powdrhound

I picked up my car today after having my sunroof removed. I'm really happy with the result and love the look of the smooth roof, extra rigidity, a savings of 26 lbs above my head, and having an extra 1"+ of headroom with a helmet on. I wish I had this done a long time ago as I have only had the sunroof open once in the 3 years of ownership.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9211889472/http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9211889472/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/87731073@N06/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9209172075/http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9209172075/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/87731073@N06/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9211958004/http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9211958004/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/87731073@N06/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9211961540/http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9211961540/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/87731073@N06/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9211964402/http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9211964402/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/87731073@N06/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9209194233/http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9209194233/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/87731073@N06/, on Flickr

rmc1148

I interested in who did work is it a factory panel will you put factory headliner back and cost if that's not to rude.Thanks

Dock

Looks great.

Here's my sunroof delete...

powdrhound

The work was done by a local body shop in Denver that specializes in Porsches. They have done a number of the sunroof deletes. I removed the headliner, the A, B, and C pilar linings, and seats before dropping the car off so they didn't have to spend any time on the removal of the interior. The labor was about $1700 which includes removal of front and rear glass, removal of existing sunroof panel, welding in the OEM solid roof panel, prep, paint, and reinstallation of the front and rear glass. Front glass has to be replaced with new while rear glass is reused. The whole process is actually very straight forward as the old roof panel is removed and the new roof panel is welded into the exact same location as done at the factory. I needed to have my windshield replaced anyway so this was a perfect time to do this. All the parts used in the conversion are OEM Porsche:
Front windshield: $480
Windshield seals: $40
Roof panel: $450
Headliner light panel cover: $50
Alcantara Headliner: $1650 (ouch, yeah I know. Lol!)

I could have had a new Alcantara headliner custom made at an automotive upholstery shop for about $600 but I wanted a perfect fit and finish and since one was in stock at the Atlanta warehouse I just opted to go that route. There are certainly cheaper options though.

I know this is not a necessarily cheap mod but considering my car is mainly a track toy, I never used the sunroof, liked the idea of shedding 26+lbs from the highest point on the car and liked the look of a smooth roof, well, it was worth it to me. Additionally, non sunroof turbo cars are very rare with only a tiny percentage ordered like that from the factory. I certainly feel that a non sunroof option ads to the value of the car. Just my $02...

rmc1148

Looks great and cheaper then I thought and I would have paid for the factory headliner also= good call. If I wasn't keeping mine 100% stock I would do it, but hey things can change lol.

powdrhound

I pretty much consider this as close to stock as you can get since it uses all factory Porsche parts. Sort of like adding a factory offered option after the fact (or deleting in this case).

dubyaTT

Looks great, thank you for sharing.

Did you ever entertain carbon fiber options?

CincyScott

looks awesome! The 996 roof has some nice break points for paint work so you don't have to paint the whole car, which is nice. When I win the lottery and order a Porsche turbo new one day, it won't have a sunroof.

powdrhound

Exactly, if you have a good painter that can perfectly match the paint than they only have to paint the center portion of the roof as was done in this case. The roof rack plastic thingies provide a perfect "break" between the roof and the roof pillars.

powdrhound

I looked into it and consulted several race shops that work on Cup cars and was advised against it. The problem with the CF roofs is the fact that you can't weld them but rather have to glue them into place. As a result you will not get the same structural rigidity as you get with a steel panel welded into place. If you go with a CF panel you really need to have a proper full cage welded into the car. My car has bolt in half cage. A CF panel only gives you a 6-8 lb. of additional weight saving over the OEM steel roof so to me it's really not worth it. Also, in case of a rollover, a CF panel will break into razor sharp pieces which is not something I would want near my head. Finally, I wanted a perfect OEM fit and finish...

dubyaTT

You sir, are a wealth of information.

Thank you for all your contributions!

kk2

@powdrhound I wonder of thoughts have changed regarding this given how many production cars without roll cages now have carbon roofs. Have you had any discussion about this in the last 10 years?

Brought over from: https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-a...mendation.html

powdrhound

I personally would not do a CF roof without a full cage for protection overhead. Just my preference. Production cars with OEM CF roofs likely have some type of reinforcement in place to meet all safety requirements.

I went with a CF roof when we did a rebuild with a full 18 point weld in FIA cage.

kk2

Just curious.. which vendor did you go through to get the cf roof?

bdronsick

Sunroof delete dream

Congrats!