first let me say, yes there are mad kits out there but they are really expensive andi am on a budget. i wanted to do something to get a little more weight from the car, in my quest for a better power to weight ratio seeing is i have an SI and a canadian model at that, which is the heaviest, and i am no slim guy by any means!


1. remove sunroof, undo all the electrical connections to the motor and you have to take down your stock light as it is attatched to the sunroof assembly. all the bolts are 10mm, and i think there are 8 of them


2. go to lowes and get some Lexan/acrylic/or plexiglass, i chose the acrylic due to the price, lay it over the sunroof and trace from the inside of the car with a marker, and you should have something like this


3. what i did next was got some 3/4 by 3/4 inch aluminum L bracket and cut several sections off of it to brace the inside of the roof and to support the new one. you can use epoxy/JB weld/screws, i chose a little JB and some sheetmetal screws cause im impatient! also the back of the inner sunroof has a little less material to work with than the front and side, should look like this


4. next i cut out the shape from the plastic with a cutting wheel on my dremel made for plastic, found at ACE hardware, it looks like a little saw blade, cuts real fast and thin too, looks liek so(when you cut it leave the wrapper on it till you are done, otherwise it gets scratched)



5. you will need to test fit it a few times, and cut some more, and sand a bit here and there, but you should always place it in the car the same way evverytime, so mark it somewhere, something like an arrow or F and R, along with passenger or driver. you should end up like this. hard to see but its there


6. next you need to drill holes thru the plastic and the bracket for your fasteners, i bought some allen head bolts and washers form ACE for about 4 dollars



7. i painted the plastic so that sun wont be burnin my *** up( make sure you paint the underside and not the outside!!!!!!!!



after youre donr painting and it has dried, place it on andd bolt it all down, one step that you cant see is i used some "marine use" sealant, it is clear and is waterprrof in salt and fresh, i used it on the inside and outside, although i think i will use something a bit heavier on the inside just to keep any moisture out.

finished product




WEIGHT SAVINGS FROM MY CAR WAS 51 POUNDS MINUS THE NEW PARTS USED, WHICH WERE ONLY 3.8 POUNDS..................DAMN

TIME 3 HOURS

 

very nice work

I wonder if the acyrilic would work well for a splitter....

 

Looks good!!!

I was thinking something similar for my CRX

Keep up updated on any moisture issues.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> very nice work

I wonder if the acyrilic would work well for a splitter.... </TD></TR></TABLE>

It's too brittle a material for a splitter, youd be better off with abs, polyethelyne, or some wetlay fabrication.

 

thanks guys ill keep yall posted, i posted this in the autocross section beccause i know everyone in here lightens thier cars, this WAS an auto-Xer back in the day,

thanks

 

Does it have any laminate film over it to prevent it from shattering in unfortunate event of a rollover?

Looks like a good solution. Anyone know if this is legal for HC/SCCA/NASA?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FritzInTN &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Does it have any laminate film over it to prevent it from shattering in unfortunate event of a rollover?

Looks like a good solution. Anyone know if this is legal for HC/SCCA/NASA?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Although its a very creative solution, it would not be legal for SCCA provided you are talking about Road Racing (HC would suggest you are). Whether it is legal for NASA or not I am unsure, however, I think for competition use, you would want something that is a bit more securely fastened and less prone to exposing you in a roll over.


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vbspec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I was thinking something similar for my CRX
</TD></TR></TABLE>
If you really want a permanent delete for the sunroof in your CRX and are at a point you need a new windshield anyway, I'd de-skin it and replace w/ a DX roof skin.

 

Wow, nice work. Like others have said, not legal for SCCA, nor would I used it for any kind of racing but great work and look.

 

awesome work....!

seems like I keep running into people with teal Civics that like to delete their moonroofs....

Mine was less elegant.....I got a bodyman to chop up a Suzuki Aerio's hood and rivet it in place.

Not as clean as reskinning the roof or your job.... but I think it's legal to race with....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mrbsponge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">WEIGHT SAVINGS FROM MY CAR WAS 51 POUNDS MINUS THE NEW PARTS USED, WHICH WERE ONLY 3.8 POUNDS..................DAMN

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

What exactly weighed 51 lbs? I took my sunroof out of my SI and it weighed about 33-34lbs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">go to lowes and get some Lexan/acrylic/or plexiglass, i chose the acrylic due to the price</TD></TR></TABLE>

Lexan is not the same as the other 2. You shouldn't have put the acrylic/plexi there as it will shatter but thats a nice install though.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tunes12 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

What exactly weighed 51 lbs? I took my sunroof out of my SI and it weighed about 33-34lbs. </TD></TR></TABLE>

what yeah is your si??? mine is a 93 canadian model, i included the head liner, done light, all wiring i removed, and the entire sunroof assembly to include the nuts and bolts, mine totaled right at 50.?? pounds.

my sunroof from my 89 crx didnt weight much of anything

 

when you get around to adding more sealant, I highly recommend GE black silicone caulk from a tube. First you tape off some lines to stay inside, then use an ice cube to smooth it down... it looks very professional with a little practice.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by phat-S &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Although its a very creative solution, it would not be legal for SCCA provided you are talking about Road Racing (HC would suggest you are). Whether it is legal for NASA or not I am unsure...</TD></TR></TABLE>
Pretty sure that's a no. I looked into using "Milk" plex in a buddies car and we concluded there would be rules issues. Too bad, though. Some Milk or frosted plex in the sunroof hole would be the hot set-up for throwing some fill-light into the dark corners of the interior and reducing contrast for in-car videos.... Bummer.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mrbsponge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

what yeah is your si??? mine is a 93 canadian model, i included the head liner, done light, all wiring i removed, and the entire sunroof assembly to include the nuts and bolts, mine totaled right at 50.?? pounds.

my sunroof from my 89 crx didnt weight much of anything</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hmm, mine's a 95. I didn't take out the headliner because its a street mod car and that must remain intact. But besides that i also removed every nut bolt and wire. I know Rodney here on H-T also removed his, out of a 94, and his weighed the same as mine. I also removed one out of a 91 crx si and it weighed about 30lbs.

 

I did the same thing on my track car and found that the sun warped the lexan substantially. I ended up replacing it with aluminum which was close in weight because it didn't need to be as thinck as the lexan.

 

my car is mainly used for drag racing and since the cage is going in soon, im not too sure of the thickness or material needed, but i know convertiables hit the strip, soooo im pretty sure since its faster than 11.99 and i have to have all the safety gear anyways that im sure it wont be an issue

if it is, i will just replace it and use mine as a new template

 

I tried to do the same thing, But i was stupid and bought plexi and it cracked all to **** when i tried to drill it. So i ended up getting a sheet metal plug welded in. the only sheet i could get was pretty thick, probably 1/4 inch. It was pretty heavy but it still droped at least 20 LBS. In the future i plan to cut that out and get some real lexan and make a new lighter one. I even considered opening up the sun roof hole a bit and making almost a lexan roof, kinda like that JDM glass thing. Instead of painting it i am just gonna tint the inside. I may not have saved as much weight but it dont leak anymore.

Edit
How much work would be in re skinning it with an HF/DX roof? I dont care about the paint work.

 

thawley, I somewhat figured that it wasn't legal for HC but was not positive. Strikes me that it presents several concerns in a w2w situation that one might not be as concerned w/ in Solo II.

Again, not to take away from the effort - that's a neat solution.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ohjolt2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Edit
How much work would be in re skinning it with an HF/DX roof? I dont care about the paint work.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Its time consuming and you will have to remove the windshield in the process. If you are careful, you can save the rain gutter strips and the windshield gasket (I unfortunately trashed mine but the new windsheild came w/ one so it was not a biggie). IIRC, there are about 10-12 spot welds down each gutter, three clustered ones on each side of the rear near where the hatch mounts and then an additional 3 or 4 across the rear spaced pretty evenly. The windshield spot welds are a lot greater in number and they are the tougher ones to get bite into (some can be so close to the sheet metal edge that you are kinda hanging off the edge w/ the bit). But by and large, its just a patience thing (and you have to keep reminding yourself to not pull on ANYTHING - a thin long flat edge will help separate the seal toward the rear of the car.

I'd suggest if you are not going to buy a new skin (which is apparently available from Honda), cut your teeth on the skin that's coming OFF the car, not the skin that will be going ON the car. That's the one that will be the more important to keep straight. A body shop should be able to spot weld the new skin on for you (and you can help them out by leaving the hatch off).

If you were ever going to cage the car btw, that would be the time - no roof, no windshield, no hatch ...

 

Has anybody replaced the glass with sheetmetal or something else but kept the sunroof openable? I wouldn't think it would be that hard since you're just replacing a glass panel with a metal one. I want to lose some weight up there but I also love open-air (well, somewhat anyway) driving.

 

nice work, and nice weight savings. too bad you cant road race it like that though

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbosaurus VR6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice work, and nice weight savings. too bad you cant road race it like that though </TD></TR></TABLE>

im sure i could get away with it somehow.

my take on scca was a depressive one WHEN:

i showed up with no interior= some kind of race class

i had a motor swap and a shame ause it was a stock B16= some other kind of class

then i was under prepared with tires and brakes= stupid mistake

so i went back to drag racing again!