Benton

Since I wasn't concerned with the original skin's condition, I just used the largest drill bit I could find so as to minimize the damage to the body. I think there are special spot weld drill bits, so you might want to look into that. Also, make sure you use a weld-thru primer when re-welding the pieces, or else you will get some nasty rust between the panels.

Tom. M

Plasma torch .. worked wonders for all those awkward spots..and left a decent edge that could be ground down.

BC

I have a friend that offered his plasma torch. I imagined things on fire though.

Jim bailey - 928 International

Even with a good roll cage the steel roof welded in place will keep more stuff from potentially coming into the car. Fiberglass or carbon fiber tends to shatter and break into jagged pieces . Go upside down into soft dirt or gravel and the metal panel keeps the roll cage tubes from digging in as easily...... I saw a open wheel car with a single hoop in Portland bury the hoop into the sod luckily the driver was short......before he went over

RyanPerrella

you dont need a plasma cutter (use that for plate steel or frame rails or something) , that roof skin is like paper thin, you can do it with any number of air saws and likely get a much finer, and cleaner result

Benton

There's still nasty edges that I wouldn't want close to my head or helmet. Maybe filling in the sunroof is good if you are putting in a headliner, but in a race car, I don't want that stuff up there.

BC

As I said, I did this and 20 rotozip cut off wheels later, I was covered in metal dust, had ton's of jagged edges I was not happy with, and I still had a god damned hole in the roof.

Jim bailey - 928 International

Brendan , Dwayne came by my house and took some photos of the wide 928 in my garage....the one I took the roof skin off so the cage could be welded properly on top. I will see if I can get him to post some photos or if you are going to be in the Newport Beach area let me know and you can come over and look at it your self. When I drill the spot welds I ONLY drill the top layer which leaves more to weld to when going back together.

Tom. M

It's not actually the roof skin that poses the problem but the metal rails and such attached to the roof that hold the sunroof tracks etc that are a real pain. I've got some more cleanup to do on mine, but John's came out nice and no probs with jagged edges or anything that would worry me in a roll over.

It is nice to see that the roof panel removal is fairly straight forward though. I was under the impression that it involved more "structural" cutting.

Jim bailey - 928 International

If you have the windshield out it is pretty straight forward to attack the spot welds ...

BC

Photos would be great but if thats hard maybe I can come by some day when I am getting closer to doing this.

BC

Hmmm. Last time I tried taking a windshield out it cracked. 2nd times the charm?

123quattro

Jim, or anyone else for that matter...do you guys sell non-sunroof roofs? I looked all over your site but couldn't find anything.

Thanks,
John

Benton

John,
I went straight through the dealer. I think they told me that Porsche had something like 4 remaining (3 years ago).

IcemanG17

Mark A has a stock non sunroof roof in his (he ordered it from Germany!) He said it wasn't that heavy...& that is coming from the guy with the lightest 928 racer around!!

As for headroom...how tall are you? Race seats sit significantly lower in the car than normal power seats...on the Widow the sunroof was welded in and filled, I'm not real happy with it, but in my ractech mounted on a slider (1/2" higher than no slider) I clear my helmet by more than an inch and I'm 6-1, if your ever in norcal you are more than welcome to try the fit for yourself!

The owner of my race shop is probably 6-3 with a long torso and he fits in the widow without hitting his helmet? The same guy had his spec miata modified with a helmet bump made out of CF to clear his helmet!!

Once my cage is done, I am considering cutting off the roof and rear hatch and replacing it out of CF...since there is a great custom CF shop across the street from the race shop where the Widow lives....it all comes down to $$$$$