Possibilities with the sunroof panel - any pics?

[moggy]

Hi

We want to reduce weight and are deciding what to do with the sunroof in the car.

I've searched the forums and I can see that there are several choices ranging from what look like some kind of weld to putting a carbon fibre panel in it's place.

I can't imaging welding looks pretty....

What I am a bit confused with is why cant you simply use the original sunroof skin that in there and just remove the cage? Clearly it will be a little smaller but surely this must be reasonably easy to get around?

I can't find any pictures of cars with sunroofs removed/replaced (Northloop has a pic of the inside of the car but doesn't explain how he managed to keep the original sunroof panel in there).

Also has anyone pot riveted a metal sheet in?

Any pics/advice appreciated.

[eko]

Ed325i did something with his sunroof panel but cant remember what
Maybe worth searching his name in photo gallery.

[moggy]

Thanks-just tried a search and got nothing

[nickso]

ed325i and many others have welded the sunroof in after removing the inner skin and just leaving the outer part. a few tacks on the inside to hold it in and then sikaflex or similar on the join outside.

ill be doing it this way in few months time to my one.

[moggy]

Ok-Sikaflex?

Sounds relatively easy?

[nickso]

well ive not done it yet so i dont know about easy. bear in mind that welding the roof could mean the paint will blister, might get away with it if you are careful but as im spraying my entire car its not an issue for me.

sikaflex is just a black sealant that seems to be the weapon of choice for seaing the hole, again ive not used it yet.

[moggy]

Nick, where are you based?

[mikekean]

weld a curved plate in. then skim the roof to make it look like it never had a sunroof. thats what im doing. my brother has had it done to 2 cars before and its never cracked. you just have to make sure the filler isnt anymore than like 2mm thick.

[kevo]

take a look below it shows pictures etc of how i did mine, basically though i stripped everything and spot welded the flanged edges together and then ran black silicone down the gap, it looks factory except where it looks like i have a sunroof from the outside from the inside it doesn't.

cheers
Kev

http://www.bmw-rallying.co.uk/forum/vie ... c&start=30

[stratos]

Yes. I agree with Kevo - that is the best way. Just spot weld it here and there with the MIG or it will distort very badly.

[Tommoed]

Hi all,
I recently removed my sunroof, thought I'd share what I did (pics to follow when I get the chance).
I wanted to shed weight (I'm building a track car) and like everyone have a budget I'd like to stick to. Although I have an arc welder I don't have a cheap way of respraying it all afterwards and being a bit of a tart I didn't just want to pop rivet a panel over the top. I also liked the idea of having a sunroof you can still see out of (back to the tart comment!) so I started thinking of options...........
So this is what I came up with. It cost me £15 for the necessary plastic parts (it helped having a friend in the game) and completed the work using nothing but a drill, angle grinder and jig saw
Firstly I removed everything, sunroof panel, mechanism and even ground/cut out the internal cage/frame that accomodates the sunroof inside the rooflining (we don't want the weight of all that extra metal now do we? Oh, I'd previously fully stripped the interior). On the 3 edges (front left and right) I left a 25mm lip of metal hanging down to which I screwed a 20x20mm cross section length of flexible plastic rod and bonded a 4th to the rear of the sunroof aperture leaving an 8mm gap for the new panel. This gave me 4 surfaces to drop in the polycarbonate replacement for the sunroof panel. This I made from a sheet of 8mm thick polycarbonate, used the original sunroof panel (minus the rubber seal) as a template, marked around & cut out the new panel. Drilled, countersunk and screwed into place there was just enough space around the edge (due to removing the rubber seal when marking/cutting from the original) to fill/seal with clear silicone sealant.
I'm very happy with the result, it went exactly to plan and is perfectly water tight ........I really must get some pics posted to see what you guys think.
Ed.

[Lloydie38]

See below pics I took a while ago. My ,mate Dave removed it whilst I was at work - said it was a bastar*. Anyway, remove cage cassett with angle grinder.. (this is not tidy or attractive!)

Silicone sealant the sunroof panel back in with the support of some welding of small 1" square flat plates.

We were then able to get the cage in. The roof looks aweful but it's not a car I polish and show so hey,, it works I suppose.

Hammerite white painted on - looks OK ...in the dark


[img][img]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117 ... emoved.jpg[/img][/img]
[img][img]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117 ... tedish.jpg[/img][/img]
[img][img]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117 ... G_2093.jpg[/img][/img]
[img][img]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117 ... G_2094.jpg[/img][/img]
[img][img]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117 ... G_1915.jpg[/img][/img]

[greasy]

On the "Jaffa Cake" I used four strips of steel to effectively bridge the gap around the edge of the sunroof panel. By being cunning with the widths I was able to weld to the double skinned parts, avoiding any heat distortion of the roof skin. (incidentally, Northloop had already carved a 2 inch gash in the roof with careless use of an angle grinder, so it was a bit unnecessary anyway!) The strips method also meant that I had a support for the silkaflex, rather than relying on it to support itself in the gap.

[moggy]

thanks for the replies and the pics-much appreciated

Will post pics when we have sorted something out.

[ed325i]

I de skined the org panal to save wight and welded it in.