Anyone got a good DIY sunroof plug story?

[shovel]

I have a Grand Cherokee. With a v8. And big heavy A/T tires with non-defeatable AWD and an underbody made to churn air.

But I still try to make the best of it.

It's >10 years old and the fancy power sunroof has died and basically isn't going to get fixed this lifetime or any other. So, why carry around all the weight of the crap that makes it work?

Nobody makes a fancy carbon fiber plug already for this vehicle, no surprise. It's not exactly a race vehicle.

Anyone seen a great DIY article posted online? Or made their own?

[Frank Lee]

A GC weighs what? Close it, pull the fuse, call it good.

[shovel]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

A GC weighs what?

Apparently 52lbs less without the sunroof. That's enough weight to feel.

[TedV]

folks with race cars have been known to use a sheet aluminum .062" thick or sheetmetal the same thickness as the roof. Cut it 2 or 3" bigger than the sunroof, then rivet it to the roof while using urethane or silicone calk, maybe auto body epoxy, to waterproof the joint. The rivets are zig zagged for strength and usually they will bend the panel to follow the contour of the roof.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Have you ever seen those manual pop-up Webasto sunroof? It might worth to consider their working scheme as an example to follow if you wanna delete the electric actuators. A sunroof is still good to provide some air renewal inside the cab.

[YukonCornelius]

Tape over it and plasti-dip it!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Lbar

Tape over it and plasti-dip it!

That's even worse than taping under it and filling the sheetmetal gap with epoxy resin before painting to keep up with the looks.