What are my options for sunroof, replace/removal?

compression · 06-19-2012, 03:49 PM

Basically i need an entirely new sunroof assembly.
The first obvious answer would be to just get another one and bolt it in, well the '90s were a little different then the 91-94. if i am not mistaken i believe they have a different hole size completely, although i could be wrong i think i tried to swap once.

The second is the just get a new roof skin, well just browsing around it looks like it would be well over $300 no problem to have one put in. kind of steep for just wanting to fix a hole in my roof

The third option i have come up with is, buying a piece of sheet metal from say Lowe's or something and getting a rectangle a tad larger then the hole, and pressing it against the roof from the inside, put a could spot welds in, then use some body filler ( or whatever ) to make it match.

The car is being prepped now for paint, and is supposed to be painted by next week, obviously i want to fix this A.S.A.P.

Is option 3 a good option? is it really difficult to retain the factory curvature by doing this? i saw a build thread where a guy cut a piece of sheet metal almost the same size and welded it in , basically the same thing, i just thought getting a rectangular piece would be more stable, and being as i have no headliner right now it should be no problem.

The Purple Monster -90 Talon

theres his replacement.

96' Eclipse GS · 06-19-2012, 04:32 PM

I like my cars stock, so I would try to find a new or in decent shape sunroof assembly and replace the old one. I do not real like the fab work on something that clean looking, but again it is just my opinion. Good Luck with your decision & progress.

DSM Jeff · 06-19-2012, 05:23 PM

I would honestly look for a full roof skin. I've seen dsm's with aftermarket sunroofs, look like crap. I did not know 90's were different. I have 2 93's with stock sunroofs. My 90 has a solid roof, I prefer that all day long.
Also with option 3 is it will never sit right due to the compound curve of the roof. Personally if you can get a full roof, do it.

bryanwheat · 06-19-2012, 05:26 PM

Either post a wanted to buy ad in the classifieds or buy a new roof skin. If you were to weld in a piece of flat sheet metal it would look like crap because the roof is radius'd and the flat piece is well, flat.

compression · 06-19-2012, 06:57 PM

The sheet metal couldn't be easily formed to match the curvature for the most part? I also prefer a solid roof fyi.

if it helped, i could get a slightly ticker gauge of sheet metal.

bryanwheat · 06-20-2012, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by compression

The sheet metal couldn't be easily formed to match the curvature for the most part? I also prefer a solid roof fyi.

if it helped, i could get a slightly ticker gauge of sheet metal.

If you found someone that was real good with sheet metal than it is possible, but it would never look quite right. IF you are going to go thru the trouble than just find a complete roof skin.

compression · 06-20-2012, 07:13 PM

i have a donor , 93 eclipse with a perfect skin, but all the interior is also perfect. i could use that skin but i would hate to also ruin the interior, it sits outside.

I found a member on here selling one , if all goes well and it has all the parts i need i will just end up buying the oem sunroof and call it day ( which is perfect for me! )

I had a random thought, could i lay a sheet of metal over the donor car roof and (forgive me if this is obviously a stupid idea) take a torch to the sheetmetal to maybe form it to the contour of the roof?

DSM Jeff · 06-21-2012, 04:09 AM

If you have a donor, then use it. If the interior is nice, then remove it. You'll need the headliner anyway. I wish I had a skin to use on my other car to get rid of the damn glass above my head.

compression · 06-21-2012, 04:28 AM

Sell me your Sunroof , and come pick up this roofskin and put it on your car =P, seriously though last time I removed a windshield , it was utter catastrophy. I really don't want to remove both windshields unless I really need to. I could take both car to a body shop but I'm sure they will still charge a pretty penny for the job.

AwD4g63TsI · 06-21-2012, 05:03 AM

I've been doing body work for 15+ years. I'll give you my take.

If you want to delete the hole, I would do a piece just to cover that hole. Way less work and time-and unless the person you have doing it doesn't know what they are doing...it will look like nothing was there from the start. The curves are minimal and not hard to do just by bending the sheet by hand. Make sure whoever does it uses something like duramix to bond it in so it doesn't rust eventually from welds. Duramix makes bonding adhesive specifically for things like this and is used all of the time in the collision industry. Bondo will have to go on to smooth everything out and make it perfect before painting.

If you decide to skin the entire roof, you will will obviously have to cut the entire thing out very carefully, take all the moldings off, and unless you are perfect with every aspect-you still will be doing bondo to smooth things and paint on top. More expensive and labor intensive by doing the entire skin if you do it, or if you take it to someone. You will get the same result in the end however.

I would not undertake this if you've never done something like this though...it will turn out like crap most likely if you have no experience.

bryanwheat · 06-21-2012, 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AwD4g63TsI

I've been doing body work for 15+ years. I'll give you my take.

If you want to delete the hole, I would do a piece just to cover that hole. Way less work and time-and unless the person you have doing it doesn't know what they are doing...it will look like nothing was there from the start. The curves are minimal and not hard to do just by bending the sheet by hand. Make sure whoever does it uses something like duramix to bond it in so it doesn't rust eventually from welds. Duramix makes bonding adhesive specifically for things like this and is used all of the time in the collision industry. Bondo will have to go on to smooth everything out and make it perfect before painting.

If you decide to skin the entire roof, you will will obviously have to cut the entire thing out very carefully, take all the moldings off, and unless you are perfect with every aspect-you still will be doing bondo to smooth things and paint on top. More expensive and labor intensive by doing the entire skin if you do it, or if you take it to someone. You will get the same result in the end however.

I would not undertake this if you've never done something like this though...it will turn out like crap most likely if you have no experience.

The roof skin is spot welded under the moldings and windshield valley so no filler will be needed. It is just glued to the support beams across the top of the car so no spot welds on the top of the car will need to be removed.

Steve93Talon · 06-21-2012, 05:12 PM

We removed the sunroof from my friend's race shell awhile back. We made a mold of a non-sunroof roof panel, then reversed it, then cut it out to about 1" larger than the opening on the roof. Then we routed a shallow receiver groove into the panel and used panel bond to attach it. Then just a matter of filling in the imperfections.

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