I'm sick and tired of my rusty sunroof. I'd like to build my own clear sunroof. With that said, I'm looking for a material that is strong enough to withstand wind force with the 'roof open at 130mph. Suggestions as to material and thickness needed would be greatly appreciated

 

not sure about thickness but how about run of the mill plexiglass?

 

Any idea where to get it? Hardware stores carry it or do I have to call a specialty plastics place?

 

it might look kinda nasty unless you cover up some of the area about an inch or so inward from the edges. otherwise you'll be able to see all the rails and mechanics and whatnot. I suppose some tint on the inside face of it and some rubber gasket around the edges would do the trick. jsut thinking out loud.

 

Yeah, I've thought that stuff through.. just wondering about materials now This is something I've been pondering for about 6 months now.

 

Lexan.

 

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I called a couple of places and couldn't find any.

 

Just do fiberglass then. I don't think it would be that hard to fab something up... I'm sure we could do it.

 

I don't think fiberglass would be very clear

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hardware stores (like menards) will carry plexiglass. The stuff is guaranteed unbreakable, so it is pretty tough. It will scratch though. Thickness should be about the same as the sunroof panel with the ribs if you want it to moove. Other wise about 3/8" would be good. You can install it like the CF one.

-Dustin

 

If you are in Surry...go to home depot and ask them where they keep the "Lucite" sheets ...take a look at that and you will know what to do from there. To cut it...use a jigsaw.

 

what's he gonna do about the natural curve of the sunroof? I have the same problem... Even though it would be nice to have a working sunroof instead of a rusty one his option is to either get a new sunroof or seal the sucker up

 

I know, I have a 89 CRX Si, and also want one.

Funny thing is, I'm ana electrical engineer..right now, I design SUNROOF controls(among other things)..fancy ones that can tell the difference between closing and crushing a kids head.

I work with Inalfa roofing systems, although I do some work with Arvin Meritor, too. I've been thinking about seeing if they can make me a new panel.

 

Stuff you buy at home depot or alike is not going to cut it on the long run.
What you need to do is go to a plastics store and tell the sales man what you are looking for.
I have a friend who used to make windshields for boats out of plastic and he told me there are plastics that you can use for the sunroof, but those are not sold at Home depot or similar stores.

 

plexiglass isn't going to cut it. it scratches easy and after a good year in the sun and moving around plus all the sand rocks and cleaning its going to look like ***. i would suggest looking for some sort of scratch resistant weather proof glass/plastics. i've used plexiglass for windows in my home and they just get nasty after about a year. try looking for something like that...or just by the carbon fiber kit. its not see through, but its still pretty as hell.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Spaceballs the lunch box &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Stuff you buy at home depot or alike is not going to cut it on the long run.
What you need to do is go to a plastics store and tell the sales man what you are looking for.
I have a friend who used to make windshields for boats out of plastic and he told me there are plastics that you can use for the sunroof, but those are not sold at Home depot or similar stores.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I was originally intending to use a bit of heat and use the current sunroof as a form to melt the new one over. Then I could cut off the edges and have it the correct size.

I think some of these plastics places have specialists on-staff though who could possibly match the fitment.. perhaps I'll just call someone and find out .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 89civicdx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you are in Surry...go to home depot and ask them where they keep the "Lucite" sheets ...take a look at that and you will know what to do from there. To cut it...use a jigsaw.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Is this stuff as durable or more durable than the Plexiglass option?

Home Depot is like 5 mins from my house

 

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I called a couple of places and couldn't find any. </TD></TR></TABLE>


WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH.
I have a sheet of lexan that is 1/4 thick, and measures like 3 ft by 4 ft.
wanna make me an offer? I can UPS right here from work. It still has the protective film on it.
Yours for the right price.

Scott

 

I still wanna know what the right price is

I know I IMed you saying I'd look around 1st but I'm definitely keeping you in mind... I hear Lexan is pretty much the best option but hard to find!

1/4" is pretty thick though - perhaps too thick...? I'd have to check the sunroof now for thickness.

 

Plexi is just a name Like Lexan which I believe belong to GE or 3M or someone

Lucite is like plexi...or "saftyglass" I use in on my car for the rear side glass.

The sheets are cheap like for a sunroof the sheet might cost $30

If you want it to be PERFECT the only way to do it is with Lexan as Lexan is MORE scratch resitant (not totaly but more) then plexi or lucite...therefore much easier to clean. But Lexan also can get scratched and can sometimes yellow.

If I were you I would get the lucite sheet from home depot as they have differnt sizes & thicknesses and figure out how your going to mount it etc and get comfotable cutting the stuff then go buy the lexan sheet as you don't want to fubar a lexan sheet as it will be a big waste of money....unless you got some hook-up for lexan.

 

Good call - thank you I'll check out Home Depot tonight.

 

What part of your sunroof is rusty? Mine is rusty, but it is simply the metal trim that surrounds the sunroof panel. $60Cdn for that part from Honda. Just some food for thought, I was going to replace mine in the near future. If it's the actual sunroof panel that is rusting, then that's another story...

 

well i work for a glass place. plexiglass will turn yellow and look like hell over time. if you want we have about 500 sheets of old plexiglass you can have if you want. we dont deal with plexiglass at all cause it sucks. we can make laminated glass to any size. which is what a car windshield is. or we can make tempered glass which will take a sledge hammer to break. or you can get just plain old plate glass which takes a beating but if it breaks good luck to you if youre inside. if theres really a demand for it then i'll figure out a price. let me know

 

This problem is simply fixed. Go to your nearest Honda Dealership and order a brand new sunroof. it's like 200$ with seal. but that's just my $.02 and also what i'm doing for my 91 si

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by allmotorsircrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This problem is simply fixed. Go to your nearest Honda Dealership and order a brand new sunroof. it's like 200$ with seal. but that's just my $.02 and also what i'm doing for my 91 si</TD></TR></TABLE>

Please read topic of thread before posting and also thread contents.

I want a clear sunroof. I've already had to state this once in the thread. I'm not a show kid. I don't care how it LOOKS really; I just want a clear sunroof so I can see out, and since mine's rusty, I might as well move on this. It's ugly, but not ugly enough to justify $200 USD (IMO, few things are). It's not that it doesn't function correctly, I just want a clear one.... and I love DIY projects

98AccordEX, I think you can guage from this thread that there's some definite interest... problem is, unless you sold the glass pieces with holes for mounting and some sort of rubber seal, you would have a lot of disgruntled customers That's why I intend to use plastic - so I can drill mounting holes easily.