Before I begin: I know that EK hatches did not come with a sunroof.

I want some thoughts on this, assuming money was not a factor...if I bought the following from an Si coupe:
- headliner
- OEM sunroof wiring/switch
- roof with sunroof/motor

Possible to cut part/all of the roof from my hatch and professionally weld-in the coupe's roof?

Would this affect the structural integrity of the vehicle?

Anyone chime-in, preferably with comments that will help/educate.

Thanks

 

Hmmm, maybe this belongs in the fabrication forum...

 

I have seen it done before on hatches, though I don't know any of the details.

But yes, it can, and has been done.

 

Some hatches came with moonroofs, but only overseas. Most hatches here with moonroofs will have aftermarket moonroofs or sunroofs installed.

Installing a stock moonroof on a US hatchback means cutting the entire roof out and replacing it.

The coupe headliner and roof skin is too short (by something close to 4-6 inches). The sedan roof is actually shorter than the coupe roof.

It's going to affect weight on the top of your car more than anything. It's not a light assembly.

 

Yeah, I know about JDM, EDM, and UKDM OEM moonroofs...North America got shafted.

And I would never (ever) install an aftermarket sunroof/moonroof, hence this post.

I am just trying to see how easy or hard this modification would be.

I didn't know about the different roof lengths across the Civic range. However, this probably wouldn't be a problem if only a portion of the roof is used, assuming you knew someone who was a damn good welder, and someone who is damn good at body work and able to hide the welds perfectly. This wouldn't even solve the headliner problem though. For that, It seems an import headliner may be required, unless its possible to modify the stock USDM headliner to fit the hole.

The weight wouldn't be a huge issue. Am I wrong to assume the USDM coupe's moonroof assembly is identical to the JDM/EDM hatch's moonroof assembly? If they are indeed indentical, then the added weight would have been the same as if it were stock overseas...and if Honda did it over there, it shouldn't be an issue here.

As always, thanks for the insight, NOFX.

Overall, this seems like a pretty difficult modification to perform...but buddy two posts up says it has been done, so...who knows...

 

I'm sure it has been done, but I've never seen it. I've seen lots of moonroofs on hatchbacks. Aftermarket moonroofs.

I still have the research the roof parts more to confirm or deny which vehicles use the same parts. Some of the parts come in different colors for different bodies and countries, so those part numbers could differ because of the color, or for some other reason. I'm still trying to sort this out for a friend.

 

FUKKCKCKCKCK.. i typed it up twice and accidently deleted them both twice. [freak]it i'll post in sections.

rock fell on my car so i'm going to do what you want (oem moonroof on usdm hatch)

going to take off entire roof but put it 8 inches short in the front so it can make up for the shortness of the coupe roof.

for headliner, going to cut it out of my stock headliner, and going to junkyard to find headliner weather strippping thing. will take pictures of the project once i start it next week

 

 

NICE!

I can't wait to see this complete.

Good luck

 

how big was this "rock" that fell on your car and how many miles up was it

 

i just thought of something. instead of using the si coupe's roof. use the jdm/edm roof from a hatch that came with sunroof. i'm not sure how involved this mod would be. but for oemness i would assume this route would be the cleanest.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by westcoast1994 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i just thought of something. instead of using the si coupe's roof. use the jdm/edm roof from a hatch that came with sunroof. i'm not sure how involved this mod would be. but for oemness i would assume this route would be the cleanest.

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

Cleanest, I agree 100%.

But you have to consider how hard it would be to source that, in comparison to a plain ol' USDM coupe. It would be more expensive, as well.

 

more expensive to source. but think about it, u could use the entire roof. headliner and the skin. sort of like the guys that install carbon fiber roofs. replace the entire piece. this way u don't have to hide weld seems.

i see the carbon/kevlar pieces and... might be off topic. i see the glass roofs for crx's for sale also. just saying funds permiting this would be my route

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vincentek9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">FUKKCKCKCKCK.. i typed it up twice and accidently deleted them both twice. [freak]it i'll post in sections.

rock fell on my car so i'm going to do what you want (oem moonroof on usdm hatch)

going to take off entire roof but put it 8 inches short in the front so it can make up for the shortness of the coupe roof.

for headliner, going to cut it out of my stock headliner, and going to junkyard to find headliner weather strippping thing. will take pictures of the project once i start it next week</TD></TR></TABLE>
You want to make the front flush. The rear is where you'll need to add more roof.

Otherwise you'll end up with a moonroof in the back seat.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by westcoast1994 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i just thought of something. instead of using the si coupe's roof. use the jdm/edm roof from a hatch that came with sunroof. i'm not sure how involved this mod would be. but for oemness i would assume this route would be the cleanest.</TD></TR></TABLE>
It would be the cleanest, but expensive to ship over here. Not to mention you'd need to find someone willing to cut one out over there.

Oh, and EX coupes have moonroofs too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by westcoast1994 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">more expensive to source. but think about it, u could use the entire roof. headliner and the skin. sort of like the guys that install carbon fiber roofs. replace the entire piece. this way u don't have to hide weld seems.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, you are probably right.

I guess it depends on how good the body shop is at piecing it together. If they can guarantee it will look 100% OEM, I don't see why it would be necessary to get a JDM or EDM roof. But atleast going that route, you know it will be perfect.

There are definitely two sides to this argument.

 

to me a sunroof is not that important. i would never hack open my roof to install a sunroof, oem or not. the other day i seen what looked like the glass from a sunroof epoxied in. looked horrible.

now as mentioned in the topic, money being no issue. i would go the route i mentioned. if u called a major japanese parts importer, they could source u a roof.

think of the money u would have to pay a fabricator to cleanly weld that roof in. then and upoholstry(sp) person to modify/make u a new headliner.