When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Deleting the sunroof, while keeping the sunroof... an ongoing project.
Hey all. For the first time since the ownership of my beloved FD (7+ years), I finally got her out on track. The car has been track ready for a couple years now so I don't know what took me so long but hey, better late than never right? Anyways, I had an absolute blast and I can not stop thinking about getting back out there on track. I can feel the obsession that should have started years ago beginning to itch me...
Unfortunately, I realized and have also read in the past that being 6'1" with a helmet on, stock seats and a sunroof model car is not going to go over well. Having a hard time slouching my head forward so that my helmet would not hit the ceiling, I quickly realized after my first lap that the several nasty bumps right in the racing line throughout the track were sending my head straight into the ceiling of the car and it did not feel good, haha.
As my research for racing seats and lower rails has begun, I also decided to take it one step further and take the path of deleting my sunroof. But then I thought, I genuinely enjoy having the sunroof open on a nice fall/spring day up here in the north east and I truthfully don't want to get rid of it, so I sparked up an idea. I am going to attempt to delete all the bad things about the sunroof including weight, and the roughly 2 to 3 inches of head clearance that is needed for the motor and sunroof assembly, while maintaining the top popping open with some sort of mechanical latch assembly. Similar to a school bus, but I'm going to try and make it look much more presentable.
I'm assuming that people have done this before, but I'm going to try and give it a shot on my own and take heavy notes down for anyone else who is in my predicament and wants to take the same path. This will be an ongoing project probably for the next several weeks so bare with me...
Today I tore down the interior bits in order to get to the sunroof assembly and start brainstorming with everything out in the open in front of me before I fully commit to taking the assembly out. I have seen a lot of threads on how to remove the headliner bits and sunroof assembly and most of the responses are "it's in the service manual". I get it, it isn't that complicated but I had my phone in there with me so I figured I would snap a couple pics and attempt to help someone in the future who stumbles upon this thread's life a little easier.
First, the front A-pillar pieces need to come out. There are three or four of those triangle looking snap springs that hold it in place. Simply take an interior removal tool or 90 degree pick like I did, slide it behind and pop them out. Start from the top and work your way down. It is also easier to do this with the door(s) open. Next, the sun visors come out. On either side there are plastic covers that cover the 1 and 2 screws in order to remove them. Simply put again an interior removal tool or small 90 degree pic behind and give them a good quick nudge and they will pop off. The mounted side of the visor has four locking pieces on each corner and the snap in side has one on each side. The dome light assembly has two of those triangle shaped snap springs again on either side. Simply grab the whole assembly with both hands and pull straight down and it should pop right out. Disconnect the two wired connections and set aside. While you're in there, remove the 10mm (I think) bolt above the dome light that holds the front of the ceiling panel up. Next are the rear panels that hold the speakers. Not entirely sure what they are called but they are right behind the seats. Simply pop out the top two top tabs on either one and it is plenty of room to slide the ceiling panel out later. In the center of the panel behind the sunroof there is a circular plastic disk with a line in it. Take a flathead screwdriver and turn it 90 degrees counter clockwise and it will fall right out. Next, plug your dome light back in after you realize that you can't get to the metal flap tabs with the sunroof closed, and open it up. There are eight thin metal tabs that are flapped over holding the center of the ceiling panel in place on the inside of the sunroof "hole".
Simply take your fingers or a small flathead screwdriver and bend them up. There are three equally spaced on the front and back, and two on either side The center of the panel should now sag down. Behind the A-pillars and the panels with the speakers in them there will be four clips that can be removed with a small flathead. At this point the ceiling panel with really be hanging down. Be careful to hold the front up with one hand so it does not bend to far and get damaged. Pop the hatch open to make your life easier and stick your hand up inside the ceiling panel and towards the back of the car right before the hatch. There are three clips imbedded in the ceiling panel snapped into the roof.
Get your hand as close to them as you can (for each one) and give the panel a good tug straight down until you hear them pop out. At this point the whole ceiling panel will be dethatched but still stuck behind the speaker panels. Simply hold it about an inch down from the ceiling and slide it out towards the rear hatch until it is all the way out. Also, pulling back on the door and hatch gaskets to expose the edges of the panel will make life much easier when sliding it out.
To get the panel off of the sunroof itself, simply stick a pic again or an interior removal tool and pop the seven clips out shown in the next picture. Then slide the assembly forward in order to get the rear of it away from the pin shown, and drop her down.
And there you have it! The interior panels are out and the sunroof assembly is exposed. I hope this helps someone even if it is in the slightest way now or in the future. I know how nerve racking popping off 25+ year old plastic panels can be when you don't know exactly where the clips are..
I will update my project in a couple days with some brainstorming ideas and CAD/ hand drawings of my ideas. If anybody wants to give there two cents on cool ideas for the latch mechanism or has images of a similar project, let me know!!
I also attached a short video of my track day and a big F-off flame coming around the first corner!
One of the tricks with the sunroof and part of the bulk is the pan all around the sunroof. You can't make a perfect seal in a roof like that so the pan around the perimeter catches water and runs it down the drain tubes and out of the car. If you re-engineer the sunroof you will need to take this into account, a rubber seal won't be enough and you'll have water in the car.
Worse comes to worst, the non-sunroof metal skin is still available from Mazda. I know there have been a few threads with people removing the sunroof skin and welding on the non-sunroof skin. This is a big job obviously.
One of the tricks with the sunroof and part of the bulk is the pan all around the sunroof. You can't make a perfect seal in a roof like that so the pan around the perimeter catches water and runs it down the drain tubes and out of the car. If you re-engineer the sunroof you will need to take this into account, a rubber seal won't be enough and you'll have water in the car.
Worse comes to worst, the non-sunroof metal skin is still available from Mazda. I know there have been a few threads with people removing the sunroof skin and welding on the non-sunroof skin. This is a big job obviously.
Dale
Thank you for the tips! I do plan on tackling the weather sealing issue. I plan to retain all the functionality of the sunroof while just removing the bulkiness of the rails and motor. I haven’t dived into it yet but I plan on keeping the stock drain tubes. I highly debated doing the roof skin swap but that would be the easy thing to do!!
Man... not trying to be negative, but you definitely started off the hard way on this one. I started with the seats and stopped there. I'm 6' 2" and was already touching the sunroof panel without a helmet.
Recaro profi spg with garage star rails. These rails let you get the seat bottom right on top of the rear bolts. I had to put the rails in first and then put the seats on them.
If your goal for the car is motorsport... you're already going to want bucket seats to stop you from sliding around while cornering so it's 2 birds with 1 stone. A real racing bucket seat is one of my favorite upgrades to the car. You just feel so... "grounded to the ground" as camry drivers would say.
Man... not trying to be negative, but you definitely started off the hard way on this one. I started with the seats and stopped there. I'm 6' 2" and was already touching the sunroof panel without a helmet.
Recaro profi spg with garage star rails. These rails let you get the seat bottom right on top of the rear bolts. I had to put the rails in first and then put the seats on them.
If your goal for the car is motorsport... you're already going to want bucket seats to stop you from sliding around while cornering so it's 2 birds with 1 stone. A real racing bucket seat is one of my favorite upgrades to the car. You just feel so... "grounded to the ground" as camry drivers would say.
Beautiful car btw. What lip spoiler is that?
Thanks for the feedback! Maybe I am getting in a little over my head but hey I could always throw it back together in the event it doesn’t work. I enjoy tinkering with things like this so I figured I could give it a shot. I also want to do this for the advantage of taking some weight off the top of the car.
I am going to get racing seats but it wont be until this winter/early spring. The garage star rails are what i planned on getting from the beginning as well.
I believe the lip spoiler is a Shine Auto piece. I bought it such a long time ago used off of the forums and I can’t remember.
10-28-20, 09:39 AM
