racinghonda

After a 6 week wait, I finally received my CF sunroof panel. Its was made from a mould from an OEM sunroof. It should be a direct replacement, that will never rust (unlike my OEM one).

I trial fitted it last night and ran into a few problems. The were some pretty large gaps between the sunroof seal and the roof panel (car body). Large enough for you to fit a philips head screw driver in. The CF roof is slightly smaller than the OEM one . . . don't understand how since it was made from a mould.

Today I took it out again and got some longer bolts for bolting it up. I removed the sunroof seal and reseated it, using the seal holder plates to position the seals out a bit more. This made a big difference to the fit of the roof, but it still doesn't fit as tight as the OEM one. I did have to modify my roof mounting plate slightly to allow me to change the positioning of the sunroof panel (drilled the holes bigger).

I played with it heaps and have got it pretty good now. I am not sure if its as water tight as the OEM one. But I gave the car a wash and held a hose over the roof for quite a while and had no water leaks at all.

I am not sure if others will have to do what I did to make it fit. I think the roof needs to be about 1mm bigger all round.

Some pics











These are a couple of photoes of the roof outside of the car. As you can see they replicated the frame as well, so the stock interior trim panel just clips into place.

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I you no longer go for a gap that exist, you're no longer a racing driver" Ayrton Senna.

preludestud11

OMG.... THATS HOT!!! Where can i get one?

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petern101

^by the looks of it, looks like a one off. and its probably slightly smaller becasue of the way the cf version is made. thats why usually more $$$ cf parts means better fitment.

anyways looks really good

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"I am a ricer because I have Z3 fenders"
Bless Her Heart ORG

Paperchasin

wen i first read this, i thought it was the CF plug...theres a company that sells a complete carbon fiber plug, removing the sunroof entirely....thus saving alot of weight....its a mod im still debating over....would you happen to have a weight comparison of the 2 peices?? (stock vs CF)??

Maharajamd

Its gonna be lighter obviously......5th gen glass ftw

i<3myLUDE!

yeah where can we get one? it looks pretty sweet!

springgeyser

The resin has some shrinkage factor.

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97 Lude, little suspension mods here and there.
04 Element
03 Del Sol
89 Lude (Sold)
99 Civic (RIP)
91 Civic (RIP)

petern101

well it might be light but a bit. but not much. (depending on how it was manufactured)

kinda like those cf fenders which are just CF overlayed on the fiberglass. a cf plug would be a great weight saving mod. but this is a little more on the looks side

i think there is contraversy on the cf plug because you lose some structural rigidity unless you weld some supports in between or something.

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"I am a ricer because I have Z3 fenders"
Bless Her Heart ORG

Paperchasin

my point exactly...if i did this mod it would be for function not for looks...but considering it doesnt seal properly, im gonna pass...the last thing i need is a leak from the top...i was told my the guys selling the CF sunroof plug that they are guaranteed not to leak...

Prelude_92

when they fix the gap deal, i will buy a cf roof props for the nice piece u got there.

racinghonda

I got them as part of a preludeaustralia.com group buy. The group buy organiser donated his OEM panel for the mould. The guy has now made 10 of them. We saved quite a bit of money because he could reuse the mould.

I tested the water integrity again today with a high pressure hose and couldn't get it to leak. All the water just went down the drain tubes. So I got in the car and drove it, braked and waited for the shower, but got none.

The CF sunroof panel weighs 2.2kg, the stock one is 5.5kg. Less than half the weight.

Re: the plug. I had thought of that but summer in Melbourne is too good to missout on the sunroof.

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I you no longer go for a gap that exist, you're no longer a racing driver" Ayrton Senna.

Paperchasin

re-using the mold was probably why the fitment is the way it is...i would say that in order to maintain good fitment, one should'nt make more than 5 pieces using the same mold, as it will eventually alter the fitment ever so slightly....

Prelude_92

chances of ppl getting one in the americas?? im interested.. BTW how much did it cost u?

racinghonda

Ah, I am learing quite a bit about composites now. I really thought it would be an exact replica. Its damn close. The CF guy said he can take it back and add a bit more to the outer edges to push the seal out more.

It cost me $475 plus postage. The CF guy is in Sydney Australia.

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I you no longer go for a gap that exist, you're no longer a racing driver" Ayrton Senna.

petern101

^wow thats almost the price of a whole hood props though.

PO groupbuys for CF usually falls thru (cough defconskylude cough)

__________________

"I am a ricer because I have Z3 fenders"
Bless Her Heart ORG

Paperchasin

the CF sunroof plug is under $400 from the makers here in the U.S.

racinghonda

I forgot to say that that's $475AUD which is $357USD. Labour is expensive in Australia . . .

__________________


I you no longer go for a gap that exist, you're no longer a racing driver" Ayrton Senna.

racinghonda

Some daytime shots.





And for the magic trick . . . . unless you are looking at the roof from above, you won't even see the CF weave. As planned, the CF roof blends in very well with the colour of the car.

__________________


I you no longer go for a gap that exist, you're no longer a racing driver" Ayrton Senna.

Prelude_92

look VERYY GOOD.. i want one BADDD

slipknot95758

the whole idea of the sunroof plug is that you get to remove the whole sunroof asembaly which weights about 25 lbs.