Hello, all....... I have problem that needs some fixin'

I have a 1979 242, and i have a heck of a time trying to close the sunroof once i've opened it... The sunroof will open just fine when i try to, but when the time comes to close it up, it neglects to obey my command.

The crank does not catch the cable when i try to close it....i'll try to crank it closed, but the lever keeps twisting without catching the cable....

On any given day when i want to close the sunroof, I grab the actual sunroof piece with my hands and slam the thing closed. If i just try using the lever to close it, without any hand help from me, it takes 5 billion revolutions of the lever to get the sunroof closed (and even that doesn't close it all the way). I figure that the sunroof cable is bad because i see millions of fibers on the thing. But why would the sunroof open perfectly, but not close all the way no matter how many times i turn the lever...?

Do i need to replace the cables? Are there adjustments i need to do?

Oh yeah, when I close the sunroom all the way, there is about a half inch gap at the rear part of the sunroof (where it's supposed to meet the roof of the car). Would this be part of the problem too?

Please, can anyone tell me what i have to do? I'd rather do it myself than spend hundreds of dollars for someone else to fix it.

Thanks

Robert I