Sunroof Deletion?

[Ray McCooney]

I was wondering as to whether or not there has been any documented cases where a factory equipped sunroof car was transformed into a non sunroof car while undergoing a full exterior body and paint restoration?

Before my E30 purchase I was heavily considering picking up a MKII Toyota MR-2 as a daily driver. I remember a few individuals in the community who had deleted their stylistically dated T-Tops. Obviously a sunroof delete is not as drastic as a full T-Top to hard top conversion, but I was just curious as to whether this has been attempted on a sunroof E30.

[nando]

I think most people that are worried about it just gut the motor and retraction mechanism and leave the stock sunroof panel. 90% of the weight reduction with much less work involved.

I couldn't live without my sunroof personally. a better option IMO would be to convert to a manual sunroof and use a lightweight fiberglass panel. I'm not really convinced that the motorized sunroof is heavy enough to notice though..

[Ray McCooney]

I think most people that are worried about it just gut the motor and retraction mechanism and leave the stock sunroof panel. 90% of the weight reduction with much less work involved.

I couldn't live without my sunroof personally. a better option IMO would be to convert to a manual sunroof and use a lightweight fiberglass panel. I'm not really convinced that the motorized sunroof is heavy enough to notice though..

Interesting. That would seem to make sense for minimal effort if the intent is to reduce weight. My aim was more towards my personal preference (never use the damn things, even on my 2001 330i) and aesthetic uniformity. Thanks for the info Nando, your posting seems to be consistant with your record of insightful and rational contributions.

[trent]

I was wondering as to whether or not there has been any documented cases where a factory equipped sunroof car was transformed into a non sunroof car while undergoing a full exterior body and paint restoration?

Before my E30 purchase I was heavily considering picking up a MKII Toyota MR-2 as a daily driver. I remember a few individuals in the community who had deleted their stylistically dated T-Tops. Obviously a sunroof delete is not as drastic as a full T-Top to hard top conversion, but I was just curious as to whether this has been attempted on a sunroof E30.

Of course it has been done, and is a rather simple operation. The largest problem is building too much heat into the roof and warping the entire thing.

[Ray McCooney]

Thanks Trent, that was along the lines of what I had been assuming.

[Rocla]

Take off all the mechanisms and glue on a CF panel, if I remeber correct CF lid for sun roof is available.

[mikeedler]

there was even that one guy on here that grafted a complete Carbon Fiber roof onto his e30.

welding the sunroof shut would'nt be a hard job at all, if you know how to weld. but why?

[Ray McCooney]

there was even that one guy on here that grafted a complete Carbon Fiber roof onto his e30.

welding the sunroof shut would'nt be a hard job at all, if you know how to weld. but why?

Wow, carbon fiber roof. I myself will not be doing any of the body work or welding as I lack the experienced know how. I was just wondering if there were any documented (online) cases where this had been displayed. I figured that it would be a simple weld and shut type of procedure. This was merely something that I have been mentally weighing as an option when the E30 will be completely repainted.

My reasons for are purely preferential. I tend to feel that a non sunroof vehicle has a smoother exterior flow. It also probably has something to do with an ingrain perception, or better yet paranoia, that sunroof cars are inherently less safe. This may seem a bit over the top, but my feelings on the glass roof on my E46 are even worse. Idiosyncrasies I suppose.