Here are a few pics of my new non-sunroof RX7. I welded the sunroof panel in minus its bracing to fill hole and a headliner from a non-sunroof car. It will still needs more work before the car gets painted in a few months.

 

Wow dude, that's very impressive. You did that to save weight, I assume.

 

That looks really clean... but the stock sunroof is made of lead! (Joking... no really.) Even with the bracing removed, wouldn't it still be lighter to go CF, lexan, or fiberglass? Well regardless of weight, nice job.

 

I think I have a factory gray headliner from a non sunroof FC if you need it. I was gonna cut the roof off also but it when to the junk yard before I could cut it.

 

Thanks! I did it to get additional headroom for when I wear a helmet while at track days. It was allot of work but now my helmet does not hit the roof. The panel is pretty light with the bracing removed. The headliner is from a S4 and required a little trimming to fit.

 

In the last picture it shows what looks like a beam going from the front of the sunroof to the back of the sunroof. Is that how a factory non-sunroof car looks or is that something you added?

I'm envious, it is very nice. How much extra head room do you think you created?

 

The "beam" is present in my car as well, which never had a sunroof. So I would assume it is standard in solid-roof cars.

 

That beam is just the shape of the headliner. I gained about an inch of headroom.

 

How hard was it to swap the headliner? BTW: What kind of cage is that or did you do it up yourself?

 

wow, that cage looks really good! props!

 

sometimes i wish my roof was welded shut, stupid targa roof.

 

I dunno, I still think that targa is pretty sweet

 

Not meaning to hijack your thread, but:

Is it possible to switch from a non sunroof to a simple manual sunroof (no electric opening)? The metal plate covering my roof is leaky and rusty.

 

Yes, stock headliner. Atleast that is what the headliner I pulled from a non sunroof car looks like.

 

yes you can install a non power sunroof i actually have an FC that someone installed a non power see through pop up sun roof in. PM me ill send you a foto of the sun roof if you want


looks like you did a good job! looks good to me!

 

Very nice job man.... that's an awesome idea, how much work/time/money went into it?

Thinking maybe I should start looking for a solid roof lining... if not to have, to sell since I have a feeling they'll go up in price. lol

Syncro: you can have some places install an aftermarket sunroof/moonroof... they cut a hole in the roof and weld it in. If you do it to a GTUs though you might wake up one night to RX-7 owners defacing your house! ;p heh jk.

--Gary

 

The headliner is pretty easy to swap but, I had to trim the sides to get it to fit (S4 headliner in a S5). The rollbar is a Autopower race rollbar with a harness bar, and cross bar that are removable. The materials to do it are under $100 not including the tools and the paint job the car will get (rattle can right now). It probably took 25 hrs or so since I just started doing bodywork. If you don’t have a welder, welding blanket, saws all/jigsaw, grinder, and sander it would cost a lot more.

Thanks for all of the positive feedback.

 

I've been thinking about this a fair bit lately. Presumably there is a bar in the roof of the non-sunroof cars where the headline bulges out, correct? Did you bother to put it in? Does anyone know if it is easily possible to put it in?

I recently had the car painted, so I don't really want to be doing body work on the roof. If I do the work it will never look right. Any ideas on how I could have the panel solidly in place, but also fill the seam between the room and the pannel at the top to avoild water accumulation/rust?

Also, any ideas as to where one could get a new headliner? (non-used) Victoria British doesn't seem to have them. I'm aware that Mazda probably has them.

 

If you look at the pics, it looks like he welded it as close as he could (bending the edges of the sunroof) and then bondo'd up the cracks and painted it... looks good.

--Gary

 

NO, the beam is part of the non sunroof'd car's re-enforcement.

There is normally a metal bar that runs the length of the roof under that "beam" and helps prevent the roof from caving in, in the event of an accident.

 

I made relief cuts at the corners of the panel and then flattened the edges. The panel fills the opening once it the edges are flattened. The edges of the opening provide enough support unless you press pretty hard. I bought the headliner from a dismantler because I could not find you elsewhere.

 

I'm wondering... does this mean the A pilar and B pillars in sunroof cars are re-enforced/heavier? Or does it just mean we're more screwed in a rollover? lol

Either way, roll cages are good.... rollbars are okay too. =)

--Gary

 

I would think the beam on non-sunroof cars is only there to add strength to the roof but would not help in a rollover. The "A" & "B" pillars are probably the same and that is what would be the part of the roof that would protect you in a rollover. This is just my opinion since I am not a engineer.

 

I think the main idea is that the beam keeps the A pillar from spreading forward or caving into the passengers compartment, and the right angle (to the opening) sides of the opening on the sunroof do a simular thing for the sunroofed models. Of course on the verts the A pillars are radically re-enforced, to prevent the same thing.

I would be skeptical of 37FC3Ss method of flattening the right angles of metal (if I understood his post to say) without adding the support beam. From his description he just made the passengers compartment part of the crumple zone (if I understand him correctly).

Of course I would have just gone to the junkyard and cut the roof off of a coupe w/o a sunroof and welded the whole roof in, instead of trying to fill the sunroof hole, but to each their own.

 

i love it dude regardless what anyone says