450 Glass Sliding Roof

Fitting The Roof

Firstly you have to cut out your original roof and bond in the new sliding roof. After a lot of pissing about with wire saws and glue, this is what you’ll have.

Drain Ports

In each corner is a drain point. These divert water out of the car instead of letting it sit in the runners. However, these drain ports only drain water out of the car if you connect them up correctly. If you don’t, the inside of your car will soon become a paddling pool, then it’ll rust and smell.

Front Drains

With the interior roof trims out of the way, you can see clearly where the pipe needs to go.

Smart will sell you the front drain pipes however, it’s far cheaper just to buy some hose. You need 2 meters of 10mm inside diameter hose. I had some silicone hose but you can use rubber.

Cut 1 meter of hose, apply some grease to the outside and push it into the hole. You need to to travel down the inside of the A pillar. The grease helps it slide.

When you have pushed it as far as you can, trim it level and push it on the drain port. I used exactly 95cm of hose so had to trim off 5cm. This is the length you are aiming for. Repeat this method for the front drain on the other side.

If you pour water onto the front of the roof, it should pour out from under the car. The inside of the Tridion is waxed so don’t worry about rust.

Rear Drains

You do have to buy these from smart. Being moulded, you can’t make your own. They aren’t expensive. The part number for 1 is 0012039V001000000. You’ll need 2.

Open the boot glass hatch and you’ll see a rubber grommet on each side. Some early cars didn’t have this grommet. If this is the case, you’ll have to make the holes (covered later).

Pull the rubber grommet out and clean the surrounding area.

Push 1 of the rear drain hoses in…

…and seat the grommet properly so it seals against the bodywork.

On the inside, you want the pipe to exit through the middle hole. Connect it to the rear drain port. Repeat on the other side.

Wiring

This is covered on a different page. Click here.

Interior Trim

Unfortunately, the old interior roof trim pieces are now no longer used. You need a new roof lining.

Unlike the bits you removed, this is 1 large piece. Open the boot and slide it over the seats.

The front of the new trim slides in between the A pillar and the A pillar trim.

Along the back edge you have 3 push in plastic clips. They slide into the trim and the trim pushes up into the roof.

Back at the front of the car you can refit the rear view mirror base…

…and the sun visors. (They can be a bit tight).

Twist fit the rear view mirror back in place and the front is now secured.

Just over the rear side plastic windows is a screw hole. 10mm long size 8 screws should be fine at a guess.

Behind the hole is a typical slide in clip that you’d normally use to fit speakers to a car.

Remove the rear courtesy light from the old trim, plug it in and clip it in place (again, this can be tight).

Finishing Trim

This is the time consuming part if you are fitting a new aperture finishing trim.

Here is the smart part number. Q0011659V001000000.

This rubber channel has a fabric cover (so keep your hands clean when touching it). The smaller top gap slides over the metal lip of the roof and the lower gap slides over the interior roof trim. This locks the roof and interior trim together and stops the trim from moving (plus it finishes the look). Notice the small cord in the lower gap, that helps us with fitting later.

The black arrow is pointing to the thick edge of the interior trim. The white arrow is pointing towards the thin metal trim of the sliding roof.

Pull the small cord out slightly (as shown earlier). Simultaneously push the trim over the thick and thin lip. Pulling the rubber cord as you push the trim piece into position helps to pull the rubber out of the way.

Continue all of the way around and cut the trim to length if required.

The roof is now fitted. Hopefully you have completed the wiring already. Having done this retrofit, I’ll offer some tips on fitting this last piece of rubber trim.

Start at the back. Clean your hands. Learn some new swear words as repeating the same ones gets boring. The corners are quite hard as bending the rubber trim distorts the gaps so it won’t slide in place. Gentle heat gun or hair dryer could help and so will a rubber mallet but protect the trim with a cloth.

If you are refitting an old piece of rubber trim, it should be a lot easier as it’ll be more or less the right shape. Run a length of string along the inside of the rubber trim to replace the missing cord.

Disaster! My Car Doesn’t Have Rear Drain Port Holes

Yeah, nor did the car I was fitting this to. It just means you have 1 more scary step. I took some measurements off of a newer car that had the drain ports.

It’s an elongated circle, 24mm wide and 29mm tall, tipped over at about 30 degrees. You don’t have to be mega precise over placement. You can be a few mm out as long as the hole is the right size.

I cut the shape in paper, held it against the car and sprayed some paint to make the outline.

I used a drill to punch a large 13mm hole in the centre. Then I used a Dremel to grind the hole out. I would fully recommend having a CO2 fire extinguisher to hand as sparks will go inside the Tridion. You don’t know what could be down there that might catch fire (although it’s unlikely).

When you are happy with the hole size, test fit the rear drain port. If it’s ok, remove it and paint the hole. You have bared back metal so it need protecting or it will rust. Let the paint dry and refit the drain ports.

Repeat this on the other side.