I understand that to remove the metal sunroof you have to disconnect the cloth part that covers the bottom of the sunroof itself (not the headliner) and slide it back so the bolts are exposed. Sunroof's out. Can I now remove the cloth part from the car? I hope I do not need to remove the entire assembly.

I looked in the parts book but it just lists as
Hatch inner and there are about three parts listed
Each color is a different part number

To find the part you need to know the color and which section.
It looks like a Volvo dealer would replace the entire hatch with the cloth , and so that doesn’t help a lot. With how to remove the cloth.

It’s under group 85 in this 1985 -87 version
Amazonphil

Most if the 740’s I see seem to have had issue with the cloth headliner falling down.
Last summer I stripped a car and I saved the cardboard it did not have a sunroof but I have cars that do.

My intention is to replace the cloth then swap the whole cardboard in to the car I’m hoping to fix up
Doing that from in the car seems difficult at best.

I thought I might paint the headliner cardboard with colored epoxy maybe put cloth on that but it will make it more rigid..

If you want to remove it what I see getting stuck upon is the vinyl covered trim near the windshield and edges I found that plastic had seriously degraded and if you can get it out and back again you’d have to use extreme care and maybe be a bit lucky
I do not know if it’s available and any wrecker will likely have that issue too.

If I remember right there is some trim around the circumference if the sunroof and that may retain it ? It will show in the parts book I can look if you need I have the blue book somewhere here.

If there are better ideas than pulling the cardboard I’d like to know. It’s not an easy task for sure. Especially when you see how brittle that plastic gets .

If you pull it, it might be worth trying to do the same at a wrecker if you can because there might be techniques to practice and perfect. ;)
Amazonphil

I have a 740 I am parting out. It has the light headliner. I could try to pull the trim if you are interested in it.

I looked in the parts book but it just lists as
Hatch inner and there are about three parts listed
Each color is a different part number

To find the part you need to know the color and which section.
It looks like a Volvo dealer would replace the entire hatch with the cloth , and so that doesn’t help a lot. With how to remove the cloth.

It’s under group 85 in this 1985 -87 version
Amazonphil

To remove the cloth, put the sunroof into vent position; then while you are outside the car, pull down the back of the cloth liner and unclip the two wire clips.
The cloth part can now be slid back into the roof section, it will take some fiddling to get it to go all the way back.
Since the sunroof's out, you should be able to pull the cloth section forward and remove it.
hope this helps