Welding an Aftermarket sunroof over.

bditty50 said:

I'm looking at a coupe and it has an aftermarket sunroof I think I want it gone because it leaks and its sealed shut. Would that be a hard task?

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I haven't had my headliner off but in other cars i have owned the roof had support "beams" i guess you could call them to reinforce the roof.Also it'll probably be pretty tricky to get the roof nice and smooth after the repair work is done.

Foxes use 22-24 gauge sheet metal and I have seen sunroofs closed up, but they usually show through after a year of sunshine. You also get a lot of warpage from the heat of tacking here and there, unless you have a buddy with a TIG and use welders putty.

The age of the different metals expands and contracts at different rates.

bditty50 said:

so should I pass on the car or think about just replacing the sunroof?
What about getting a donor roof from another car and going that route?

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I heard of T-top roof swaps, so it has been done; but that's almost up there with welding the sunroof shut... I wouldn't bother.

IMO I think I would pass on any car with an aftermarket sunroof, I never seen one that still worked and didnt leak. My buddy bought a SN95 with an aftermarket sunroof, he sealed it shut with RTV since he had no idea where to find replacement parts.

bditty50 said:

I'm thinking in order to install an aftermarket sunroof the roof they have to cut all the roof support out right?

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Negative. My '89 came with a factory sunroof and the headliner has been gone from that car for ages. The roof support bar you're thinking about goes across right where the dome light is (since that's what the dome light mounts onto). So unless yours is some weird aftermarket hackjob sunroof where they deleted the dome light to do it, then no, there's no hacking of the roof support bar at all. The sunroof is usually mounted ahead of that area (otherwise you wouldn't be able to easily reach back to open/close it while sitting in the front).

Personally, I would just put in another sunroof and be done with it. I had the same problem as you when I bought my '89. Some jackhole broke out the sunroof to get into the car and steal the stereo, so the prior owner had taken a sheet of hacked-up Plexiglas and siliconed the thing in place of the factory sunroof glass. UGH. Leaked like hell of course. I gave serious consideration to the idea of having a sheet of metal welded over the hole, but after hearing much of the same as described above, I found it was easier and cheaper just to buy an aftermarket sunroof (or you could hunt for a factory sunroof, if you prefer) and install it myself in place of the stocker. Just make damned sure you measure three times and cut only once if the sunroof you get is slightly larger (I bought one a bit larger than the stock one to be sure it would fit without gaps).

Mine's been in there since '05 and hasn't leaked a single drop. Cost me somewhere in the ballpark of $200 from JC Whitney at the time. Doesn't rattle, opens and closes perfectly fine, no extra wind noise, and the added ventilation is pretty nice to have, especially since I don't have A/C in that car. Only downside is out here in AZ, a clear or lightly-tinted sunroof sucks because it lets in that much more light and heats up your interior REALLY quickly when you're not moving, but a layer of some 2% limo tint (which I haven't gotten around to using yet) will help take care of that pretty easily.

bditty50 said:

Do you think that looks like its had a front end collision from those pics? I'm pretty convinced it had a front end collision.

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Cant you run a Carfax thingy on it and see?

MahFiVeOh said:

Cant you run a Carfax thingy on it and see?

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Carfax won't always show everything, especially if the PO never reported an accident and fixed the damage themselves. The Carfax on both my '89 and '84 showed no history of accidents, but both of them have beat-up and tweaked radiator supports; the '84 looks like someone ran it into a ditch at some point, and the '89 looks like it actually had a full collision of some kind that was repaired with a new bumper and/or fender(s), but the front-end frame is still slightly tweaked enough that the gap between the fenders and the hood on the left and right sides aren't straight or even no matter which way you adjust the hood (looks like it's tweaked slightly toward the passenger's side).