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2G Sunroof delete - Roof swap

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Justin DuBois

Proven Member
1,705
1,457
Aug 15, 2019
Oakland, California
I’m considering the work required to fix my sunroof, headliner, and paint.

A trusted shop tells me if I bring them a roof and headliner, they can get the glass guys to remove the windshield (likely breaking it), and 1/4 glass triangles, They remove the rear hatch and un-weld the old roof, weld in a new solid one and prep it for paint. After paint, then have the glass guys back to finish the exterior. Leaving the simpler task of assembling the interior for the last.

Looking at my windshield, it is pitted. Am I crazy? This chunk of work seems reasonable to affect a big improvement towards full restoration.
 
I know some one who tried to close in a sunroof by welding in a piece of metal over the opening. It was okay for awhile but it eventually ending up with a concave in the roof .. No support for the sheet metal.. Your doing this the right way. It is a big job but it can be done..
 
I’m considering the work required to fix my sunroof, headliner, and paint.

A trusted shop tells me if I bring them a roof and headliner, they can get the glass guys to remove the windshield (likely breaking it), and 1/4 glass triangles, They remove the rear hatch and un-weld the old roof, weld in a new solid one and prep it for paint. After paint, then have the glass guys back to finish the exterior. Leaving the simpler task of assembling the interior for the last.

Looking at my windshield, it is pitted. Am I crazy? This chunk of work seems reasonable to affect a big improvement towards full restoration.
i did a custom sunroof delete on my dsm, look at this page on my build scroll down to see how i did it using lexan
https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/my-2g-dsm-second-build-this-ones-going-smoother.499369/page-5
 
The only way I would recommend welding on a new roof skin is if you’re already tearing the car down for repainting. I’ve done it and the work is not worth it unless you’re doing a full restoration where you’re stripping the entire chassis anyway.
 
The only way I would recommend welding on a new roof skin is if you’re already tearing the car down for repainting. I’ve done it and the work is not worth it unless you’re doing a full restoration where you’re stripping the entire chassis anyway.

Yeah - tearing it all down, and building it back up is the plan. Undercarriage is first.
Did you gain some headroom? What dome light / rear view combination did you end up with?

Justin
 
Welding a roof skin is the way to go, i did this job few time on different car. But it was the opposite, i was installing roof skin with sunroof :sneaky:
As for the dome light /etc, stick with oem parts from the non-sunroof car. You shoud gain some headroom, im 6'5" on my 2G without sunroof i did remove the headliner to gain some more clearance.


10 years ago with my mazdaspeed protege (i miss that car:cry:)
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Welding a roof skin is the way to go, i did this job few time on different car. But it was the opposite, i was installing roof skin with sunroof :sneaky:
As for the dome light /etc, stick with oem parts from the non-sunroof car. You shoud gain some headroom, im 6'5" on my 2G without sunroof i did remove the headliner to gain some more clearance.


10 years ago with my mazdaspeed protege (i miss that car:cry:)
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What he said. I can’t say exactly how much head room you gain but I rolled my roof bars on my cage to follow the roofline better after installing it because I gained some room.
 
It looks pretty - but this is $700.
The Sheetmetal skin from Mitsubishi is $60.

This is upsetting. I spent a very long time sourcing a non-sunroof dsm and several hours cutting the roof off.

I don’t have many pictures but this may give you a little bit of an idea. The roof bar clears the roof by about 1/8”. I made it where I could still sandwich the headliner between the two.

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Well check you out - that's freaking awesome!

It might make you feel better to know that $60 is the price, but I can't say that it can be bought for that. I have not placed an order. It may not be stocked any longer. It's funny that the dome light and bracket cost more than the skin.

https://www.mitsubishiparts.com

Dome Lamp Assembly Bracket
Product ID: mb947864

Dome Lamp Assembly
Product ID: mr148328

Headliner
Product ID: mr707934
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Roof Panel
Product ID: mb959352
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if your gonna have to get a roof off a salvage vehicle, i found 2 listed that aren't really far from you.

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Salida Auto Wrecking
5127 Kiernan Ave
Salida , CA, 95368, US

(209) 543-0776
 
Not sure if this will help you. But this company makes a roof. They also sell delete panels for the sunroof and glass.

https://www.carboneticsinc.com/eclipse2g-roof
Search Carbonetics on DSMtuners. Pretty nice stuff, but 100% would not recommend giving them your money. You likely wont see your parts for years if at all, and the part still may not fit or be built right if you actually receive it.
I got in on the sunroof plug group buy, long story short, maybe 5 years later and endless emails I finally ended up with a version of that roof skin they sell, but they made it 2 inched short from what I asked for.
I cut most of the roof skin off a non-sunroof car, and need to find a welder that can create a "plug out of it to weld into the empty sunroof hole, with some stiffeners to prevent sagging. Gonna skip paint and do a wrap.
 
This is upsetting. I spent a very long time sourcing a non-sunroof dsm and several hours cutting the roof off.

I don’t have many pictures but this may give you a little bit of an idea. The roof bar clears the roof by about 1/8”. I made it where I could still sandwich the headliner between the two.

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Are the A Pillars and roof skin all one piece?
 
No. The skin is a separate piece, welded on. The pic shows the car with pilars, and no skin.
I mean from the factory is it one piece? I’m doing the same thing now and it looks like the skin and A Pilars are one piece. Wondering if you just decided to cut it there.
 
I mean from the factory is it one piece? I’m doing the same thing now and it looks like the skin and A Pilars are one piece. Wondering if you just decided to cut it there.
The roof is welded on, so I suppose from the factory it is one piece. You can't unbolt it.
The normal thing body shops do in the event the roof panel is damaged is to chisel hammer the welds apart, and weld in a new skin.
 
Search Carbonetics on DSMtuners. Pretty nice stuff, but 100% would not recommend giving them your money. You likely wont see your parts for years if at all, and the part still may not fit or be built right if you actually receive it.
I got in on the sunroof plug group buy, long story short, maybe 5 years later and endless emails I finally ended up with a version of that roof skin they sell, but they made it 2 inched short from what I asked for.
I cut most of the roof skin off a non-sunroof car, and need to find a welder that can create a "plug out of it to weld into the empty sunroof hole, with some stiffeners to prevent sagging. Gonna skip paint and do a wrap.
At least you got something, I went in on the sunroof plug and got nothing, no plug, no refund, he stopped answering my calls and pm's, no more contact at all, lesson learned.
 
Are the A Pillars and roof skin all one piece?
I am pretty confident they are not. The skin is installed and spot welded at the seams. I believe the point where the a pillars merge into the roof skin is brazed together. I know for a fact that the rear section around the quarter windows is brazed together at the merge seam. I took a cutoff wheel to the roof skin at those locations. It’s easy to weld it back up and grind it back clean once done.
 
At the moment, the solid roof replacement is out of budget. The body shop was able to locate some parts to make the sunshades work in the sunroof again, so I'm going to restore back to factory trim. (a little sad, but a little not) It is more important to me now that the function and finish is complete vs some other compromise.
 
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