Hey everyone,

Has anyone ever swapped a factory sunroof into a non-sunroof car? I am talking about swapping out the entire roof panel. Of course anything is possible, but is it realistically feasable to do this?

thanks,

Brian

Yep, it's possible. I've done it before. You have to be careful when removing the roof pannel to not crack it or the windshield. I'm gonna be doing this again in the very near future and am gonna document the entire swap then make a page with directions/pictures.

Cool! Looking forward to it! and a "+" for you!

I did this in 1997. Got all the parts from another Fiero and the replacement headliner, new seal etc. from the Fiero Store. Not difficult as the hole is in the roof anyways in any Fiero. As stated, the tricky thing is not to crack the windshield when removing the roof section. I was doing a panel-off repaint at the time so the additional work was minimal...

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www.yellowfiero.com/fiero.html
17" DEZENT T wheels with 215/40 tires front and 235/45 rear, KONI shocks, EIBACH lowering springs, drilled/slotted rotors, SS brake hoses. PU dog bone, all bushings and engine mounts, K&N air and oil filters, OZELOT exhaust, Mercedes SLK yellow paintjob, Mr. Mikes leather seats, door skins, shift and e-brake boots. MP3 deck and custom subwoofer behind passenger seat, F355 style front. Fiero Store rear swaybar, strut tower brace, black carpet, air intake. Rodney Dickman's competition short shifter, SS vacuum lines and deck lid strut. Billet aluminum dash kit from Kitcarman.

[This message has been edited by yellowstone (edited 04-13-2005).]

im doing it right now to my 86gt its not hard at all just take your time.. the hardest part is get the old rubber bytle out of the tracks to lay in new. again just take your time. good luck

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86 GT V-8
85 SE

I did it the easier way by cutting and splicing and fiberglassing the roof in less time and less work.

And I'm considering going the other way (losing the sunroof, putting on a hardtop). I pulled a hardtop this past weekend. Wasn't too bad. I did have to swing both fenders out, and break the roof section down below the bottom of the windshield. There are holes in the part that runs along the bottom of the windshield - I broke the roof on either side at the first hole (not a big deal, it'd not be noticeable once installed). Lots of goo under there, be careful when pulling on the thin pillar sections.

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85 GT 2.8/Auto (in progress)
2 x 86SE 2.8/Auto (parts cars)
79Z28 / 94Z28 / 98Z28
1 wife who thinks I'm nuts...

Where exactly is the "goo" at on the panel? Does it run along the pillars closest to the windshield or the outer edge, or both? Is there any on the top above the windsheild? What did you use to cut through the sticky stuff?

Sorry for all the questions - I think I might go ahead and do it this weekend, so any info would be awesome!

I believe the "goo" is a strip of butyl rubber and is incredibly sticky! On my 88 it ran up the middle of the "A" pillar strips on either side of the windshield and across the top around an inch or so behind the windshield. You can carefully seperate it with an old butter knife or something similar and you'll need to slide a piece of cardboard or posterboard in the gap as you go. It will restick to itself and anything else if you don't keep it seperate. Be careful not to put too much stress on the roof panel as it will easily crack near the top corners of the windshield opening. It's difficult to repair it if it breaks--the cracks tend to reappear after several months of driving. After you get the roof off, you can pull the remaining sealer off and throw it away. I've gotten a windshield installation kit from AutoZone that is just a roll of butyl rubber tape and used that to reseal the roof during installation. It's probably not really needed across the top, but the "A" pillar strips will tend to bow out if they're not sealed back down. Plan to have a fair amount of patience and take it slow and gently

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Rod Schneider, Woodstock, Ga.
"You can't have too many toys!"
1988 Fiero GT
1966 Porsche 911
Van's RV-6 airplane-under construction

mine run across the top of the roof by the windshield and down a piller on the inside by the windshield

do yourself a favor and buy about a dozen or so paint stirring sticks. push them in as you peel the front edge of the roof up. if you hear cracking, slow down! take your time and it will come off in one piece. i made sure all of the nuts were off from the inside, slowly worked the rear up and then worked the bottom of the a pillars up to the front edge of the windshield. slowly pry up and slide in the sticks working from one side to the other. worked great for me and i was working in a junkyard at the time.

Everyone has pretty much hit it on the nose when saying to take your time. It really is a painstakingly slow process to remove the doner roof without cracking the a-pillar strips too much. As for the black goo, your pretty much going to have to cut through it with a putty knife to begin with, however I found that using a piece of weedeater string to cut through the goo works well on the sides but where the roofline meets the windshield is more difficult and generally requires a long handled putty knife or some other flat wide bladed device.

If your Fiero is a GT and your sunroof donor came from a notchback, plan on saving your drip rails. The notchie ones are shorter. Great directions here: http://cyco.home.cyberverse.com/fieroparts/tips/sunroof.htm

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Alright, I think Im going to use a butter knife or a hacksaw blade. I should have done this before I painted it Oh well, Im just going to take my time, should be all worth it in the end.
Thanks, (+) to all !

[This message has been edited by AutoTech (edited 04-13-2005).]

The warmer the roof section is, the easier the removal will be. I use heat lamps as close as possible to the outside skin. and if the interior is gutted, it also helps to roll up the windows and sit a electric heater in the car for an hour or so prior to starting the project to really warm it up good.

This info is all done once you have all the roof skin bolts from the interior removed. the fenders top bolts removed so you can pull the fenders out of the way to clear the roof sections under the front cowl plastic vent.

Make some 12 inch long wood wedges about 2" wide with a 2" taper..... I usually have a dozen of these shims made up and handy to lift a little in one spot and I just keep adding the shims, (you can tap them in with the butt of your hand or a plastic mallet) until I have room in the front section to take a hack saw blade or long knife and cut the butyl tape and the cloth cord that is imbeded in the tape. Also waxed freezer paper pushed into the butyl tape area as you lift the roof section will keep it from sticking back to the metal parts of the structure again.

when you remove the roof don't peel off the remaining tape and mark how the tape is routed with a magic marker so when you get the new tape kit from a good glass installer you can apply it like the factory did. If you don't seal the leading edge of the windshield and pillars right (as they were) you might have water and air leaks in the roof section when your done. easier to do it right the first time lol

One word of advise, make sure you use the roof bolts that came from the sunroof skin roof section.
Don't mix them up with the solid roof bolts! The solid roof bolts are longer than the sunroof section skin bolts and if you use the solid roof bolts on the sun roof section skin, the ends of the bolts will actually push up the gasket and make the glass section not seal like it should.
FD

I did it a while back with a friend, the whole swap took a few hours. Be sure to take your time on the pillar sections, The are VERY fragile and are likely to crack on the top corners of the windshield. I had a friend help me and we used thin giutar strings to saw through the glue. i should have taken more time, as I cracked in a few areas. Just be careful, take your time and it should look good. When you glue it back down, be sure to buy some good C-clamps and hold it down. the ones I used didnt work very when and it shows, but I'll be replacing that shortly.

Doing this myself also, have a pic of what I used to remove glue under the panel, can buy a tool like it at sears where they sell razor blades and stuff.

heres link to my project....

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/050037.html