Mike. Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 How easy or difficult would it be to address a 25mm bubbling spot on a manta sunroof, should I let this put me off buying it? What horrors lie beneath the headlining? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapierdave Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Hi Mike It depends whether the rust bubble is on the sliding steel part of the sunroof or the surrounding area around the sunroof aperture. The design of the Manta sunroof is crap & the "cassette" under tray stays wet & where the cassette is fixed to the underside of the roof rust forms. If caught in the early stages then some members on here have removed the original cassette rust treated the underside of the roof & then fitted a replacement glass sunroof slightly bigger than the original aperture. I believe some people have used a Land Rover discovery sunroof panel. If you search the forum you will find some "how to" advice on this mod. http://forums.mantaclub.org/topic/28150-rotten-manta-sunroof/#comment-198656 If when the headlining is pulled down you find that the rusting is severe then the only proper way is a replacement roof skin which is not an easy job for a novice. Once the rust has started on a Manta sunroof then it spreads rapidly although if the car is kept indoors & not used much in wet weather then progress of the rot will be much slower. Would I buy a Manta with a factory sunroof that was starting to rust, probably not however with Mantas now becoming rare & if it was a desirable model I really wanted then I would try to negotiate the price down to reflect the problems that the rusty sunroof was going to give me. There are other members on here that should be able to give you a ball park figure for parts & labour to replace a roof skin, paint, re-fit the headlining. I would have thought £1500 at least. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berlinetta Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 It may be possible to 'let in new metal' on the roof, rather than re-skin it (as can be seen in this link - showing an OMOC members car)... http://www.vodc.co.uk/showthread.php?t=16167 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 1 hour ago, Berlinetta said: It may be possible to 'let in new metal' on the roof, rather than re-skin it (as can be seen in this link - showing an OMOC members car)... http://www.vodc.co.uk/showthread.php?t=16167 You've got to be very skilled to do that properly. Not too bad if you're putting a vinyl roof on. I've mentioned the difficulty of repairs to a roof in another thread recently and got shot down so what do I know. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Abbott Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 A rusty roof on a manta is like an iceberg Best to get the headlining out and scrape away the foam. Treat and replace metal or bodge it with dintrol aluminium filler or JB weld. Should be OK for a while. Non sunroof skins are rare but I did a how to on replacing the roof or do like I did on the Mancona and use a bigger sunroof to fill out the rusty bits Don't let the roof put you off a good car 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike. Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 Cheers lads you certainly know how to make a job look easy on your threads with great results both with patching and filler or a complete glass replacement. the seller assures me the only problem with this car is the sun roof behind the opening part and I see this is too good a car to let go. I will need to see and view the car before I can make any decisions on it, but your advice helps. If the car turns out to be good and only small rusty spots on the roof ok. Major rust maybe not for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mantasrme Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 If its confined to the rear of the roof then there is a simple solution if you don't mind a glass sunroof. This is a pic of an Exclusive coupe roof i did a while back, the green line is the template for where to cut for the Renault Clio glass sunroof install. As you can see it allows removal of quite a lot behind the original hole (which is where most of the rust happens in them). This is what i found after the tray was removed, before the enlargement. Fortunately after the cutting what wasn't removed came up very well after a clean down with a sanding disc. There were no further holes and i treated all the areas with Bilt Hambers best. Oh and one of what the car looked like before i took an angle grinder to the roof 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike. Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 Beautiful manta! its encouraging to know that quality fixes can be done if you have the knowledge and talent and catch problems before they manifest into larger issues. great progress photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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