1979 from 1980 - 85 sunroof swap
 

Is it possible to (easily) modify a sunroof from a 1980 - 85 to fit a 79? I made the mistake of not have the safety pin engaged in the front while going down the interstate and closed the sunroof. The wind took it off the car and broke the latch and damaged the sunroof (I tried attaching a picture of the broken latch but I do not know if it worked). I have been searching on ebay and such to find a replacement but all I find is the 1980 - 85 ones (except the glass one for a 79 that sold last year). I am hoping to be driving the car sometime in March if the weather permits but it won't be as much fun with a busted sunroof. Can anyone help me out? PLMK, thanks

Can't help with the sunroof but love your car. That was the very first one I purchased (color and year ) back in 1988. Now I'm on #4 and back to the '79.

The 1981-1985 sunroof is a different size. Likewise, they use a different type of latch that isn't even close to what you have.

What you have even looks different then this 1979 latch on eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/79-80-Mazda-RX-7-RX7-Sunroof-Raise-Lower-Actuator-Latch-Black-/151561512655?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2349c526cf&vxp=mtr

About the only way you could switch to an 80-85 sunroof would be to cut the entire roof section from a donor car and replace the one on your car - which is an extreme cure to say the least.

Keep looking, one will turn up. Watch for part-out threads.

They changed the attaching harware and mechanism from the flip up latch to the screw knob in 1980. (the latch in KC Repu's ebay link is not a 79 style latch) The forward catches went from a hinge to a tab and slot arrangement, but in the same location. I believe the pannel opening itself (at least the 79 to 80 version) is the same. I have a couple aftermarket SA moon roofs which are configured to work with either the 79 or 80 configuration, you just attach the approprriate year hardware.

Not sure how easy (if even possibile) it would be to modify a stock roof however. I believe you could bolt your 79 froward hinges on to a 80 roof pannel and the pannel would fit, the question would be how do you make the later rotary know lift mechanism (on the 80 roof pannel) work with the configuration of your cars roof opening. I think your stuck looking for a replacement 79 style lift up latch mechanism. Or fixing the one you have. Do you need just the rear latch or a new roof pannel as well? I bet you never forget that front latch pin again!

(I'm betting this has something to do with why the design changed, too...)

That kind would not fit the 79. 80 - 85 it would fit.

I could take the roof to a body shop and have it fixed but it might be cheaper to buy a replacement. The latch it broken in the middle so that needs to be replaced. What do the after market ones you have look like?

Huh? Are you refering to rotary style latch in the ebay link? Yes, we are all in agreement that is the redesign and not compatable with the original flip up rear latch.


Roof's are out there but harder to find nowadays. Same with the latch. You are probablly right, a replacement roof can probablly be had for $50 or under. You'd eat that up in an hour or less at a body shop. However, even a whole other roof might also need painting.

What do the aftermerket roofs look like? Moon roofs, just a single pannel of tinted glass with holes in it. There were two main produces back in the day, who made these as an upgrade to the stock pannel. (not to be confused with others who made completely different designs, meant to be installed into cars that did not come with the OEM sunroof)

Anyways, the OEM style "moon roofs" came with their own hardware ready to install. They did not include the latch mechanism itself (either the flip up or the rotaty stlye) just the hasp's which mate to the latch mechanism's. In 1980 when the latch design changed, so did the spacing of the 2 holes which mount the rear latch hasp. (the spacing was 1 1/2 or so wider)

I've had several moon roofs over the years and have ran across some that have the wider 1980 hole spacing at the back, but also included an adaptor plate which when attached to the roof, provided the narrower hole spacing necessary to bolt up the 79 style rear hasp so that its compatable with the 79 style flip up latch. I assume this was done so that the manufactures could make just one glass roof pannel that would fit both the 80 and 79 cars.

Now, I've never had a 1980 OEM roof pannel in my hands (my 80 does not have a sunroof) but it only makes sence to me that if a glass pannel can be made to work on both years, so can the OEM metal one. You just need your 79 front hinge brackets that would bolt right up to the roof pannel in the same location and then fabricate the rear adaptor plate which would enable the use of the 79 flip up latch. Honestly, in 1980 I bet Mazda just used the same 79 roof pannel, and spaced the rear mounting holes further apart to accomadate the new design latch.

The inner piece of your rear latch (the part thats broke) could be remade out of a piece of aluminum if necessary I believe. Just a thought. Or, old used ones do surface from time to time.

To further illustrate, the 1st pic is an OEM 79 roof pannel with all the attached hardware. The front hinge brackets and safety pin and the rear hasp bracket for the flip up latch.

The 2nd pic, the same hardware w/o the roof, including the rear flip up latch.
3rd pic is an aftermarket OEM style Moon Roof with 79 bracketry. Next up is a close up of how the 79 rear hasp is adapted and held to the roof which has holes that are spaced wider, to accept the 1980 style rotary knob style hasp. Last is the both style hasp's (79 and 80) which shows the different mounting hole spacing.

I guess this means that you could use either SA roof pannel (79 or 80) and it would fit or be able to be adapted to your 79 chassis as long as you used 79 bracketry and latches. You need to fix or replace your 79 only, flip up latch too. I'm not sure if FB (81-85) roof pannels are the same as the 80 or changed in some other way, making them further uncompatable. I always thought that the overall roof dimensions never changed on 1st gens, but others say it did. I think they intragrated a spring loaded wind deflector into the body in 80 or 81, instead of it being a previously seperate, clip on part.

The top piece in the second picture is the piece on mine that broke. Is the third picture a glass sunroof for a 79? Any chance you would have either or both to sell or know someone that does?
Hopefully I will be getting the car painted in the next year or two so if I got as replacement that was a different color it could be remedied when the car is painted.
Is there a chance any other Mazda used the same latch as the 79?

I've done it. The piece at the rear of the roof from a 80-85 has to welded in and you have to recut the holes for the mounting parts at the front of the room. There's also 2 braces in the front that have to welded in too. Too support the extra stress of this mounting system. did this on an 85 Gs I had that didn't have a sunroof. I made the mistake of cutting a roof off a 79 when I swapped roof panels. Of course I'm very very good at bodywork and fabrication. Lol done it professionally a lot when I was younger. It's actually extremely easy to do. But that's me...