Saturday 16th April 2005

Bodywork - Removing the Sunroof

Some months ago, we removed the steel sunroof from our Carlsson and taped the steel skin back in place with a view to welding it in to give us better headroom, and for better strength (many race events we might use the car for in future require that this is done so we thought we'd do it now). With the track day fast approaching, we decided to get the job done!

We begun by cleaning the edges to be welded back to bare metal with an angle grinder. We first tack welded the skin in place, along with a piece of metal bar to fill the gap where the seal was. We then placed a series of welds all around the sunroof opening before grinding down any excess. With the roof solid, but not pretty, we turned to filler to level the job out. After many evenings of filling and sanding and filling and sanding we got the roof to a satisfactory standard, there are still some high and low spots, but one stickers are applied hopefully it won't show too badly - a tip for anyone prepping a track car - if you can find a car without a sunroof then get it!

A common problem with Saab 9000s of all ages is rust around the base of the windscreen, this can be caused by damage through windscreen replacement, or by water trapped under the plastic cover at the base of the screen - ours suffered from both. Sadly, our windscreen fitter was unable to come and cut the windscreen out, so equipped with a tired looking tool and more enthusiasm than experience we cut, levered and pushed and pulled until the screen was laying on the floor. We then scraped as much remaining adhesive off with a razor, before cleaning the whole lip back to metal with a grinder and sanding wheel.

With the area cleaned up it was clear where the rust was serious, requiring sime welding, and where it was just starting, and, after some rust treatment, the damage could be fixed with filler. We applied a rust treatment to the whole area. And left overnight.

On second thoughts, we decided to do the job properly, and cut new metal sections which we shaped and welded along the base of the screen to fill the holes. This area is covered with a plastic trim, so looks weren't too important. This left some smaller areas in the corners of the surround which Matt bridge welded, before grinding off any excess. The windscreen fitters were soon due to replace the screen, so David Greenwood applied primer and black topcoat to the surround. A few days later, the fitters arrived and cut (with more skill than our attempt) a nearly new screen from a car Saabflight were scrapping, and fitted it to our car.

With the new screen in place, the car was already looking much better and was once again mobile, allowing David to take the car to the rolling road for a tuning session.