Headliner swap
 

I replaced my sunroof with an FRP panel, and am wondering if a non-sunroof headliner could be used instead?

That would give a little more room with a helmet.

Anyone already done this?


BTW, the headliner is required equipment in the SCCA SSM solo class.

Iirc they are a direct swap.

Thanks Jeff, few people would know that better than you. :)

So can an R1 headliner be installed in an Sunroof car when the sunroof has been removed?

Yes.

Will it fit well?

No.

If it is for a track only car then this will work well.

For a street car, not so great.

If you are wondering why I even bothered with the headliner, it is because the autox class I race in requires a full interior (Super Street Mod)

First off, here is a picture of the back side of an R1 headliner.

Notice the ridges toward the front? That is an indentation that he visors can fit into.

https://www.rx7club.com/members/jkst...back-50496.jpg

The headliner of a sunroof car is flat there.

To add strength to the structure around the hole in the roof for a sunroof, there is a metal structure that remains in place, even after removing the sunroof.

At the front of the sunroof there is a metal lip that extends down (non removable) and interferes with the R1 headliner. (forgot to get a pic of that)

On my first attempt to install the headliner it was impossible to push the front of the headliner up enough to attach the screw in the metal receptacle for the overhead lighting.

Pushing a little too much ripped out two of the rivets ( I just put 2 more rivets in it)

So as you can see in the following pic, I just used a piece of 1x4 to create a .75 inch thick spacer.

https://www.rx7club.com/members/jkst...-fit-50500.jpg

Once installed you can see that there is a definite bulge there where the front of the headliner is pushed up to meet the roof, and around the lighting fixture. It doesn't show up so well in the picture, but you can kind of see it.

https://www.rx7club.com/members/jkst...ulge-50498.jpg

All of that stretching out of shape causes the headliner to not fit so well.

Here's the gap on the front of the right side visor mount:

https://www.rx7club.com/members/jkst...-gap-50501.jpg

Here are the areas where I put sheet metal screws on each side to pull the headliner in against the frame of the roof - those were self tapping screws which was the easiest and safest way to get them in there.

Those screws have since been replaced with black button head screws with black washers. :)

https://www.rx7club.com/members/jkst...rews-50499.jpg

And here is the whole thing:

https://www.rx7club.com/members/jkst...lled-50497.jpg

At each corner of the sunroof mount there is a stud in the roof.
The FRP replacement panel mounts on each of those studs with some spacers and a nut.
There is a visible bulge in the headliner for both of the rear studs. The actual bit of stud poke through the nut it pretty short - I don't know if it will eventually wear through the headliner.

If so I will just put an acorn nut on each one.

If it weren't such a pain to get the R1 headliner in the touring model roof, I would have pulled it back out and put something on the end of the stud to preclude wearing a hole through the headliner.

And if it was a street car I wouldn't have been doing any of this, so I won't lose any sleep over it.

The FS loses 20 lbs off the roof, I get more headroom with a helmet, and it is class legal.

Would they not let you use a sunroof headliner with no sunroof actually installed?

Yes, but with a helmet I do not hit my head on the R1 headliner, and I did on the sunroof headliner.