DarkSlide77

Ok so before anyone says it, I know I?m a fuckin retard for doing this. I did this a few years ago.

My sunroof was leaking like crazy and glass was cracked so I decided to try and get rid of it. I?m tall so my head was hitting the electric sunroof case anyway. I welded some sheet metal to close the sunroof. (I tried everything but I can?t get the pic to be smaller)
As you can see in the pic, it?s not perfectly rounded like the rest of the roof so there is a ?flat spot? where the sunroof is.
I?m going to try to weld a support on the inside of the roof so it won?t vibrate and when I push up the panel from inside, it moves up about a quarter to half inch. It?s still not enough to make it perfect.

I don?t want to fill it with nearly an inch of bondo so I?m hoping to fill it with maybe fill it with something more solid... Does anyone have an idea of how I should go about this
I?m thinking I could either?

A. Fill it with it with fiber glass or something else...

Or

B. Cut the metal back out and put in a pop up sun roof so I won?t hit my head. Only problem with that is I can?t find a ?pop up? sunroof that fits the s13 coupe.

I?m looking for a permanent solution as I?m trying to restore this car.... I?m hoping to make her beautiful again. New paint job and everything.

Any help is seriously appreciated.... thank you

DarkSlide77

DarkSlide77

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S14rebuild

Theres a guy on the site selln, a carbonfiber roof with fiberglass skeleton.... just install that.

Todo it right ull need to remove front glass, detrim the car and cut, trim and fit the new roof, let alone its oem metal of carbon..

DarkSlide77

I think I’ve seen that before. That’s for an s13 hatchback right? I’m not sure it would work for a coupe like mine, would it

DarkSlide77

Deleted post because it was a Duplicate

S14rebuild

I beleve the roofs are the same

DarkSlide77

Just looked up the difference between hatch and coupe. The hatch is prolly able to do that since it?s like a square.... the coupe is all one piece from the roof to the rear quarter panels on the sides. Idk how I would mate carbon fiber to metal. Shit

S14rebuild

3m panel bond!! Shit is amazing! Sand the roof. Say with 320grit, panel bond all over the roof, spread it out evenly all the way to the edges get lots of clamps and get it clamped down! 24hrs ballerness

S14rebuild

https://www.amazon.com/3M-08115-Pane.../dp/B000PEW4MI


This shit! Its expesive and ull need the special gun to apply it.... but id get 4 tubes and a spreader... i swear if u sand the roof down good, it will NEVER come off

DarkSlide77

Oh dammit I thought you meant use it as a filler for a second lol. Well yeah I guess that might work. That?s assuming the bottom of the carbon fiber roof skin is fits the roof perfectly though. Good idea/suggestion. I?ll definitely keep it in mind.
I was looking into the pop up sunroof and it has a valley and gasket that is only be able to get if I cut it off a hatch.... doesn?t seem like a good idea. SO I think as of right now I?m just gonna look into the best substance I can use that will be good for around an inch.

Anyone know any super great fillers that can be put on THICK (not bondo)?

S14rebuild

You can use the panel bond as a filler, like you can sand it and shave it, but takes awhile to setup


https://www.amazon.com/Evercoat-Fibr.../dp/B000P72GKK

No filler is suppose to be used thick...just for finishing....but if u must...what i posted will be what ur looking for

Anything with fiberglass strains and ive seen it with aluminum shavings in it... thats gonna be your best bet

DarkSlide77

Which one do you think would be a better filler and least likely to crack? I never ever thought of epoxy as a filler, but it sounds badass. I looked into that fiber glass stuff you posted and it looks really good too. some websites were saying ?since it doesn?t heat&cool/expand&contract like metal, so you might be able to see where the fiber ends, and the metal begins.... or somethin like that. What?s been your experience

You the shit bro! Thank you very much for helping me out.

burnsauto

please do not use panel bond as a filler. it is not a filler. Panel bond will make the paint swell, and over time will look just as bad as it does right now.

So I looked through the photos in that album, and without being there to really give a good look at it, it looks like the metal has oil-caned, not just because it was a flat piece of metal, but it sunk down as you were welding it, a result of welding it in too fast. You'll know if its oil caned if you hit the panel up with a body hammer, it'll pop up with a "thunk" sound, and then you'll have an odd high spot. Basically the metal is stretched, and theres too much metal for the space it's in.

There's a few things you can do...

option 1, shrink the metal. You can look this up on youtube and such, you don't NEED a torch to do it on such thin metal, MAP gas will work just fine. This takes some skill and practice to learn where to heat it up and shrink it.

option 2, pave it over with fiberglass. Not the way to do it. I'm not sure what your ambitions are with this car, but the roof is pretty well dickered and you're not a bodyman. If your going this route (which again, isnt the best), use old fashioned USC Duraglas. The long haired stuff is just going to cause a big mess, leave too large of air pockets that will cause problems later when the roof gets hot. Make sure to prep the roof with 36 grit to get hood adhesion. Once you get it pretty close with the fiberglass, then you can switch to a normal polyester filler, and then finally a finish glaze.

option 3, pay someone else to do it. Find a bodyman who wants to do some sidework, and show him whats up. To fix that will take some time, but it can be done.

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DarkSlide77

So I went outside to check out what you?re talking about and sure enough! It has what you?re describing! The strange thing is it has ?oil canning? in 3 different spots.

?1 large one is in the middle where I have to push up from Inside to make that ?thunk? sound.

?The other 2 are towards the right and left ends of each side. I have to push Down to get them to make that ?thunk? sound.

So the sunroof looks like this(hope you get the idea)- |2 1 2|

I will try this heat shrinking. For the one in the middle (that?s sticking down), do I heat and hit with a hammer from the inside of the car...... and for the ones on the outside(that are sticking up), do I heat it and hit it from the top side? I assume I?ll need a hammer and dolly for this.

Which part of the sunroof Should I attack first?

You know your stuff man.... Thank you

burnsauto

yeah you'll need a hammer and dolly, for this. I recommend a heel dolly. A general purpose has too much crown (curve) and a toe dolly gets your fingers too close to red hot metal. Body hammer...not a ball peen or anything else.

As far as where to start, that's where experience plays a big roll. The better you attack this, the better the result can be. I would say (again, this is ballpark) to start on the smaller ones first, that way you can get a feel for it. Don't be afraid of getting the metal hot, red hot in the center of where you're working.

You'll need someone with you, as you have to work fast while doing this. Have a friend ready with a bucket and a wet rag ready to cool the metal after you're done using the hammer and dolly (again, this is hammer ON dolly. OFF dolly with only cause further stretching).

You can work the same area a few times, but the more you heat the metal up like this, the more carbon you're taking out of it, and the more brittle it will become. so make what you do, count.

ps - wear some kind of thick, safe gloves.

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burnsauto

Don't think you won't have to do a boatload of bodywork after this is done. You will. It just won't have to be a thick.

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DarkSlide77

Oh I know lol I expect it to take forever... I?d rather go slow and do it right.

I was looking at the roof some more. Feeling around, I found a couple more small/medium dents ONLY on the corners just outside the sunroof metal. I tried pushing on them and it?s pretty rigid so I?m not sure if it?s oil canned.... or just warped. Should I heat and try to approach it like an oil can, or just as a regular dent?

At the corners it?s like 3 small/medium dents in a row. The row is like this - Low, then High, & Low again.

I?m assuming they were created by the heat from welding.


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DarkSlide77

My Thumb and Middle finger are where the ?lows? are and my index finger is there the ?high? is.


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DarkSlide77

It?s like this on the other corners, on the other side, too.

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burnsauto

yeah those are just normal warping from welding process. Those you can probably hammer off dolly and get it somewhat back to normal. You'll know pretty quickly if it's oil canned or not. Just avoid a lot of hammer on dolly work on cold metal (metal you didn't just heat up). Hammer on dolly will stretch the metal, and then well...ya know.

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JrDarknes

If you want to try option B get a SFC sunroof. They should have sizes that fit the S13.

My car was originally a Non-sunroof car but one of the owners decided they wanted a aftermarket sunroof. Only to find out he loses the glass somehow.

When I purchased the car I could not locate the glass for the life of me so I ordered a SFC sunroof and a shop cut the roof bigger and install the SFC sunroof. The sunroof I have looks to be a bit bigger than that whole area you welded.



I'd have to get the dimensions to see which one I ordered because I cant remember but its a good brand and they sell stuff to repair it if it happens to fail overtime (rubber seals, handles etc)

For the headliner you're going to have to trace the outline of the sunroof by taking the glass off, having one person hold the headliner by hand in the car and someone else tracing the outline of the sunroof from the roof.



Then get a protractor and measure the offset from the inside and retrace your original trace to get a more accurate cut for the inside. Then cut that outside trace and your sunroof should fit.

Hopefully that all made sense

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DarkSlide77

Yeah that?d be great to know the dimensions and brand you got...just in case I muck up the roof too much.

I notice a lot of guys from lone star drift actually have their sunroof off completely for some reason. I?m assuming it?s because the cabin gets full of smoke. I wonder if it?d be a good idea to install a sunroof the opposite way of yours so it opens from the front instead of the back. That way when you?re drifting the air would be pushed into the cabin. Might not work when sideways though... and might just shove more smoke into the cabin from the guy in front of you.
Idk just toying with the idea. Ever heard of anyone doin that?


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JrDarknes

This is the one I got. 7 years and no complaints so far. Ide recommend just installing it like normal.

http://www.sunroofdoctor.com/SFC-Aut...-Kit_p_24.html


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DarkSlide77

You right, glass would prob fly off. Thanks for link


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