inexpensive sky top moonroof motor found!

[kramerdad1]

the roof motor on my 80 was removed some time in the past., I spents weeks calling dozens of people and suppliers to find a replacement. There was only one , and the seller wants $400.00 !!! I knew the Sky Top used a Bosche motor so I hit ebay looking at listings of Bosche motors and stumbled across a late - 70's early 80's Mercedes Benze roof motor that looked like the one used by sky top. two studs 1 3/4" apart , rectangular body, two leads and get this $29.00! unless you have the original coupler you'll have to make one, which I did using the mercedes coupler, took about 30 minutes and badda bing badda boom , works perectly.

[WayneC]

If there were any markings on the motor you found (part numbers), please post those so others will know what to look for. What models of Mercedes did the eBay listing say it fit? Sunroof or moonroof?

What did you have to change on the coupler to make it fit?

Inquiring minds want to know :>)

(and pics would be nice, for example the pics used for the eBay listing).

Edited February 2, 2013 by WayneC

[kramerdad1]

the motor I bought was for a 1976 MB. As far as I can tell it fits the MB 126, 300sd,380se,380sec,500se,500sel and probably a lot more. All I did was search for "Mercedes Benz motor" then looked at all the listings for a motor that looked the same as the sky top motor, rectangular, 2 wires, and was not a part of the transmission, in other words it was a stand alone motor. the only thing you need to check is the spacing of the mounting studs or mounting holes , there are two sizes, 2 1/4" and 1 3/4". you need the 1 3/4 motor. I just checked ebay and there are at lelast 10 listed, some as sun roof motors some as moon roof motors but they are all the same motor. unless you find a coupler that has a big end and a small end you'll need to modify the coupler so it will work. the coupler I got with the motor had 2 small ends so it needed to be modified were it connects to the transmission. the tranny shaft is a larger diameter then the couplers opening was so I carefully opened it up a little at a time until it was a tight press fit. mine has been working perfectly and I saved over 350 bucks.

[WayneC]

Well, that's a little more info, thanks, but I suspect some folks are like me, I sometimes squirrel away rare spare parts, if I find them at a bargain price, with the expectation that someday they'll be needed and may not be readily available. I don't know what Avanti sun or moon roof motors look like. I did peruse eBay listings for Mercedes motors, which differed wildly from each other. I certainly won't be tearing my roof liner apart to find out what the motor looks like unless/until I actually need to do so. I was hoping you might post a photo or a link to an eBay listing that has that particular motor pictured very clearly so as to be easily identifiable. Even when I don't intend buying parts in advance, I save articles about repairs in Word documents, with pictures, for my future reference in case I DO need the information.

Edited February 2, 2013 by WayneC

[J Boyle]

Sunroof or moonroof?

For what it's worth, IIRC, Mercedes only had sunroofs (with metal panels as opposed to glass moonroofs) during the late 70s-early 80s.

Edited February 2, 2013 by J Boyle

[kramerdad1]

you dont have to remove the headliner. there should be a removable panel over the rear seats, when you take that off the motor/transmission will be visable.I'd post a pic of the motor I bought but I haven't figured out how to do it on this website. short of that go to ebay 130709214552, that is what the motor looks like.

[WayneC]

That was helpful, thanks!

Just out of curiosity, was the 12v electrical connector the same, too?

To post a picture, you may need an account at a host location, like Photobucket.

Then you upload photos to an album in your Photobucket account. When you view the photo you placed in the Photobucket account, they give you "image links" to the right of your photo and if you click one of those (like "direct link") it pastes the link in your notepad so you can then use a right-click "paste" to place that link in your posting here.... I'll try that now:

http://i1032.photobu...zpsf362c7c2.jpg ...the reader clicks the url to go see the post

Alternately, you can attach a photo (or photos) to your post, in which case the reader clicks the attachment link to see the photo(s)... that's done by clicking on "More Reply Options" and then on "Choose Files" button below the posting area and navigating to each photo on your computer you wish to include in the attachment.

Or, you can place a photo inline in your text by clicking on the icon that is a frame with a green picture, and placing the url of the photo you stored at your photo-hosting site (photobucket) into the reply field, which puts the photo inline with your text.

So, 3 different approaches that I'm aware of:

1. put a link to your photo (at a photo-hosting service) into your text. Reader clicks the url link.

2. add an attachment containing photo(s) to your post (uploaded to AOAI directly from your computer

and you are limited to 500kb total size of photos). Reader clicks the attachment link.

3. place photos inline with your text (said photos must be resident on a photo-hosting service);

pictures appear in your text.

Edited February 3, 2013 by WayneC

[WayneC]

deleted

Edited February 3, 2013 by WayneC

[kramerdad1]

the leads were actually the same color, 1 green 1 black, but the connector was not, I snipped of the MB connector and spliced them into the avanti wires. the reason I searched both "moon roof" and "sunroof" is because a lot of people on ebay will use the wrong term when describing a part, so rather them just search for the "correct" part I search for anything it might be called or listed as. an example is the famous NACA scooped hoods used on mustangs, people will list them as "NASA" hoods which is not correct but if you use only the correct name "NACA" you'll miss the listing.