I am not sure if I should post this in 92-00 or here, but I think there is more fab and welding involved than anything else.

I have an aftermarket sunroof installed the day I got my car. It was contracted out by the dealer. Recently, I have been thinking removing it and patch up the hole. The OE hatch has 4 (IIRC) beams below the roof. Obviously I have none so I can only see this from other car pictures.

Would it be wise to weld in a sheet metal and call it a day, or, break up the factory welds and swap another hatch roof? Assuming the other owner wants sunroof and we just swap them around. Reweld the roof back on so I can have all the factory beams?

The reason behind this is I track my car and I would think the roof portion has been weakened by the aftermarket sunroof, due to lack of cross beams. Also, weight concerns.

Please advise, if you could. Many thanks.

 

weld sheet metal in place and install 6pt. roll cage

 

is there a cage or at least a bar in the car? i would start off with one of those at least if u track the car and personally i would change out the entire roof... cut it out at the rain gutters i guess u could call it and weld a new one in...

 

As for roll cage, I am not sure at this point, afterall, it is a daily driver.

As for bar, yes, the car does have front/rear strut bars and sway bars, but the upper part is rather weak (IMO) and the sunroof assembly is what is holding it up. It shakes and rattles because I am using stiffer engine mounts.

So dealership sells roof?

 

I'd recommend you (or a body shop) replace the roof. Here is what I did to my 89 hatchback;

http://www.performanceforum.co....html

In your post, you comment about installing a factory sun-roof and I'd highly recommend against it. There are a lot of reasons that I'm not going to go into here.

Wes

 

Thanks for the post Wes.

Did I comment on installing a factory sun-roof? I didn't quite understand that part.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Wes V &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'd recommend you (or a body shop) replace the roof. Here is what I did to my 89 hatchback;

http://www.performanceforum.co....html

In your post, you comment about installing a factory sun-roof and I'd highly recommend against it. There are a lot of reasons that I'm not going to go into here.

Wes</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wes that page you have is awsome - You've been added to my favorites - haha. No in offense at all you remind me of my dad - he was a hobbiest in building cars but he has kind of lost his passoin in it as far as doing raw, ground to roof builds but he sport his Sport Trac like if it his old TBird or BelAir but he always asking me about my honda.

Good Day,
RH.

PS. On another note - that roof swap is very detailed - I think we have a winner.

 

haha yea i've had your page bookmarket for a while now. It gives me inspiration and I just love the page layout. Even though I've already done a lot of the modifications that you've listed I still have a few more to do and plan on using your page as a reference.

To the original poster I really don't know what you should do. I personally would just weld in some sheetmetal and call it a day. Then again I know nothing about welding.