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sunroof into a vp

VP-57-TT

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I have a question for those who may have done this already. I am looking at getting a genuine factory sunroof from a vs Caprice and getting it fitted to my vp. My question is I have a modified vs caprice roof lining fitted to the car already will I still be able to use the caprice roof lining, mainly as I like the idea of the roof speakers and am currently trying to retrofit some dvd monitors where the vanity mirrors go for the kids to watch in the back.
 

ephect

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LCD screens are doable, I've done it with 7, the frames need 10-15mm added to fit them. 6" may for without too much modification, but do your measurements first.
 

VP-57-TT

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sweet thanks for the info about the monitors I have managed to modify the caprice roof to fit including using the side trims that take up the extra space from the lining being thinner. what I am wanting to know is can I fit a factory sunroof from a wrecked car and fit it and still use the caprice's roof speakers and mirror locations
 

stockies

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Long post, sorry -

Biggest hurdle of using the complete Caprice roof is the rear grab handles. If you use the Caprice side trims, the handles will be in the wrong spot and you'll have to cut your metal part of the car roof. This is the reason everyone grafts the centre of the Caprice roof lining onto a standard sedan roof.

I went the "cut the holes in the metal roof" method in my old VN. Was very messy and had to get stainless steel brackets made up to accommodate the new mounting hole locations and entry for the light in the handles. Went LED for size issues.
If I had to do it again, I'd retrofit the Caprice goodies to a standard roof panel from a VR/VS - as they are thicker than a VN/VP roof lining.
I know you've said you've made it fit - but how well? Just asking as this would be the chance to do it from scratch.

Getting one that's been in a sedan with a sunroof is hard. Its almost a "custom" job to add a sunroof cutout to a non sunroof lining.

Finding the centre roof brackets (factory) from a Caprice with a sunroof to retro fit into your sedan will be a mission, unless you have the entire Caprice to strip. Otherwise the mirrors in the head lining will be very flimsy to use and the whole roof will wobble, especially if you plan to retrofit an LCD screen in there.

Buy the cheapest, thinnest and most Asian screen that's around 5.5/6" because your going to strip them back to almost nothing to get them to fit. Flat computer ribbon cable is what i used to get power/signal to them as everything else was too thick and prevented the mirror case from closing properly. Cat 6 was a nightmare as the closing mechanism eventually broke the wires inside the sheath.


If you do install screens, be prepared for a lot of fine soldering, fitment issues and signal loss issues from the small size of cable you have to use so the damn things can close. I'd also advise some sort of power cutout switch up the front so the screens can be turned off manually, because if your relying on the factory type of power cut on the metal rods on the side of the mirrors (the way the lights know when to turn on/off) - your gonna run into issues with it not always cutting power to the screens and draining your battery.

Post up some photos of how your currently got your roof installed, and I can give you some pointers, as someone who's already tried what you've done (minus the sunroof) and failed , then gave up and sold the whole car just to be rid of it.
 

ephect

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VP-57-TT

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Long post, sorry -

Biggest hurdle of using the complete Caprice roof is the rear grab handles. If you use the Caprice side trims, the handles will be in the wrong spot and you'll have to cut your metal part of the car roof. This is the reason everyone grafts the centre of the Caprice roof lining onto a standard sedan roof.

I went the "cut the holes in the metal roof" method in my old VN. Was very messy and had to get stainless steel brackets made up to accommodate the new mounting hole locations and entry for the light in the handles. Went LED for size issues.
If I had to do it again, I'd retrofit the Caprice goodies to a standard roof panel from a VR/VS - as they are thicker than a VN/VP roof lining.
I know you've said you've made it fit - but how well? Just asking as this would be the chance to do it from scratch.

Getting one that's been in a sedan with a sunroof is hard. Its almost a "custom" job to add a sunroof cutout to a non sunroof lining.

Finding the centre roof brackets (factory) from a Caprice with a sunroof to retro fit into your sedan will be a mission, unless you have the entire Caprice to strip. Otherwise the mirrors in the head lining will be very flimsy to use and the whole roof will wobble, especially if you plan to retrofit an LCD screen in there.

Buy the cheapest, thinnest and most Asian screen that's around 5.5/6" because your going to strip them back to almost nothing to get them to fit. Flat computer ribbon cable is what i used to get power/signal to them as everything else was too thick and prevented the mirror case from closing properly. Cat 6 was a nightmare as the closing mechanism eventually broke the wires inside the sheath.


If you do install screens, be prepared for a lot of fine soldering, fitment issues and signal loss issues from the small size of cable you have to use so the damn things can close. I'd also advise some sort of power cutout switch up the front so the screens can be turned off manually, because if your relying on the factory type of power cut on the metal rods on the side of the mirrors (the way the lights know when to turn on/off) - your gonna run into issues with it not always cutting power to the screens and draining your battery.

Post up some photos of how your currently got your roof installed, and I can give you some pointers, as someone who's already tried what you've done (minus the sunroof) and failed , then gave up and sold the whole car just to be rid of it.

Hey Stockies thanks for all the info. I will get some photos soon as I get the lining back in the car as I decided to get some sound deadener for the roof and haven't had the motivation from the heat to put it back together yet.
 

stockies

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No worries, ephect actually has his screens working from the last time I saw them (over 2 years ago now I think)
Mine worked for around 6 months or so, then one died and with all the rest of the problems I had with it all, it went back to mirrors just to sell the car.

Mine worked off a DVD player I had mounted in the glovebox, so the audio was separate to the vehicle's Headunit with the roof speakers playing the audio for the monitors, I did have a set of headphones for them at one point - but they had to used with a 3.5mm jack that was on the rear of the console lid (Had a statesman one that had the ciggy lighter in it so swapped it for one of those aftermarket Aerpro units with a 3.5mm jack and USB)

Pretty sure ephect has a DVD headunit and that's where his signal wires are connected to up the front.
 

markovr

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07vessv 94vr .04vz wgn,93vp wgn,82 vhV6 wgn 88 vn
heres a hollandia sunroof in my vr that came from a vs Greg Norman special edition stato
roof lining was custom
Actual unit sits a bit low to accomodate glass and housing so the factory stock sedan roof lining backing cardboard fouls badly so the normal way it is done is the roof lining backing cardboard is cut to house up to the edges of the cassette and then recovered in headlining material and glued straight to the bottom of the sunroof carrier and where it goes around the opening glued and retained with a plastic strip to give it a flush look . I actually didn't like that idea so I cut the sunroof opening hole in my original cardboard to a little bigger than the actual size and then ran a cut down each side near the grab handles and spread it apart about 25mm at its maximum to allow for the cassette and filled the gap created with foam fill and filed it flush and recovered and glued everything in roof lining material and installed it in the car ,cut around the opening and glued the material and retained with the plastic strip.

sunroof6_zps7a116407.jpg
sunroof4_zpsf1452965.jpg
 
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