the tubing at the ends of the front seal and this was a mistake. After everything was done, getting the sunroof panel back in so that the brackets lined up was a major biotch. Working with 3M weatherstripping adhesive is no fun at all. In short, this is one of the most miserable jobs I’ve done on this car and will now have to do it again to make it perfect.

Originally Posted by 930chef

I hope you didn't jinx it. Lmao.
Every time I say " this looks easy " it turns into the project from hell.
Good look with your project, I'm in the middle of it myself.
Thanks,
Kevin.

[Ctopher]

Very cool you did a reply with some detail.

And damn….I’ve been putting off doing mine for a couple years and this doesn’t help make me do it. But at some point I’ll be like you and tackle it.

Good luck with the fix.


CTopher

[ramonesfreak]

Another thing, I have seen people say to make sure the seals are flush with the car and panel….well my seals were factory original and they were definitely not flush. I glued them with the seals just slightly above (like they were from factory) and now I’m not sure if it would have been better to glue them flush…because I saw someone’s comment in the above link (post # 176) saying the tubing works as a backstop so you don’t end up with a gap…..not sure but I don’t think so…..I think the issue is my rear seal is just very slight too high so that the rubber tube doesn’t fill the gap. Getting the rear one glued even is really tough because it doesn’t have the aluminum strip inside it to keep it uniform as you go

Joe in the below video did his flush. Not sure if he ended up with gap at the rear or not

https://youtu.be/lFgFORLZnZ8?si=erf2Ww48V89b0zhq

[Otter74]

Well, at your pace you can wait another 13 years to redo it, so no worry!

[ramonesfreak]

I could but I ordered a new rear seal tonight and will redo it when the season ends
I will leave the front seal alone for now

The biggest issue with this job for me now that I know what I am doing I think, is the prep work. It is time consuming to get the glue off

I was 39 when I purchased the seals to do the job and did the job when I was 52. Holy!