'06 Sun roof retrofit

[Don_ra2906]

Has anyone ever tried to install a Vibe sunroof into a non sunroof Vibe ?

I have a 2006 vibe and really miss the sunroof from my totaled '04. I found a donor car with a perfect mechanism and thought about cutting the whole thing out and welding it into my car. I figure it would beat the $1500+ estimate I have from the local sunroof place to install new. Thoughts and ideas ?

Thanks in advance !

Don
don_ra2906@yahoo.com

[trb]

Could possibly be done, but I would be very afraid of leaks. Even factory they can leak, I'd hate to have a problem from it. I would probably consider one of the pop out sunroofs before I would attempt a factory retrofit, unless you have a lot of body work experience. I know a guy that went the other way on his Mustang, replaced the whole roof, and it was a major job even for him and his body shop buddy.

Good luck!

[handmedown03]

Only way I would do it is swap the whole roof. Bodyshop should be able to do it in about 16 hours with cutting all the glass out. So that leaves you with a couple of grand in it minus paint. Not worth it to me but I have some really expensive tools in my box that anybody but me could live without. My experience with aftermarkets are they always leak and very few people can make them look factory. I'd swap cars or put 2 pop ups in. My 2 cents.

[thebarber]

My parents had manual aftermarket moonroof install in their cars when I was a kid....zero issues, iirc

[runningslow]

I've owned two cars with aftermarket sun roofs. No problems with either one, althought these were manual, pop up types... not a sliding moon roof. One was a 95 Dodge Neon that we bought with it installed and assumed it was aftermarket because it didn't match the factory sun roof in other models (plus it was base line car with no other features). The other was an 88 Dodge Dakota where my brother had found a universal sunroof at a yard sale. We chopped a whole in the roof and installed it ourselves. I drove that truck in Florida for a few years with vinyl seats and no air conditioning. I just had to pop open the floor vents and open the sunroof.

[thebarber]

im wondering if i can justify a pop-up sunroof if i cant get the a/c working this year...

[trb]

I've owned two cars with aftermarket sun roofs. No problems with either one, althought these were manual, pop up types... not a sliding moon roof. One was a 95 Dodge Neon that we bought with it installed and assumed it was aftermarket because it didn't match the factory sun roof in other models (plus it was base line car with no other features). The other was an 88 Dodge Dakota where my brother had found a universal sunroof at a yard sale. We chopped a whole in the roof and installed it ourselves. I drove that truck in Florida for a few years with vinyl seats and no air conditioning. I just had to pop open the floor vents and open the sunroof.

I remember the day I took my boss's new 86 Mazda B2000 truck home and cut a big hole in the roof for a sunroof. Here I was , a 20 yr old "kid" taking a jig saw to a $8,000 new truck. Dang, he must have really trusted me, but it did turn out very well, and only cost him like $200 for the sunroof and a couple hours of labor at like $8 an hour.

[wally2000]

In the mid '80s, I bought the roof off a renault le'car from a junkyard for $75.00. I cut the rim for the giant cloth sunroof off with a jigsaw leaving 1" of roof all the way around the flange. Then my brother and I installed it in my 1977 vw rabbit. It took quite a bit of work, but it turned out great. Never leaked. Don't think I'd try that with my Vibe, but it sure worked well on the Rabbit.