Ronin Speedworks CF Sunroof
 

**DISCLAIMER***I am not a body guy, I am not a perfectionist. I will never be a Herblenny, gmonsen, purerx7, davidhayes, etc person with that much patience and attention to detail. I will not win any car shows...I join them to be in the middle of the action and for better parking. That all being said, this is my install of Ronin Speedworks CF Sunroof. it should be noted that I am a happy customer with my purchase after it has been all completed. Ronin customer service was on par for this experience**DISCLAIMER**

I received my CF Sunroof well packaged. I found some of the edges of the piece to be a little rough and some rough spots on the underside of the double CF piece. Nothing major, just took another 10 min or so to smooth those things out.

Initial fitting had me worried. I pm'd a few guys to see how theirs fit but no one at the time had installed theirs yet. Because of my concerns I pm'd, emailed Ronin. I received a response a few days later (it was over the holidays after all) to call them and they would walk me through process of shimming pieces for better fit. They were already in process of putting out a PDF to address my concerns.

Those concerns were:
1. Raised left rear
2. Uneven wave up front
3. Uneven gaps front left vs right

Some pics:
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...7/DSC_0543.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...7/DSC_0541.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...7/DSC_0545.jpg

Before their response and before seeing their PDF, I began shimming the 4 bolts in various ways with washers to achieve as best a fit as I could. Raising one end (say front right) allowed (rear left) to tighten down and have better fitment. After about 2 hours of playing with it, I had a near perfect fit IMO (insert disclaimer here). I had solved issues 1 and 3. The only thing left was the uneven wave up front...what the hell to do with that??

According to Ronin's PDF, the solution would be to heat the part needing the mold and brace it so it would cool to the new position. For the wave, it would require paint sticks from Home Depot. I used 2 rows of 7-8 to bend the wave so it was more uniform with the body.

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...7/DSC01801.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...7/DSC01805.jpg

I heated both top and bottom with an industrial heat gun...I'm sure I had the CF to at least 180. I left the paint sticks in place for 3 days.

Here it is with paint sticks removed prior to weather stripping.

FRONT
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ninCFRoof1.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ninCFRoof5.jpg
REAR
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ninCFRoof3.jpg

Got my weather stripping from Ray Crowe. $147...and a free mazdaspeed calendar.

Here it is with weather stripping installed
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...inCFRoof10.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ninCFRoof9.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ninCFRoof8.jpg
http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/s...ninCFRoof6.jpg

All in all it has been a process BUT it was a relatively simple one just involving some time. I had initially thought that I had made a mistake, that I would not do it over again if I had the chance.
I have since changed my mind. I like the look, the fit (despite the work), and Ronin in my experience has not only been forthcoming but courteous to make sure I was satisfied.

I hope others who finally install their CF sunroofs can post up. I'm sure people can and will do it faster and with greater perfection than me.

I also know that Ronin will look into the future pieces to correct these minor issues.

Thanks for reading.

looks good eddie! thanks for the review and pics as always.

Thanks Bryan. Took a while but I'm happy with it.

Hi Eddie,

Glad you're happy with the end result and apologies you had to tweak it in the first place. It looks like how we restrained the roof during the gluing process resulted in the incorrect curvature you found. Obviously we want things to fit perfect from the get go but we appreciate your flexibility in getting it dialed in. Glad the writeup on "how to" proved useful. Like I said, leveraging heat cycles is a rather powerful tool when it comes to adjusting composite parts.

This project was certainly enlightening with how difficult CF sunroofs really are and why few vendors want to touch them. This roof has all the complexity of a hood but you can't make component panels any stiffer because you're constrained on thickness as well.

Looks great, can't wait to get mine installed. Come on spring weather!

Yes, the "how to" proved useful. I think someone with better skills than me can actually make it perfect. I appreciate the communication and patience. Thanks!

Anyone else install theirs yet?

nice, mines on the car but not fitted nor have i dared to see how bad it is by lowering the roof.

honestly, it is not hard to fix. I'm sure you could do it in far less time than I took.

Don't mean to hijack here but I'd like to use this part as well, however, do away with the whole motorized assembly and fit some latches along the lines of a pop up sunroof. In the end, creating a sealed panel that could be tilted up and/or removed and stowed in the trunk. Obviously, it would make headroom and drop substantial weight. I really love this idea but need some input on going about it. Here's a link for pop-up sunroofs:

http://www.sunroofdoctor.com/popupkits.htm

Why remove the motorized assembly? One click and it pops the sunroof up. If you wanted to remove it, its 4 bolts to unscrew the sunroof and remove it.

weight, that assembly is heavy. I removed it on the beater, also cause it was rusting.

you could remove the motor and just keep the hinges there. Would be easy to assemble handle to the rear.

^^^

I think Ronin actually weighed the assembly, and it wasn't as heavy as you'd think. Note here, only 13 lbs for frame and mechanism:

http://www.norotors.com/index.php?to...36450#msg36450

Looks really nice Eddie. Look forward to seeing at the meet in a few weeks.

13 lbs at the highest point in the car..

^^
I know, hence the reason I pushed so long for a carbon sunroof skin, and why a carbon frame would be even better. Personally, I'd hate to have a roof that doesn't work... If I were to go that route, I'd just have a new sunroof-less roof skin welded in and pained, so you don't have the weather stripping and all that.

If there was a simpler, lighter manual or pop-out setup, like a targa top, I'd be interested, but it would be hard to make that work and save a lot over 13 lbs.

on my beater i am making a bracket so its a few nuts and it bolts on/off.

Well FYI, the subframe is a drip rail too. I'd be concerned that simply placing the skin in place will leak.

Can't wait to see it in person at DGRR..

yup...I need your critical eye to review it.:)

it will, hence a lil upgrade of some silicone or new thicker weather strip and your good

You need to see my car in person... its all hacked up!! I have horrible eyes ;)

Yup... I spoke with a racecar fabricator a while back (can you tell?), and the solution is to essentially get rid of the rubber seal, and silicon the thing in place.

So the sunroof is still functional with this? Is there anything similar that also removes the guts / functionality? I literally never use my sunroof.