I'll start off by saying that carbon fiber at this moment is not a possibility as this company does not want to deal with it I know there's always a few guys jumping right away and asking for carbon fiber parts ... you know who you are I should also mention that I'm not looking at doing hoods and or any other body panels at the moment as I'm sure those questions will also arise.

Now that's out of the way I've been talking to a company today about making fiberglass sunroof for our vehicles. The molds will be taken off of a glass sunroof and all the hardware would need to come from that same roof unless I come up with a design to replicate that latch design for the people that don't have one, which is probably a few people.

The prices seemed pretty fair, if I can get 10 ordered at once, I can sell them to you guys at around 150$ a piece (maybe a bit less actually) , this is just gel coated, all painting and if any small pin holes are through the fiberglass will need to be addressed by the consumer. We discussed them to be 3 layers thick of fiberglass to ensure they're not too weak and thin.

Let me know what your thoughts are on this product if it worth moving on to, it would save a decent amount of weight off the very top of the car for all cars with sunroofs.

 

I think it would be great to have, while I love my glass top, my car tends to turn into an oven in this lovely Texas heat so some shade would be nice...and lighter is always better

 

Well I' am just going to throw it out there anyways, If your going to be getting involved with making fiber glass sunroofs, what is the problem with making fiber glass head light covers, fenders, hood, header pan, and doors. There is one company out there, that i will not mention some may know who I' am talking about but there fiberglass hoods are through the ******* roof stupid expensive.

If this is to test waters to see who would want to buy or have interest in a fiber glass sun roof that is one thing, but I think fenders, doors, and hoods, and other little nick nacks it where your best bet is at.

Anyways i guess i would be interested, I' am sure you will post pics once you have mold or something...

 

I might be interested. I'm not too worried about weight savings. Would be nice to have another company that has fenders and panels like teddy said.

I know mazda sell fenders for around 140-150 which is actually a great price to me. Headlight covers and header panel would be nice as they shouldnt be too hard to ship or get banged up during shipping. The larger stuff is understandable.

 

No the larger stuff is not understandable... $600 for a carbon fiber hood without hardware and $500 something for just fiberglass hood without hardware come on man, honda hoods go for way cheaper than that being sold through VIS...

 

Lol I've been toying with the idea of making one myself! curious to see how yours turn out
I was debating making Fiberglass hinges as well, I've got the mold made and that's it. the latch was just going to be glued to the roof, that way I could have a totally smooth top like the metal style.

 

It would be nice if you could replicate the hardware for the glass roof so it would just need to slip right in.

 

I'm testing waters as per say with fiber glass parts and thought this would be a good starting point which is why I'm doing it. I may get involved later on with fenders, header panels, head light covers, I'm just not sure if there's much weight savings in those parts to be honest and make it really worth while to do. Having said that, at I do not for see doing hoods and doors for a few reasons.

First one being the manufacturing of replicating just stock hoods doesn't seem to work very well. They almost always seem to crack fairly easily (at the hood latch especially or at the hinges), and the doors can be a huge safety issue which I would prefer not to get involved with. Lastly, shipping without damaging the parts in a cheap manner doesn't seem to work neither. The proper way to ship things like that is to ship them in a wooden crate, fit a molded foam insulation. Any other way usually involves cracked parts. This I've seen plenty of times, and would really like to steer away from any potential issues with it.

 

I am considering that, but that will also bring up the price too maybe at least another 50$ from the price of it as is.

 

What about carbon fiber?



JK.


I may be interested once I know the actual weight savings.

 

I could see myself getting one if it had the hardware etc on there. I would want to leave my glass roof complete so I could switch between the two

 

The weight saving should be atleast 1/2 the weight of glass.

 

I'm down for one providing it would slip in (I do not currently have a glass roof) and it could function as normal (a racing requirement for driver extraction).

I'm interested to know what the weight savings would be.

I suppose in the end for me, slipping in isn't as much of a deal as i could rig something up with through bolts to attach the steel roof hardware.

 

I would definitely grab one of these.......... if I had a sunroof, that is.

Way to go Sam, keep the goodies coming!



.

 

I meant understandle for re-speed not wanting to make the larger panels. I totally agree with you.

 

I'd love one, only its not legal in my autox class

 

The button nuts that are on top of the glass sunroof are hard to find if they go missing. If you came up with replacements for those then it might work.

If a requirement is that the buyer supply all the hardware, your really limiting the pool of buyers to those that currently have or can buy a glass sunroof or its bits.

I would test the waters with a hood first.

 

You could embed PEM studs or other steel flange nuts of proper dimension while casting the 'glass; would eliminate the need for the button nuts. You'd still need the rear latch and the front hinge plates, but those are easy to find compared to the button nuts.

 

Toyota Sienna button nuts for glass roof. Part number is 62735-95D00 for those button nuts. Works like a charm! Just put one on today . They are $11 a piece though . Same thread pitch as factory ones.

I agree though. If you could make these Sam, that would be awesome!

 

Ouch, they're 11 down there? I only paid 6 each! Glad you got them. I knew I needed to save the part number for something.

but being fiberglass, anything with a m2 thread pitch would work......

 

Good to know! My glass roof has been missing one for years, didn't feel like buying a whole other glass roof just to take the hardware off.

Sam: I agree with the others, you'll be limiting the number of buyers too much by requiring the glass roof hardware. Would also be a shame to see good glass roofs being used up just to get a few parts off of...

 

I'll take a closer look at the assembly later on and see if there's another way to mount it on without adding on the cost too much.

 

I would pick one up if my track car had a sunroof! Great idea!!

 

I think someone else suggested this as well, but you could put captured nuts in the fiberglass then use the hardware from a metal roof since those are much easier to find.

 

Thanks again for the info! Worked like a charm! Thank you . Yeah came at a price though lol.

The extra number on mine aside from the part number was DNO5, not DNO7? might be why..

Mr_Miles told me it would work. Just spreading the news