Betty the Black E21 BMW 320i

[Senor_Taylor]

When I bought it, the sunroof was 100% stuck. Jake spun the handle while tyler and I PULLED AS HARD AS WE COULD and the sunroof would not move. It works by a handle turning a gear that pushes or pulls two metal cables with teeth on them. The cables push or pull the sunroof back and forth and the rails it slide on were completely jammed with 2 shop vacs full of leaves. I spent probably an hour hitting the sunroof with a block of wood and a hammer to get it back open all of the way so I can dissamble the rails and pull the cables/gearbox out to inspect. The cable is wrecked (and NLA, expensive) so I greased up what I could and and reassembled it from the top. I also hooked a fuel line to the shop vac and sucked out the leaves I could, then used compressed air to blow most of the rest out. Another 30 minutes of standing in the sunroof and heaving and hoing as hard as I could and eventually the sunroof itself could KIND OF slide in the rails. This gets us to the part where I could get it slid shut, but not raised up to be flush, where I used my feet to push it up (like an idiot). l did some thinking and had one of those ah-hah moments this morning and ran downstairs to pull the headliner panel off the sunroof (which is only possible now that I freed up the sunroof to slide) and that revealed that the cables mount on these sliding blocks. When the sunroof closes and is unable to move forward more, the cables then pull the blocks they are attached to (instead of pulling the sunroof) and these blocks slide forward and move an peg that raises the sunroof up. I shopvacced out more leaves and then manually slide the blocks forward to raise the sunroof. So now I've got a fully functioning sunroof as long as I leave the headliner panel off. I'm talking to Al Taylor (of GRM fame) and he may have a cable assembly and gearbox for me at VIR, so with those installed, I should have a functioning sunroof.

Spent some time yesterday cleaning the interior and gave it a wash. Also started to buff the trunk to remove some swirls. Replaced the rear speakers and added a little bluetooth charging thing for whatever time I spend driving this.