I have my 1985 GSL with Sunroof... It's fairly beaten up, having been wrecked, stored for years, and having the good ol' bin rust...

I also am soon getting a 1985 S without sunroof, the thing is the body is almost perfect, aside from the bad paint... I'll have it as soon as I get rid of this 1985 GS in my driveway.

I want two 7's. One to run in Spec 7, and one to daily drive.

I'd feel like an *******, and rightfully so, if I ran a perfectly good body at the track to get beaten up and wrecked.

I'd also like to have a sunroof on the daily and no sunroof on the race car...

See where I'm going with this?

If I could cut on a factory weld seam and reweld it, it seems like it'd work...

Then again, I've cut FC's apart with a sawzall. That B pillar and roof structure ain't exactly weak sheet metal...

I dunno.

 

Keep the S intact and stock, put it away for sunny days only, they are becoming rareas they eaten up by racers.....

Find a wreck and cut the roof off that for the race car.

 

it can be done, ive heard of people doing it before.

 

Why dont you swap the bodies? You know what I mean. Swap the guts, a few other things and youve switched

 

Unless you have a fair amount of quality welding and body experience, I'd say no, and since you had to ask, I still say no. Replacing the roof, and having it look right is no easy task, even for the pros.

Keep the better one for your DD, tear the other one up on the track. Enjoy them both for what they are, 7's.

 

What's the point of driving it on a sunny day if the sunroof is on the GSL?

 

Hop over to improvedtouring.com discussions, mazda race cars. There are guys that "do it all the time" (topping). They usually are doing to save/reinstall a rollcage. They seem to think its no big deal. Doesn't sound right to me though.

 

Because rain and snow (salt) eat the metal of older japanese cars, so if he only drives it on fine weather days it will last for many more years. Is that simple enough?

 

****... I want a sunroof on my nice day driving car and no sunroof in my race car... Anyone have a rust free sunroof chassis that they want to get rid of for a non sunroof chassis? I can weld the GSL's sunroof shut.

 

Sure do. It's the chassis I started to prep for the widebody, then changed my mind because of the maroon interior and salvage tittle, Car was stripped, sandblasted, epoxy prime coat, wheel well rust fixed, side markers shaved, new front fenders, etc. Don't need an exchange, outright sale only.

You might not like the asking price or the drive halfway across the country though.

 

sunroof cars only weigh about 20 lbs more and they are stronger, a roll cage elimiates that issue though.

 

Sunroof cars are stronger? How do you figure?

 

Extra bracing around the hole in the roof, they have a stronger turrent and flex less in that region. It is what the extra weight is there for.

 

They have more structure in the roof. While I am not 100% certain, I think Aussie is right. I have an aftermarket sunroof in the widebody and with the hole cut for it, what's left of the roof is very flimsy. I dented the roof sanding the body for paint prep when the sunroof was out. Had to re-install the sunroof to stiffen the roof up enough so I could putty and sand the dent.

 

Lemmie simplify the scenerio...

All three are 1985's

GSL - Sunroof, Wrecked and repaired, Bin rust... Perfect for getting torn up on the track.
GS - No sunroof, OK shape, Bin rust... Probably gonna sell it.
S - No sunroof. RUST FREE... Great for a fair weather car and for cruising around on weekends.

Problem is that I want the sunroof on the rust free car and I'd never use a sunroof on the track car... Cutting a roof off of a scrap yard car solves nothing...

 

Well easiest way is to go with what you've got, next easiest is to sell them all and buy the cars you want, by far the most difficult and hardest solution is to cut two tops off and swap them.

Its a big job but it can be done. I wonder if it's worth it though.

 

Revisiting this topic regarding the bracing around the sunroof...

Does anyone have a pic of the inside of the roof with the head liner removed on both a Sunroof and solid roofed car?

I'd like to see the bracing to find out where it is.

 

me and my buddy have a 84 rs turbo capri, the guy we got the car from also had a 81. when we went to buy the car i heard this long *** story about how the 81 started to rust around the sun roof and how they cut it off and replaced it ect ect. then 3 months later it started to rust again, some one helping him forgot about the drain plugs and filled them up, he did the same thing again but this time with a roof with no sun roof. it mite be 100% times easyer on a fox body car so dont hold it to me.

he said all they did was guess where the seam was for the roof and took a blowtoch to it. they melted away all the lead where the 4 seams are. then drilled out the spot welds . my uncle own's a shop and i have seen alot of car down to the bare metal and there all most done the same way the roof is one part and is connect at the top of the windows just spot welds and a lot of lead. the hardist thing about putting the roof on is makeing sure its in the right spot so you dont need custom glass. and allso befor you remove the roof rember to brace the inside so the pillars stay in the right places and dont shift.

if you have a spare part car just us a propane or map gas torch and find the seam. and check out how the roof is put on.

 

Looked at my roof today, and it actually doesn't seem as hard as I though, I thought you'd be taking it right off with the a pillars and stuff but its actually at the top of the pillars. Mine as you can tell is with a sunroof.


Edit: Couldn't upload pictures at the time .. I think more server problems but once back up will do so.

 

I have a nice video you should check...