Another new guy from Louisville KY.

Hello All, Nice site! When I am able (points) I will share pictures. I have always loved the body style and overall design of the 3rd Gen Accords and after looking for several months, I was lucky enough to find a carbureted 88 LX last winter that had no rust, a great interior and a trashed engine (blown head gasket, someone put the thermostat in wrong). Since buying it for $600, I've had the engine replaced with a totally rebuilt A20 (new rings, pistons, etc.), had mounts changed, got a rebuilt carb, gas tank and had all other small parts that needed to be swapped out changed. I also switched over the AC to 134A and it worked great with no additional work. After months of waiting, my project car is now my primary vehicle and I was finally able to sell my 2000 Ford (to fund doing more stuff to the Accord). I just found the original 14" alloy wheels on Ebay and got new Pirelli tires that I'm getting ready to throw on.

I love this car! It drives like a brand new car. People sometimes act like I was stupid to put 6 grand in a 23 year old car, but seriously.. how else are you going to get in a more or less new Honda (after restoration) for 6K? My next project is trying to find the entire sunroof assembly. Have any of you bought an original Honda sunroof assembly and installed it on your 3rd gen Accord? Just wondering what I might run into. I'm thinking that the best course of action may be to just swap the entire roof instead of trying to install just the sunroof assembly..

I'm also planning to have it painted in the spring after the salt is off the roads. My overall plan is to keep everything factory (looking) and not do anything cosmetically stupid. My original goal was to make it look like it did in 88. Any advice on the sunroof is appreciated!

Welcome to the forum... I'm originally from KY. Just moved to the Denver (co) area recently... My sister still lives in Louisville. She lives near the St Mathews area... If you see a blue 06 Wrx Wagon with kayaks on top, that's my sister! hahaha

Welcome! I have no advice on the sunroof unfortunately. I'm too scared to cut holes in my roof to try installing one. Sounds like you have an awesome car. Please post pics soon.

Sorry for taking so long to reply (super busy @ work).. Interesting hondalude86, that's my neighborhood. I live 1/2 mile down past the Porsche dealership.

Will post pics soon when I get a chance

There was a member on here that installed a moonroof assembly on his accord by cutting the roof assembly on his donor car and welding on to his main accord. lot of work but if you have the skills that is one way to do it.
Or you could just have a shop install one for you.
welcome to the forum

.WELCOME
As for the factory sunroof. I would get a cordless sawzall and get as much of the entire top as I could from a donar car in the self pull a part junkyard. I would stay away from the windshild header and rear glass header. Once you get the headliner out of the donar car (first task) you will see where you need to cut it out at in order to have enough overlap to use for the new fit.
Unless youve done bodywork, especially unibody panel replacement, before then this needs to be done with someone expereinced close by.
I would then cut out the recieving cars roof panel using a plasma cutter, making the seams to be located in places where the most support is and the least amount of bondo work needed after it is mig welded in. The concept there is to avoid all metal stretching and heating as possible. Warpage and tin canning is your enemy there.
Of couse all the wring and whatnot must be taken from the donar as well. /The main sunroof assy is pretty much an integral unit just welded in place on the roof supporting structure. You will see that once you get the headliner out, undamaged I hope. Your car wont need that much cut out of it for this to work, really not much more than the size of the glass. I say get as much roof from the donar as possible so that you can remove it quick and easy with all the framework involving the sunroof assy you may need.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by roodoo2

.WELCOME
As for the factory sunroof. I would get a cordless sawzall and get as much of the entire top as I could from a donar car in the self pull a part junkyard. I would stay away from the windshild header and rear glass header. Once you get the headliner out of the donar car (first task) you will see where you need to cut it out at in order to have enough overlap to use for the new fit.
Unless youve done bodywork, especially unibody panel replacement, before then this needs to be done with someone expereinced close by.
I would then cut out the recieving cars roof panel using a plasma cutter, making the seams to be located in places where the most support is and the least amount of bondo work needed after it is mig welded in. The concept there is to avoid all metal stretching and heating as possible. Warpage and tin canning is your enemy there.
Of couse all the wring and whatnot must be taken from the donar as well. /The main sunroof assy is pretty much an integral unit just welded in place on the roof supporting structure. You will see that once you get the headliner out, undamaged I hope. Your car wont need that much cut out of it for this to work, really not much more than the size of the glass. I say get as much roof from the donar as possible so that you can remove it quick and easy with all the framework involving the sunroof assy you may need.

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I looked at this once, I think the additional structure of the sunroof is spot welded to the standard roof frame structure, if you cut off an entire roof section, I believe you could drill out the spot welds with a special drill bit for this, and weld it to the existing roof, I'm just not sure how the structure around the sunroof is, if it's formed or just cut out. Whichever way you do it is going to be a major job, and there is a possibility of ruining the car. I wouldn't try to transfer a roof unless you do it at the pillars, the roof is a stressed part of the unibody, and once you cut anything on it, it's hard to put it back. the wiring is pretty simple, the relays are under one of the seats, it's just a simple set of relays set up to reverse motor direction. the empty spots for the power are in the fuse box, you need to unplug and cut off the plug that goes to the sunroof where it plugs into the doner car fusebox, pull the relays, and the switch from the dash. also unscrew the main fuse for the sunroof at the fusebox, I'll have to look but I think it's already part of the fusebox bus

I remember now, the forum member was Ram This.
Here's his thread
https://www.3geez.com/forum/showpost....6&postcount=31
https://www.3geez.com/forum/showpost....1&postcount=52

and the whole thread

Welcome :wave:

Thanks for all the info! I never thought of the roof being a stressed part of the unibody (given other convertible cars). I hate to say it, but after reading this.. I'm thinking it may not be such a hot idea after all. When I was looking at the exploded views of the roof on the Honda website, it didn't look so bad at first.

IMO just get an aftermarket one. they're usually around $100-150 installed. as for the"factory look"; noone but us knows really lol. my sedan has been mistaken for a prelude 3 times since i've owned it(2 mnths). ha! sirry americans

yes, I was also looking at this once before. I even got all parts but never did this.
Mechanical sunroof, original. is bolted to teh roof with 6 or 8 bolts, than you have 4 drainage hoses in each corner A pillar and C pillar, then wiring a switch and you'll need to install a fuse under the bonnet.

Anyhow, the roof rails, in witch sunroof slides in goes all the way to the rear. so IMO it would be easier to cut off the whole thing from your donor car, reinforce your car in between A, B, C pillar with some tubes so the car dont deform while you cutting only the roof. And swap it over.
But I think its not so easy as it looks, I never got to do it my self but I did all prep.

Good luck and Welcome here :)