just wondering, has anyone added a sunroof / moonroof to a mopar muscle car, in particular, a 71-4 b body? i have been toying with the idea, but im going to be picky. i dont want a pop-up. i want an electric that rolls to the inside (and if it pops up too, that's great)

i have dimensions for a stock steel one, and what i am wondering is...has anyone ever done this before? and if so, what make/model of car shoudl i be seeking out as a donor that will have a similar curve to the roof as the charger has... i dont want to have a big ol flat sunroof that doesnt look like it carries the roofline (side to side)
does anyone have any suggestions? what works... or what absolutely does NOT work?
any info would be appreciated.

Dayclona would be one to ask.

The sunroof sits in a cassette. I've seen A-body ones for sale. But E body then B-body are more rare.

I'd start to look for a 72-74 B-body unit.

IIRC, ASC made the units so there are parts similar to other later years sunroof and other makes sunroofs.

i would prefer a unit from a newer car that i can take the cassette and a little of the surrounding roof metal, and just graft into the charger, rather than a stock steel one. The car has the halo vinyl top, and id like to have a glass sunroof. i'll see if i can get ahold of dayclona.

any other suggestions, anyone?

Now I've heard (and you will want to check this out 100%) but I heard that the sunroofs in 70's caddys and oldsmobiles are the same set up. Some of the caddys and olds had glass sunroofs so maybe............
also you could call up asc sunroof corp and see if they have anything the would work.

Brandon,

Obviously by your post you don't seem to mind a non-factory set-up, but just to note, the 71-2 factory B body sunroof is the same as the 70-2 E body unit(electric), the B body sunroof went to a hand crank assy in 73, plus the deminsions change, basically the ASC supplied sunroof units were used by several other car manufacturers, the sliding steel roof panel has 1 or more sheetmetal ribs welded along the underside of the panel, and these ribs were rather crudely tweaked with plyers by the installer to affect a convex bow in the panel, so that it can be tailored to match the roofline of the vehicle it's being fitted to,....the cassette, or main internals of the sunroof are affixed by spot welds around the sunroof opening of the roof skin which is rolled into the cassettes opening, the rest of the casette, depending on what style/year you chose, is bolted, or welded to fabbed braces under the length of the main roof, ...so basically any solid panel sunroof that fits your desired opening deminsions, can be used, as you can alter the convex shape of the panel, as I described above,....obviously glass units are a different story, the Cadillac moonroof, as well as Lincolns are too flat to use on the 71-4 B body, a better alternative for a glass sliding unit is the early to mid 80's Chrysler Lebaron, I used componets from these units to repair/rebuild the 70-2 E/71-2 B body units, the glass panel shape is slightly curved along it's leading edge to follow the windshield profile of the Lebaron line, were as the E/B panel is straight, if that matters to you,...also the Lebaron is electric,....depending on your fab skills, you don't need the roof skin from the donor, just the cassette, the sliding panel, and related parts to make it functional, I use the vehicle that I'm installing the sunroof in, as the source for the opening, by laying/locating the sliding panel on the roof of the vehicle to be installed in, trace the outer shape of the sliding panel,then add an additional 1/8 " to the outside of this line, then shrink that drawn line along the inside perimeter of the line you've just drawn out approx 1 inch, that will be the opening deminson that you will cut open, the remaining 1 inch you can hammer and dolly down at a 90 degree angle, to create the lip needed to weld the cassette opening to the 1/8" you added to the intial drawn line will create the required panel gap, this way you eliminate a lot of welding/body work, if you tried to graft on a section of donor roof skin,...

The panel, solid or glass, when operating drops down, before sliding back, and just the reverse when closing, it takes quite some time to properly set one up,.....if you do get a unit, I do recommend you get the donors roof section opening so that you can study how the opening was formed, and reproduce it on the vehicle you decide to make a sunroof model of,....I did a number of 71 wingcars for a customer, of which he desired sunroofs in, so to quicken the repeated installs, I created a buck from to locate, and jig the roof for hammer and dolly work, your only attempting a single install, so basic hand work (hammer/dolly), careful measurements, and a cut once motto, you should be able to tackle the job, the other alternative is lots of cutting, and welding footage of seams, to graft in a donor roof, unless you happen on a B body full roof,


Goodluck, hope this helps

Mike

You could always break out the ole' saw-zaw

Great info, Mike.

Does the Charger you want to install the Sunroof in have a vinyl top? Also, your headliner and metal ribs will be different. Not too hard to change. With our stock set-ups, the switch is up in front of the hole. Myself, I'd go the new route. Easier parts to find. Pretty sure just the replacememnt cables for ours are around $500. Don't forget about the drainage tubes. Good luck.

Mike, thank you very much for the info, I may bug you again when this comes into fruition. Lots of.great info man!
The reason I was thinking of going with a newer unit was that the earlier ones seemed to have reliability issues. Did the 80s lebaron have decent reliability? It's very cool to know that the shape of the steel panels is so changeable.

Sunroof gtx, yes my car has the front half, halo vinyl top. It does have the standard headliner and bows tho. Hadn't really figured out yet what I was going to do about the headliner. Do they make replacement headlines for the sunroof cars?

Brandon, As far as the reliability of the earlier units, the biggest problem was the cable track motor guide, being made out of aluminum, the cable guide channels that are on both sides of motor gear that drives the cables, (handcrank units are the same) would wear away, then the drive motor starts slipping on the cables, the motor or hand crank gear starts getting worn down, then the panel is rendered useless, and the emergency crank handle won't work because it operates the gear drive,....my cure for this was to machine a new cable guide block out of steel, then double CASE harden the alloy, so that it had about a 60 A Rockwell hardness, this way the channels that guided the cables by the motor/hand crank would always be engaged, and could handle the stress of driving the 2 cables,.....if your looking for a modern solid panel donor, that's electric, and a very nice mechanical design, as well as looking almost factory,...that would be from the 80's Volvo wagon line...

Mike

here's the opening of the Volvo unit, again very simular in design,...I'm sure a few Stainless plates could be fabbed to simulate the cable guide shields that the Mopar units have.....

Mike

I'd spend my $ on go-fast stuff. To each their own. Too much effort and time. Then it will leak, creak, and make wind noise.

Great thread ! ...Hey Mike...Speaking of drain tubes let's touch on this subject...I hated the way those tubes just drain into the quarter panel/cowl with a factory sunroof...I ended up daylighting each tube...I drilled holes in the outer wheelhouse {in front of the rear tire} for the back drains...Then after much contemplation I drilled holes through the cowl's sheetmetal near the lower door hinges threaded reinforcing plates...I just could'nt bring myself to let the water run into the car after the resto....

I loved my sunroof in mine.

how about one out of a cordova?
was at a junk yard one time there was one that had a sun roof covered up with a vinal top i just happend to look inside and seen the top buy top had no oprn at all lol

I would never do or own a Dukes Charger, but the one above is bad a$$! I have to ask, did you have it installed? Thanks Terry