What a f**king nightmare. When i ordered the cage i asked for a cage for a sunroof car from Peter Lloyd Rallying. 6 point bolt in, thank you very much. After an hour unwrapping the bloody thing and trial fitting the back part it appeared that the cage was too tall for the car so phone safety devices and asked them to clarify which cage had been sent too me. I've only been sent a cage for a non-sunroof car but it seems SD no longer make cages for cars with sunroofs so i'm a bit fecked really. Quite p***** off but not a lot i can do about it. Choices now are: 1. Send cage back and see if OMP do a sunroof car cage. 2. Order a Custom Cage at twice the price. 3. Hack the sunroof mechanism out. Looks like i'll be starting tomorrow by cutting the roof lining to get to the mechanism and working out how too remove it and where to cut the runners. Probably looking at tack welding the sunroof in place for the moment to stop it falling in, put the cage in, weld in the plates for the cage, fix cage in and then possibly look at lead loading the gap around the sunroof before welding and finishing off. Seat box sections will be going in at the same time so hopefully it'll be finished by the first week of January.
Sorry went away to swear at the car a bit more Mk1 Golf is the car and we've decided that cutting roof lining away, hacking out mechanism and glueing lining back in place after is the best method. Will probably weld plates in under the roof to keep it fixed in place. Suppose i shouldn't really hack about a mk1 shell but finding another one and then transfering my bits accross too it is far too much hassle and expense.
check my link above for pics of how i did my mk2, although i didn't put the headlining back in, i have a spare safety devices cage that has been modified to fit in a sunroof model mk1 if your interested in that instead then PM me
I have to put the headlining back in as its counted as part of the interior trim which keeps me in a lower class for hillclimbs. No offence but i'd rather, rightly or wrongly, stick with a cage thats not been cut and rewelded simply from a strength point of view. Do you need too cut the front dash as well to fit? Doesn't appear you do but i've heard otherwise?
if you get rid of the sunroof then the cage should clear the dash, with my mk1 i had to remove the outer heater vents and cut a small amount of the dash away, but i think that was because the height of the cage had been adjusted to fit with the sunroof in place.
I had to cut part of the sunroof 'carrige' out and put it in that way. Got some dark pictures here: Bit of a pain and you'll need to use some silicone sealer to stop the roof leaking afterwards, bit of a botch really but i'll be getting an ally plate riveted on top.
You like sunroofs Gary? Talk to Stever about removing one if the road-car compromise can take it. Seriously, a decent job can be done.
About a week, fit cage, remove cage, refit cage, locate mounting points, remove cage, measure/drill/weld, refit cage, measure a bit more, remove cage and finally fit it. Add a bit more measuring and your there Found it quite difficult to weld to the back arches though, are they made of a different material?
