Does anyone know or have experience with taking a sunroof coupe (any year 911), removing the sunroof machinery, sealing the hole, and covering the roof with a new headliner? It seems this would be an easier fix to lighten the car and gain headroom. Thanks!

 

You'll not gain any headroom as that cavity for the sunroof to slide is fixed. IMHO the only way to get the extra headroom is to physically remove the top and weld in a non-sunroof top. Trying to mod what is there , if it can be done, will be costly as well as the total swap out will be costly.

 

I was looking at this for my car, since I'm adding a cage and didn't want to lose cage height, if I wanted to remove the sunroof later. What I see is that the front and sides of the cage should not be compromised, since the sunroof container doesn't extend that far. So, I can take it out later and gain the extra headroom, if desired.

I looks like you would have to just grind off the welds to the sunroof container and it'll come out. If you see one without the headliner you'll see what I mean. Due to time constraints (and b/c my sunroof functions) I'm leaving it alone. Removal should be easy and free. Replacing the roof, probably not free.
David

 

We have removed the Sunroof from several cars and have used two different methods.

The first and obvious way is to buy a roof panel from an early non-sunroof car and change the entire panel. This is not too difficult but the gutters have to be 'peeled' open and then re-set. We have always done this work with the shell bolted into a Car Bench Jig.

The main problem with this approach is the difficulty of finding good roof panels.

During the last year we have resorted to removing the complete sunroof conatiner, which is relatively straightforward and 'filling' the hole with a steel panel.

We have made a set of roof templates from a non-sunroof car and we have made the filler panel using an 'English Wheel' so that the curvature is correct in both planes. The edge of the panel is then set using a Picolo Stretcher.

We fit the panel into th shell and then weld in using a 3-Phase Spot Welder with extended arms.

It has taken some time to develop the technique but now one the panel is installed it is a good fit and the roof is about as 'tight' as a standard car.

We thought about filling the joint with body solder but then worried about distortion and have used a metal loaded body filler and we haven't had any problems with cracking despite using shells modified in this manner on Gravel Rallies in the UK forests. I think that the secret is making sure that the panel is tight fit and spot welded correctly.

It takes about 3 hours to wheel, trim and edge the panel, about a day to remove the sunroof, fit the panel, fill and flat. Painting is extra time but is neutral in terms of cost as changing the complete skin would need the same time to paint.

I also think that it is preferable to peeling open gutters and avoids any problms of distorting this area of the roof.

 

Wonderful responses guys - thank you very much!

 

There's an article starting on page 128 talking about a fellow who wanted to build a 993 GT3 RS replica who tried welding shut the sunroof and it ended up cracking. He built another one that he just replaced the roof that worked much better. Interesting reading.