William,

The track comes out just by unscrewing screws.
The tricky part is handling the thing from junkyard to your roof.
There are two things on the sides that just fall off so don't drop those on the way to the car and remember how they go back on (orientation wise).
Plus it's thin metal and bends easily.

Ken

 

how hard is it to remove the tracks the sunroof rides on? i have a new sunroof panel with no rust for my black car but the tracks are messed up. i didnt know till i was ready to swpa the panel. also, the motor is shot so i have to pull the headliner anyway to install the motor from my old red 84. any help or pointers would be great. id like to know before i try to get the parts at the mbone yard.
william

for the most part, you ahve to remove the whole sunroof tray. the tracks are screwed in through the top, with no way to get a screwdriver in there. once you start tearing it apart, its pretty self explanitory(sp?).

on a side note, unless its been removed before, the factory sealant that seals the tray to the actual roof of the car, it takes some force to get it down, try not to fuck up your roof while getting it down. we took a crowbar to the edges and gently pryed away the tray from the roof, then pulled it down, with quite a bit of force, till it poped out.

to put it back up, i just used regualr old blue RTV gasket maker to seal the tray again when i put it back up

 

You don't even need to mess with the headliner at all to do this. Remove the sunroof switch and maplight assembly and pull the sunroof motor through there. Open the sunroof and remove the screws visible from atop the car holding the tracks in place. Now lift the track slightly on the front and sides to break the seal. The sunroof (which is back under the roof in the open position) and track now slide slightly up and forward out the hole.

 

most of you guys are pretty off base here. I just did this in my 86 as teh bracketry was broken on the tracks in teh car.

the tracks are held down by 4-6 screws and the original toyota sealant (or some derivation thereoef). the screws come out easy, but you'll have to do some careful digging to pry the sealant up. We started in the center-front of the track (as it comes out in a big U shape with the ends point to the back of the car) and kind of worked our way around. The sealant that holds the track down in the section where hte sunroof goes when it's open may look impossible to tackle, but i kind of found (after pulling 3 of them in a couple days) that the sealant here can just be gently pulled, releasing the track.

the sealant in all likelihood will be a bitch to pry all the way around, just be careful not to bend the track in anger :roll: not that i did that at all.

 

well Lechner is right too I think (but mk2_suprafan is crazy , don't even thing about removing the entire sunroof tray). We pulled the headliner to remove the sunroof motor, but if Lechner is right about being able to pull the motor through the hole for the light assembly (never tried that myself) without damaging the headliner, then you would have no reason to remove the headliner. You of course have to remove the headliner for the sunroof itself, which is always a bit of a pita. We used razors and scrapers to cut through the sealant that holds the rails down.

Lechner, you shouldn't refer to the front dome light assembly as a map light, thats confusing because our cars actually came with detachable map lights in the centerconsoles :wink:

Will, when you reinstall the new rails, get a tube of urethane windshield sealant and use that to exactly replace the original sealant in there. This urethane is the best stuff for the job due to its long dry time and that it stays soft and is possilble to remove again in the future. We originaly tried another type of urethane, but it skinned over way to quick and it dries to a very hard permanent bond so we wisely wiped it off before it dried and got the right stuff.

 

Try this for additional help
http://www.cygnusx1.net/supra/library/TSRM_MKII/bo/BO_035.html

 

looks like its gonna be a big pita to get this stuff straitened out. hope its not too bad once i find the parts in the bone yard. ugh
william

 

its not as bad as it looks. You can have it swapped in an hour once you actually have the replacement part (and removed it from the donor yourself) and the right urethane.

 

ew

Doing it in the hot Tampa weather the sealant should be easier to pull off. I did mine in the heat and it seamed to come off easier

 

im still going to do it, dont get me wrong, just am not looking forward too it. also need to pull the dash for a heater core replacement. now thats gonna suck.

 

well Lechner is right too I think (but mk2_suprafan is crazy , don't even thing about removing the entire sunroof tray).

well.. i see how it is. the only time ive ever fucked with the sunroof is to take the WHOLE thing out... it isnt that hard just gettign the headliner to line back up sucks, mine still isnt back in

 

How far back beyond the rear of the hole do the tracks go ? I have the tracks and the front lose the whole assembly does not want to slide forward , up and out. Do I pull on the sunroof as well as the front of the track at the same time to lift the assembly out or do I have to dig more adheasive lose at the rear of the tracks ?

 

Please go here: http://www.cygnusx1.net/supra/library/TSRM_MKII/bo/BO_035.html

Continue w/ the next 6 - 7 pages.

 

Please go here: http://www.cygnusx1.net/supra/library/TSRM_MKII/bo/BO_035.html

Continue w/ the next 6 - 7 pages.

Thanks Chris , I have read the TSRM , doesnt tell me what may be holding the rear of the tracks.

 

Thanks Chris , I have read the TSRM , doesnt tell me what may be holding the rear of the tracks.

the rear of the tracks to the top of the car??

i belive they are body glued in.. cant remeber it's been a while since i tore one apart.

 

How far back beyond the rear of the hole do the tracks go ? I have the tracks and the front lose the whole assembly does not want to slide forward , up and out. Do I pull on the sunroof as well as the front of the track at the same time to lift the assembly out or do I have to dig more adheasive lose at the rear of the tracks ?

Do you still have the sunroof panel installed while trying to remove the track? That's going to make it very difficult, if not impossible. Make sure the panel is removed from the car.

I've pulled tracks out of three different cars. Two had adhesive all the way to the back of the enclosure on the tracks, but were easy to pull off once the front adhesive had been separated from the enclosure. I'm not sure why you'd have any problem unless you still have the panel in as mentioned above. The other car looked like it had been redone at some point, and there was no adhesive on the rear tracks.

When I installed new tracks in my car, i put adhesive all the way to the end of the tracks.

 

Do you still have the sunroof panel installed while trying to remove the track? That's going to make it very difficult, if not impossible. Make sure the panel is removed from the car.

I've pulled tracks out of three different cars. Two had adhesive all the way to the back of the enclosure on the tracks, but were easy to pull off once the front adhesive had been separated from the enclosure. I'm not sure why you'd have any problem unless you still have the panel in as mentioned above. The other car looked like it had been redone at some point, and there was no adhesive on the rear tracks.

When I installed new tracks in my car, i put adhesive all the way to the end of the tracks.

Yes , the panel is still in the tracks , thought I remembered reading the panel was in the open position when you removed the track , maybe I read it wrong...... sorry. I did notice that the panel would not give me the clearance to take the track out so I'm removing the panel today.

 

So wouldn't it be less of a PITA to get rid of the sunroof all together and just have a solid roof on the car?

Or does the benefit of the sunroof outweight the cons?

 

Steve,

Many variables in this.... It all depends on personal preferences.

Sunroof: Pro's: Open & close at will, esp if the weather turns. Unlike some of these MKIII & MKIV Targa owners. Nice to have sun/extra breeze coming in, on nice day. Sunroof retains most structural rigidity, versus those w/ Targa's (run a search on the targa "wet noodle" body rigidity). Hot days when you first get in the car... Open the roof, roll down the windows, turn on the fan. Hot air rises & most of it ends up going out of the roof. Helps in getting the interior cooled down faster. Cons: When motor starts to missbehave, problems happen (they've been well documented here). Outer sunroof panels have been another source for rust (another well documented item). Sunroof & the rest of the operating components add's weight (not too much of a big deal, unless you're trying to put the car on a weight diet for racing purposes). Cut's down on head room (for really tall peeps). System becomes a water leakage nightmare if the drain tubes are clogged w/ crap.

Hardtop (no sunroof): Pro's: More structure rigidity than Sunroof cars. WAY WAY more than Targa cars. Extra headroom for peeps that are tall. Less overall weight (good for those who want lightweight for racing purposes). No issues w/ overhead water leaks. What else am I missing?? Cons: No overhead open air/sun coming in from the top. Takes longer for interior to cool down (even w/ windows open & fan on full blast. My 80 MKI Brownpra was a Hardtop). No extra overhead maplight, that you would get w/ the Sunroof control switch. "Finding" a intact Hardtop car, that has not had a aftermarket sunroof installed (for those trying to specifically find a Hardtop). What else did I leave out??

Again, it all boils down to personal preferences. If you are purposely looking for a hardtop, I would look around for one specifically, rather than trying to convert a sunroof car into a hardtop.

 

Do you still have the sunroof panel installed while trying to remove the track? That's going to make it very difficult, if not impossible. Make sure the panel is removed from the car.

I've pulled tracks out of three different cars. Two had adhesive all the way to the back of the enclosure on the tracks, but were easy to pull off once the front adhesive had been separated from the enclosure. I'm not sure why you'd have any problem unless you still have the panel in as mentioned above. The other car looked like it had been redone at some point, and there was no adhesive on the rear tracks.

When I installed new tracks in my car, i put adhesive all the way to the end of the tracks.

Problem solved ...........thanks