Sunroof

Originally I wanted a sunroof on my previous car (Toyota Starlet), but never got around to doing it. Finally, now I've got the C1 I did get it installed. It took a bit of searching to find a good company to install the roof, but I heard some positive stories about AutoRas. So I sent them an email and got a swift reply with a very nice offer, there was a spring sale.

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Unfortunately this is for the Webasto Hollandia 100. This is only a pop-up roof and I wanted a spoiler roof. But that wasn't a problem, I got a great discount on the Webasto Hollandia 300 deluxe with sunrollo.

So today I drove to AutoRas in Gouda to get the sunroof installed. It wasn't a problem if I took a look in the workplace during install, so I made a couple of pictures. The roof still in the box.

First protect the car with tape and seat covers.

Then tape the position of the roof and drill 3 holes. There are 3 bolts that go through the roof.

With these bolts a panel is kept in place on the inside. This panel is used as a guid to cut out the roof lining.

First bits of car on the floor :)

Then the exciting part, cutting the metal.

And more garbage.

Then pick up the roof (with sealant already on the inside) and lay it in the hole.

At the inside the cover is connected to the top with a lot of screws. Electricity is run through the a-pilar on the driver side and tapped near the instrument panel. Finally the control panel is put in place.

And after less then 2 hours after arriving I was outside again :) A quick and neat job.

Made some pictures of the roof. First from the inside with the sunrolle closed.

And one with the rollo open.

From the outside with the roof closed.

And the control panel.

The C button on the right always makes the roof close.
Quickly pressing the down arrow will close the roof. Pressing it again (quickly) will interrupt the process.
The up arrow works the same way, for opening the roof.
The 1 and 2 buttons are memory positions which can be programmed. Standard the 1 position is with the roof poped-up and the 2 button opens the roof partially.\

This is a movie with the roof in action seen from the inside.

And one where the roof opens completely from the outside.

A very nice install! Haven't driven it very long yet, but the position of the roof seems to be spot on. The difference between popup and completely open is quite big, so the roof should be usable in lots of conditions. The automatic close option when turning off the engine is very handy.

2010/05/01 update

After having driven the car for a bit, I found an irritating problem. When the roof slides all the way open, a small spoiler pops up. The height of the spoiler is generic. But with the C1 it isn't good, it pops up too high. Air goes below the spoiler and causes lots of noise inside the car.

Fortunately the guys at Auto RAS made a neat solution. By placing a small stub underneath the rear of the spoiler, it pops up a little bit lower.

These few millimeters make all the difference! The air now goes over the car, brilliant! :)