Whole roof replacement...any experience?

I'm looking at #1730/2000, and while mechanically sound, the car has some cosmetic issues. The worst of these is that the car had an aftermarket electric sunroof installed at some point, and it's not holding up well. It has drain tubes installed, but still leaks, weatherstripping is bad, etc. Not only that, but the roof has some bondo in it to match the shape/curve of the sunroof.

So, the seller has a parts car and has offered the roof from it if I want to swap them. I've seen a series of spot welds which hold the actual panel in place, under the rubber strips on the roof. I'm also told the windshield and rear window need to come out as well in order to complete the swap.

Has anyone here done this? If so, can you speak to the relative complexity of this operation, whether it's worth the effort or not, etc.? The rest of the car is in good shape, and this really is the only thing keeping me from scooping it up. I don't want to take it on, though, if it's going to be a royal pain and leave me regretting the purchase.

Thanks!

 

[curtis]

wind shield and back glass removed and re-installed, headliner from the parts car, sunvisors as well and lights, all the inside stuff depends on if its a factory sunroof car or not that your using as a donor. trim rails are the same inside but the mirrors, lights and other stuff aren't from a sfactory sunroof and non sunroof car. spot welds and reweld and sealer should be all you need. be sides paint. If your taking the donor remember to cut at the pillars and then get it on some saw horses to cut the pillars and sides from the skin. don't want to warp it up. Never done it to one but should be just some time and some spot weld drill bits.

 

Make all the guys lightening their cars jealous and add a carbon fiber or aluminum roof! haha

 

[boosted_85]

You should replace it with a carbon one, we make cf replacement roofs for ams and they typically save 40 percent vs the alum one.that's a lot of weight taken off the center of gravity.

 

[gtluke]

so, makes us one. I'll buy one. A bunch of us want to ditch our sunroofs

 

[blacksheep]

^^^^ Wait - what - so you guys make the AMS Evo 8/9/10 CF kevlar roof replacements? thats cool. Do you have a business website?

 

[boosted_85]

Yea we make everything for ams from the hood,roofs,doors,diffuser,trunk, splitter, flat bottoms and a whole bunch of misc carbon stuff...checkout my workplace's website... Prototypecomposites.com btw my name is phong if you guys are interested in custom cf parts

 

[Andy_S]

I have heard about you guys. I am very interested in carbon parts and your basically in my backyard. I have tons of parts from a recent partout if you would like to use them as models.

 

[rah1482]

I think you're in the right track when you say "you've seen some spot welds under the rubber strips". In the PH, we've had some Galant owners who wanted moonroofs installed, do it this way - take out the rubber strips, trace the spot welds and "unweld". From the donor car, do the same and then swap. Yup windshields come of. Of course, if the previous owner had already cut from the pillar, its a different story.

 

[Mark]

It's not cheap =) The molds are pretty pricey..

 

[misterfixit]

search my name i'm sure i posted a bunch of the body manual on the roof panel welds.

Rich

 

[JNR]

what do you use to bond the CF to the steel? I imagine it does not affect the structural rigidity of the car, since it just replaces the 'skin' on the top. On a non-sunroof car, how much weight do you really save though...Like 10 lbs. or so? (the sheetmetal on these cars are pretty thin and if you're not replacing structural members)...Be neat, but sounds kind of rice unless it's full on race.

 

[boosted_85]

When they install the cf roofs they just use polyurethane bodypanel adhesive and rivits and they reuse the weatherstripping. But as for weight loss I wouldn't know exactly how much weight will be saved but 10 lbs shaved from up top is huge for any type of road racing car. Its worth the money to invest in one if your a hardcore racer but a waste of money for a street car. Its easier for someone to lose weight themselves then to spend money to lose weight in there cars.

 

[JNR]

I agree it's a good idea on a race car and would be cool to have several/most all panels in CF, but just the cost factor would be prohibitive for an appreciable gain just for that; hence the rice comment for street...Now, if it was free and/or you are replacing a panel anyway, may as well. But, before you know it, you have more money in panels than the car is worth /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I remember in '88 there was a motor trend that featured exotics of the day (still have it somewhere; loved that mag) and the F40 was using a carbon fiber tubular (iirc) frame and was fascinated with the stuff and its properties (potential), but the cost kept me from ever *really* getting into it. I just hate it when people/companies put that stuff in some silly things just because (some trim items for example) and especially the fake crap...

 

[gtluke]

It's all fake. okay almost all. All of us with carbon body parts just have fiberglass parts with 1 layer of carbon fiber on the top so it looks like carbon fiber.

 

[boosted_85]

we never put fiberglass in our parts, we're not like any other mom and dad garage composite shop or sweat shop in china, our products are clearly a work of art.

 

[gtluke]

you don't make parts for our cars.

 

[Rausch]

^ Luke is bringing sunshine to yet another thread. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

 

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I think I'm going to pick up the car, as the seller just made me an offer that's hard to refuse. I'll report on the swap if I end up going through with it. I may in the interim just seal up the sunroof and drive it for a while before tackling the swap, although a cf reskin would be dead sexy....

 

[DougPorcaro]

I would be up for a CF galant roof /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif