Sunroof cover - fix broken tabs

[SICILIANSVT82]

i have recently figured out a way to fix your broken sunroof cover with as litte, time and effort, as possible! Mikey P came by my house today and we're using his car as an example. all you need is 2 "L" brackets and 2 pliers, a phillps head screwdriver and the original screws that hold it in place

first, a pic of the cover we were dealing with

and these are the brackets we used...they measure about 1 1/2 inches on each side one is already bent to fit the cover, and one is not yet, just to show you what they should look like

the next pic is of me bending the one bracket

these next 2 pics shows the brackets installed with the original screws, only 2 screws are required! install the cover, attach the rear clips back into place! the two screws in the front, after installed, will actually pull and slightly stretch the cover a bit and make it very tight! JUST DONT NOT OVER TIGHTEN THE SCREWS! USE YOUR JUDGEMENT ON HOW TIGHT THEY SHOULD BE! make sure the brackets are flush with the cover and your dome light will slide easily back into place! no cutting, or drilling required! just bending is all thats needed here!

this last pic, shows its complete!

this is a very very easy fix, its much much better than stock and you'll never have issues with it again!! it only takes a few minutes to do! i did it in my car and in Mikey P's car as well!

hope this helps! enjoy!

 

[double_u_4]

thanx for the post. ive been trying for awhile to figure out away to do something. i saw this & realized i have some of those L brackets so i did it today & it worked great. I drilled little holes in the cover to screw the cover to the bracket thou. held real nice & sturdy. especially since b4 i only had 1 of the slide on clips holding it up. it was just dangling all the time. u had to hold it just to turn the light on.

 

[mikeyp]

I am just stopping in to let everyone know its been holding up great. It has been about two weeks and everything is holding up just fine. Everything is nice and tight! Glad to see double u 4 tryed it already. Thanks again for makeing it a how to and thanks Joe for makeing my car the guinea pig.

 

[troll96se]

fiberglass is another very easy and very strong way to do it, its what i did to mine, and did some spares too.

 

[SICILIANSVT82]

I am just stopping in to let everyone know its been holding up great. It has been about two weeks and everything is holding up just fine. Everything is nice and tight! Glad to see double u 4 tryed it already. Thanks again for makeing it a how to and thanks Joe for makeing my car the guinea pig.

any time bro, this IMHO is the best, easiest, quickest, and most durable way of fixing this problem with our cars! mine is still holding very strong too! i hope it helps others!

 

[Rishodi]

Thanks for this post! I had to deal with the same problem, but in a pinch I just used crazy glue to reattach the tabs. It's held up for several months now, but it's less durable than this method so if it ever breaks again I'll be fixing it this way instead.

 

[mykdee]

A word of Caution to all us Rookies- That tab/bracket you are bending is METAL, and so is the contacts for your lights. If you don't bend it correctly, or high enough, when you put the light back on the lgith and other assorted electrical may not work-because you created a ground and blew the fuse.

THEN you will find out what a joy it is to look for a fuse panel under the dash...some would even take the dash kick panel under the steering wheel out to get at the fuse block-and then push the stupid black button to get the fuse panel to pop down..what the F is with that???!!!

I'm not saying that's what I did...I'm just saying..

Mike sheepishly back away from the forum

 

[SICILIANSVT82]

A word of Caution to all us Rookies- That tab/bracket you are bending is METAL, and so is the contacts for your lights. If you don't bend it correctly, or high enough, when you put the light back on the lgith and other assorted electrical may not work-because you created a ground and blew the fuse.

THEN you will find out what a joy it is to look for a fuse panel under the dash...some would even take the dash kick panel under the steering wheel out to get at the fuse block-and then push the stupid black button to get the fuse panel to pop down..what the F is with that???!!!

I'm not saying that's what I did...I'm just saying..

Mike sheepishly back away from the forum

ABSOLUTELY FALSE.....i have done this on a few contours and never had one issue with the contacts for the lights.....there is PLENTY of clearance in there to easily reinstall the light, i haven't blown one fuse yet! this is very simple and easy to repair this annoyance with our cars...there is nothing to worry about! if your tabs are broken, follow this how-to...i know many will agree that its a great fix!

 

[rouar]

If you're worried about clearance, a bit of electrical tape placed over the contacts (as seen in picture 4) should keep the two separated.

 

[Danno-23]

Pretty nice fix.
I can recall when I snapped mine off, from tightening the screws too tight on the old rotten plastic. I gathered the pieces I could, and put them all back together with painters tape holding everything in relative order, then slapped a good thick layer of epoxy on top of it all, and filling in the voids where I did not have plastic pieces. Basically made an epoxy mold. But I do like the idea of the metal tabs... Because a year later after installing a pioneer deck, I wish to velcro the remote to the sunroof panel so I can grab it and detach it when driving, and replace when parked. But, I do not trust my epoxy molding. Maybe time to reconsider. But... we all know "temporary is permanent..."

 

[SICILIANSVT82]

there is PLENTY of clearance..i have done this to 3 svts already! you shoudn't need anything else after the brackets are installed, the light will go right in place!