The other day, as i was driving the mobile sauna that is my 101, I was thinking how nice it would be to have a sunroof.
It looks like there may be space in the cab roof to fit 2 of those pop-up glass sunroofs (like 50% of cars around in the 80's seems to have had). I havent had a proper measure up yet, but i'm sure i can fit atleast one in there!
Can anybody tell me anywhere where you can buy pop up sunroofs designed for vehicles with flat rooves? Preferably cheap ones too! :)
Ive had a bit of a google, but havent yet found much, and am waiting to hear back from what i did find..
Is it an ambi? If so, remove the roof hatch in the rear, open the windows between front and rear, and you should get a good airflow in through the window.
The military sun roof I fitted to mine cost about 80 quid, brand new, genuine part. It comes complete with everything you need to fit it and is pre-painted in NATO green.
The difference betweeen the military sunroof and the civillian one ( apart from nearly 200 quid) is that the tilt up panel (which you can also remove completely) is metal rather than glass.
I can dig out the part number if you're interested or contact Maddison4x4 and ask for the same sunroof that Dave White bought off them earlier this year as they'll have it on the computer. I don't think it's listed in the normal parts catalogues.
You need a Heki Rooflight.... Much better than a glass sunroof as you can use it to access a tent fitted over your escape hatch. Should stop at least one leak then ;-)
anyway your wondering what the heck a heki is... well here you go... can be opened fully up, half opened or on vent... comes with fly screen and blind which roll into each side so if it's real hot and you want some shade you can roll out half the blind and half the fly screen as they clip together.
Does the disco have a flat roof?. I have considered robbing off another vehicle, but am assuming that most dont have flat rooves, so i'll have fun making one seal in a 101..
Aye... check any roof before fitting to make sure it's flat... or it will leak very soon after fitting if not immediately.. Even the Disco roof has a cure. Unless you get a roof where the glass can be removed I don't think it's going to make that much difference to the circulation. What ever you fit will be pretty permenant unless you rivet a new pannel on so give it some serious thought before getting the tin opener out.
On or around Sun, 12 Sep 2004 23:03:28 +0100, Tom Woods enlightened us thusly:
f***er doesn't seal anyway. but yer right, 's not completely flat. I could if I remember lay a straightedge across the glass and see if it it or isn't.
I'd have thought that the rear roof on the disco was pretty flat though.
On or around Mon, 13 Sep 2004 11:09:42 +0100, Tom Woods enlightened us thusly:
early (200-type) discos have a glass panel lift/remove affair in the front and a lift-but-not-remove in the back. Screws down on to a rubber alleged seal with a big knob at the back edge.
I'd like one with full, forward or rear elevations. Forward to act as a scoop (similar to the vent Neil Lawson* has in his Radio Bodied 101) to force air in and down on me whilst driving, full for 'parked up' ventilation, and rear for light ventilation.
Does that make sense??? :-)
I like the idea of metal as it's more secure and I'm not arsed about looking up whilst trying to avoid suicidal white-van-tosser-man...
Neil was at Peterborough and reckons the forward opening vents were better than his aircon unit - which does kind of make sense.
Roger Hill-cottingham has adapted his windows in the door so he can slide the front section as well and that is very good at drawing air out of the cab
Or
checkout neil lawsons truck on
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i think, he has made 2 hatches which open at the front to force air into the cab
They are exactly the same as the glass ones, just have an aluminium panel instead of a glass one. The front is hinged and the back has a handle that you use to tilt the back up. If you unclip the handle you can lift the panel even further up and the hinges at the front then dislocate so you can remove the panel completely.
Sounds a bit like a caravan air vent... I've not seen anything like that fitted to a vehicle though.
The best vents I've ever used were from a Series Safari Roof. They are quite small and we used to have one over the drivers seat and one over the navigators seat when we were doing hill rallies. They are only about
5 inches wide and 10 inches long (from memory). I suppose you could mount two of them side by side - one facing each way.
I'm pretty sure I've got some in the shed somewhere if you want to see some pictures. They'll fit into any flat roof panel. I suppose you COULD mount one into a metal sunroof panel to achieve all the options you want...
Glass sunroofs also make the car hotter if it's parked in the sun. They also have a nasty habit of shattering when you roll your vehicle onto it's roof (although I guess that's less likely to be a problem with Grumble :-)) which is why MSA regs don't allow glass sun roofs for speed events.
There are a number of different glass ones fitted to Defenders but they are all the same size and are all simple hinged types. The glass ones cost over 200 quid IIRC, the military style metal one is identical in every other way to a glass one and costs 80 quid (ish).
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