Lifting arm on P38 sunroof with broken lug

[lorkers]

Hi guys,
The Plastic lifting arm on my sunroof, as with so many P38s, is broken.
After my little incident with
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/p38a-range-rover/97173-cylinder-head-disintegrates-my-p38-3-months-after-buying.html
I'm now back on the road and I'm trying to get the rest of the car up to scratch.
I want to track down the plastic lifting arm: It's integral to item 14 here.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/02/149.jpg
It's in effect the sliding plastic arm that clips onto the cable, and has the plastic inch long raising arm. Both the cast iron lug at the end of the arm, and the plastic slider have snapped.
It looks like this after I'd glued it back together again, to see if glue would be strong enough. It's not.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/02/150.jpg

Has anyone tracked one down in Australia?

The Stealer initially told me I'd need a complete new sunroof at $$$$.

Yeah, right. They finally agreed to sell me the complete track for $400...
but I just need the little plastic slider / lifter, and it seems pointless buying a complete new track for that!

Thanks for any help...

[Hoges]

This is a long shot...but if you can separate out the plastic slider you might be able to get it "plastic welded".

Alternatively there are some businesses which do rapid prototyping and have 3D printers. They should be able to replicate the part fairly easily...

as for the metal lug... perhaps you can get a small "blob" of weld laid on the part then shape it with a Dremel...

[PhilipA]

Took about 5 seconds on google.
Range Rover Classic P38a 4.0/4.6 Genuine OEM Factory Sunroof Parts (http://www.roverconnection.com/RR4%20Parts/Range_Rover_Sunroof_Parts.html)

Regards Philip A

[p38arover]

Those EGI100010 break very easily, too.

[Scouse]

Took about 5 seconds on google.
Range Rover Classic P38a 4.0/4.6 Genuine OEM Factory Sunroof Parts (http://www.roverconnection.com/RR4%20Parts/Range_Rover_Sunroof_Parts.html)

Regards Philip ALooking at that link, are Classic & P38 sunrooves identical?

[p38arover]

Not according to MicroCat.

[lorkers]

Thanks guys.
Alas, that site offering the rails isn't quite so ideal. I want to just replace the lifting arm, not the complete rail, and these guys will charge me for the entire rail. With the postage, it comes to pretty close to what the stealer wanted to charge me.
Plus, I don't want to take out the entire sunroof (and hence ceiling liner) to fix this: I can get at the sunroof lifting arm without taking any of the gubbins out. Which saves about half a days work.
So I've come up with another solution this weekend.
To replace the broken spiggot in the arm, I drilled out the cast iron arm to 10BA tap at a 45 degree angle, tapped the hole to 10BA, and used a 10BA tempered steel socket head screw. Don't try brass: they snap! And equally, a cheese head screw digs up the plastic it slots into: a socket head screw was the only thing I had left after I raided the toolbox that would work.
Then, to fix the plastic slider, I used some brass sheet to build a splint that encased the snapped plastic, soldered at the front to a 12BA screw that just about fits into the plastic. I tried copper wire to start with, and that just fractured: there is a lot of stress on the sunroof puller. I also melted the plastic at the split, joined it together without glue... and lo, it holds.
File the whole lot down so the profile is the same as the original, and there ya go.
OK, it looks crude, but works a treat. And saves me the odd hundred quid into the bargain.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2010/03/1266.jpg

[Hoges]

Ha! "Necessity" shows herself to be the "Mother of Invention" yet again :D
well done!