When I got the car four years ago the sunroof was sealed shut and the motor disconnected from the sunroof. Probably because it was leaking.
When I had the paint tidied up a couple of years ago, the painter did a less than professional job with the sunroof (I know, you get what you pay for). It was a cheap paint freshen up to make the car presentable because at the time I didn't know if it was going to be a long term member of the fleet. Since everything mechanical has been replaced or sortd it is a keeper.

The painter put new sealant in the gap, but before the paint instead of after. Last summer the paint cracked around the edge of the sealant and a little rust started developing under the paint. I decided to let it be for a bit as eventually a full paint job is going to happen.

But with the wet summer we have had (summer is our wet season) the rust spread quickly, so time for a little repair job to stop it.

Removed the sealant today, bit more of a clean up around the area tomorrow then repairs and paint touch up.

Funny how every little job becomes a can of worms.

 

Yuk.

You will sort it I am sure, BEFORE Dr Phil turns up with the 9" to make a soft top of the whole car.

 

Funny that, had a mate over today with exactly that idea. Make it just like his Stag. Dr Phill has is own ideas too.

 

Might not look too bad!

 

I just had a painter/panel beater who lives a couple of houses up the road come over to give advise before I get too far into this repair. He just opened that can of worms for me.

Headliner and sunroof have to come out, if I do the job with the sunroof in place he says I will be doing it again in another 12 months. So he is going to do the rust repair & paint for couple of hunred dollars at my place, he has the full mobile van set up for onsite repair jobs. To top it off he is an expat Engishman and loves working on old British cars.....says he is up for the challenge.

 

Soooooooo, Dr Phil has another MATE in the Booze fridge, well done.

 

Nup, he's a fairly recent addition to our street and not up with our local beer economy as far as I know. I just took the ph number from his van and asked him if he could pop down and have look this morning and see if he was interested in doing the paint for me. But I believe he could be easily pulled in.

Because in our little community close to the heart of a major city, we have that "small town thing" going on. It's like living 10 minutes from the CBD but we have our little town going on.

 

Had to call on Dr Phill today. We got the sunroof out, found the reason it wasn't operational. Broken drive spigot on the motor. Had it working as it should with a drill on the drive cable. So it is looking like I will have a working sunroof at the end of this exercise.

Trying to locate new seals for it, jagdaim tell me series 1's did not come with a sunroof, but it is listed in the original operating manual as an option. The inside of the sunroof has the chassis number written on it so I'm assuming it is factory. It doesn't look like an after market job.

I have found listings on ebay for the seal for 69-87 models, so I am assuming it stayed the same all the way through. Others have listings from 80-87 and the picture of the seal looks the same.

 

Good sort so far.

I agree, and reckon the roof was the same right through until the '40.

 

I had an XJ40 with the same area of rust on the OE factory sunroof. Sliding roof panel almost gone on the edge but not a mark on the main roof.

Thought at the time it was very odd but put it down to blocked drains. Surprised to see similar rusting on an Australian XJ because the bodies generally stand up extremely well in your climate.

Graham

 

I am assuming the sunroof was originally sealed up because of leaks, sealing the existing rust in and letting it do it's work out of sight. And thinking the broken spigot is from people like me who tried the sunroof switch anyway, putting strain on the motor and the weakest part broke.

A couple of tiny spots on the roof, that is what got me going on this job before the whole roof started rusting.

 

 

Such fun, Clarke!
We know what you'll be doing for a while.
(';')

 

Hi Clarke,
It's my understanding that the Series 1 & 2 sunroofs were an aftermarket option. I've seen a few different styles. I think the most common used in the US was a Webasto... I think either Robert Wilkinson or Roger Mabre have the original info on it. There was a US supplier that had parts...
It's a totally different setup than the Series 3.. On the S3, the motor was in the boot and accessible from behind the rear seat. Long drive cables come up both sides of the cabin... All of the components are different.
I've had a few of the aftermarkets that were installed in Series 2s, and may have some of those parts here.. but on the one that I had, the motor was a lot thinner than the one you have..
If there is any other info I can help you with I'll be glad to..

David
shop.EverydayXJ.com

 

Here is some more info on the Webasto sunroof.. It's an Etype forum, but good info... I think a similar type was used on the Series 1 & 2 XJ6...
Webasto sunroof | Jaguar Clubs of North America

 

Some more good reading, pertaining to the Webasto in the XJ....
https://jec.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=219&t=5992

 

Mine on the '72 was American Sunroof.. found all the needed parts and am glad to have it working and gone... no more sunroofs. Not at all like the one on this posting. ACtual problem was gear worn out that connects the cables to the motor...kept it for Wall of Shame...

 

All a bit of a mess when we finally got the sunroof out. No point doing 1/2 a job and have to do it all again in 12 months time. At least we can access all the crucial areas now and get all the rust removed.
Do it once, Do it right.
Certainly a learning experience working out what we had to un-bolt to get it out. Now we know how it works we can get it back in and working properly.

 

Nix came to me with a sunroof, which I'm sure the PO had installed along with all the other Very Expensive work he had done in 1986. However, one of the very first things he said was, "DON'T OPEN THE SUNROOF!" and I have never tried as I don't like them anyway.

In this part of the world, during a wet winter, one sees Numerous sunroofs on less-than-new cars, the aperture seam filled with silicon or surrounded with Duct Tape in a vain attempt to keep rain out.

They should be called Rain Roofs.
(';')

 

I cleared out the front drain hoses today, both working well now. Then started on cleaning up some of the area.