The SCCA rule book requires glass moonroofs like those on the GSR to be removed and filled in with sheetmetal. There is no requirement on sheetmetal thickness or mounting technique. I believe this rule is for safety reasons, I assume to keep the level of broken glass to a minimum and to keep arms (and legs?) in the car during a roll over. I was wondering how the rest of you filled in the hole in the roof, please post pictures, diagrams, etc.. anything that would be helpful. On a side note, removing the complete moon roof assembly saves about 50lbs from the highest point of the car which should help performance too .

TIA, Erik

 

Be careful. If its an SSB car the SS rules over-ride the GCR. The SS rules state that the sunroof must BE LEFT IN THE CAR.
I'm not saying it makes sense because it doesn't, but that is the rule.

Anyway, a body shop cut the roof off a totalled type-r and welded it over my sunroof hole. Can't even tell a sunroof was ever there.
For a cheaper, dirtier job, get a thin piece of sheet metal and pop-rivet it over the hole. Seal it with paintable sealant and paint it. Voila.

 

Roadracer, I am in the process of changing the car from SS to ITS, thus the removal of the moonroof is required. I too thought of the type r roof swap, but figured there must be an easier and cheaper way to fill the hole. I'll probably just rivet some sheet metal over the hole and make it weather proof with silicone around the edges.

 

LS roofs will work... no?

Will
-who thinks Import Auto Salvage has a few DC-2 shells laying around

 

I believe type and thickness of material must be as the rest of the roof. Attachment isn't specified - I've seen rivets, welds, or complete roof replacement.

 

LS should have a sunroof too, methinx. The RS did not. Before any smart@$$ asks, I'll get this out of the way now... "No, you can't have my RS to hack the roof up and throw it on your ITS car... unless you want to throw me a whole bunch of money first"

 

On my car (1995 GSR converted to ITS last year) I had the body shop guy tact weld a thin piece of sheet metal and then cover it with a thin layer of bondo and contour it with the roof and then paint.

You can see some shots of my car in the previous issue of GRM (2 issues ago). You can't really tell the had a sunroof except there are a few spider cracks now.

I have seen numerous sunroofs replaced with sheet metal and pop riveted in place and the all look terrible.

Scott S.

 

I got extremely lucky as a totalled typeR just happened to be sitting in the body shop I used AND that totalled typeR belonged to a friend who donated said roof.
There were, unfortunately, not any other useable body panels.

I do still owe him a few beerz.

 

The center roof section metal is only $350 from Acura. It goes together right under the black rubber strips on either side of the roof from the front window to the hatch. It is actually pretty simple to do.

 

So pop riviting sheet metal is pretty shady?? Hum, it would be a lot easier than welding in the panel in.. I could take 50lbs of the top of my car is I take this damn thing out.. well have to look into it...

 

Here is a picture of a IT car with a piece of sheet metal pop riveted in. The is the same thing that my brother-in-law and I did to his ITA CRX. After you seal it as mentioned earlier and paint it, it looks pretty good. Yes, a whole new roof panel would "look" the best, but the pop riveted sheet metal will function just the same.

 

Not shady as in questionable integrity. Just ugly unless you spend a good bit of time on it. Enough time that welding would be just a easy (assuming you know somebody who can weld).

 

Of course, if you are going IT racing, don't put too much stock in looks, as you will probably be spending obscene amounts of time in a body shop anyway...
I recall a guy who ran the ARRC, spent a ton of money rushing the car to get it finished/roll cage welded in at a body shop only to haul it back to the body shop on Sunday evening to get all the dents fixed. He hadn't even paid for the first job yet...
Body shop guy was pretty amused.