Has anyone ever installed a sunroof on a hardtop thirdgen? How hard would it be and would it screw up the cars stability/body strength?

I saw a beat up thirdgen with a sunroof once at school but could never find the guy to ask how it was done.

 

all the old firebirds i see in the junkyards have that ****. i guess it was stock i dunno

 

Sunroofs came stock on many 3rdGens over the years..

I'm not sure what the actual RPO code was, but cars did roll off the assembly line with sunroofs, just as they did with hardtops, t-tops and convertibles..

But to answer ur question... installing a sunroof on a hardtop can be done.. but it's not an easy process and YES, it will reduce the strength of the body overall.. the roof on a hardtop car acts like a back-bone.. so when u begin cutting into that u destablize it's ridgitity..

Personally, I don't think it'd be worth trouble, hassle, money and results to try to convert a hardtop to sunroof.. but that's just me..

-LJ

 

All sunroofs were Aftermarket Installations and Not a Factory option.

 

time to rethink that

 

Sunroofs never came stock or from the factory on any thirdgen. Every single one is an aftermarket job. As for the weakening of the body, not with a sunroof. The cutout roof area will now be supported by a sunroof frame, which is always in place, even if the sunroof is removed. The frame reinforces the roof area and maintains the rigidity of the body.

Where did you guys get the idea that these were stock?

 

If you have a hardtop car, it's alot cheaper to get a sunroof installed then to get t-tops.....

Plus you don't have to worry about finding a place for the t-tops, or those random storms, or putting the t-tops back on and off when you leave the car to go inside a store or house.....

I was once quoted for a price of $850 to install an electric sunroof, that included parts, installation, etc......

Another positive thing, is that they come with lifetime warranties on the weatherstripping to NEVER leak, so if it does just take it back and solve the problem.......

Sunroofs, also don't fly off the car at random times...

They never came factory though

 

I always thought that there was a run in the early 80s when there was a option for a sun roof..my friend has one on his 6 banger camaro..but that was a aftermarket job..something broke tho and it got sucked off the roof, so right now its plexiglass siliconed on..but thats ok, he drives his z28 now

 

Does anyone know of a reputable company in Florida that could install a sunroof for me?

 

And, yes it has been done.......

 

Where are you located??

I know of a place in Fort Lauderdale Area

Sunroof of Florida
500 NE 38th St
Oakland Park, FL
(954) 561-1466

This is the company that quoted me for the electric sunroof installation.........

 

Here's mine, was done at a zeibar for like $300 about 3 years ago. I have just painted the car somewhat since the pics were taking. It looks alot better now. THe installer said the sunroof frame will reinforce the car. Mine actually can op all the way out too whichis also nice.

 

I don't know why I think this. Many cool cars have sunroofs. But for thirdgens I think it's ugly as hell.

 

I live in Saint Petersburg Florida so if anyone knows of a place that is closer than Ft. Lauderdale that would be cool.

Also if anyone has more pictures of thirdgens with a sunroof they could post I would appreciate it especially if you have interior pictures.

Thanks

 

I should have a couple pics with them on my old 86Z28...
Well maybe just one that shows it up..... I'll try to dig up some more.

 

my 84 had one. like t-top's muuuch better

 

I think sunroofs are ok but t'tops rule hands down :hail: with the exception of verts of course

 

I like the sunroof on my car though. It all counts on the person. I have seen some birds and maro's with the split sunroof and i dont like that. But I tell you it is worth the $250-300 you pay. I orinally wanted a moonroof but it was lik $700. I got a t-top fomrula and I do say I like them alot better, but a sunroof aint bad.

 

whats the diff between a sunroof and a moonroof? i always thought they were the same heh

 

Sunroof vs. T-Tops is like choosing between a 305 and 350 Camaro...

Some is good, so more is better

 

old girlfriend had an 84 with a crappy 2.8 and sagging headliner. she added sunroof which helped to hide the sag. Ttops rule.

 

A sunroof is manually operated and a moonroof is electric and slides into the roof.

 

Sunroof was a dealer installed option, not all dealers did it though. When my dad bought my moms 84 camaro he had the van nuys dealer put a sunroof on. It was cheap and it looked good and we used it a lot.

 

moonroof--ford's name for sunroof. Now 'commonly' used as a term for electric sunroof.

 

I got my first car, 1987 Firebird, V-6, in Summer 1995 when I was 17. Well, it had a Navy blue color with a light grey lower portion, looked pretty cool.
But I relized that it wasnt a V-8, and that my 135 HP was'nt anywhere near the 180-245 hp of the 3rd gen V-8s or or even the 160 HP of the then-current V-6 C-mos and F-birds.
So I was sad, but at least my car looked pretty cool sitting there... oh yeah but then i notcied it didnt have t-tops, which were all the rage then. I was sad that I had a V-6 hardtop firebird, and i vowed to make a change.
I thought about a sunroof, and seein other cars with them. well they looked pretty darn cool, these would have been cars like the 3000 GT that had a built in SR, and some 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipses and Eagle Talons had em, but then they were factory installed and looked totallly natural. But I wanted the t-tops, or at least the t-top effect, so I went to the local auto glass store and got the cheapest pop-up sunroof on the rack. It looked cool, perched on the wall, smoked out and tinted, the pill-shaped glass looked so good, my car's gonna look epic with it. Of course the salesperson tried to suggest the electric roof, it will look better, trust me, he said, dont go cheap, your roof isn't flat, trust me, the mid-grade and higher roof options [one was a fixed moon-roof, or something like that, which was a larger peice of glass that DID look more organic to the roof, and the sliding sun-roof that was larger, and slide on rails]. I figured the sliding options would look 'like some dumb foreign car', but the truth was i wanted to spend, my 18 year old self, limited funds, the least amount possible. So i got the cheap pop-up roof. The moment i got the call it was done, i was sure i'd be in awe, that my Firebird would look like some NYC apartment on wheels, with a skylight that made my car into a Miami-vice car, the gleam of the midnight moon pouring into the cabin...
It looked So stupid, not good from any angle, it was small, i wish i had some pix of it, this looked so cheap and fake, the curve of the Firebird roof was at odds w the flatness of the sunroof, and geez the thing was a pop-up, and looked dumb. I tried to up-image the car since it wasnt a V-8, or had t-tops, or a v-8 with t-tops. I was so depressed that a few yrs later i had a guy install a 305 in it but it never ran right, so i thought about getting a donor car roof with t-tops, but that never came to happen.. the donor-car scenario, that was a meme of sorts in the early 2000s that i think has died out, but it struck the minds of 3rd gen owners who had what we believed to be a plain looking Camaro or Firebird with a hard roof, or to fix the error of installing a sunroof (i'd heard of others who lamented getting a sunroof on their Z28 or TA). I dont know how many people actually went thru the "hack the t-tops off a donor car and weld it onto yours" project, it would have been better to just buy a factory t-top car - i dont believe it would be as structurally sound, and the front and back windshields would need to match up perfectly, and the rigidity of the whole thing would be compromised. But this was the 1997-2000 era and any 22 year old wanted their Firebird Camaro or Mustang to have the louvers, t-tops, blackout lights, premium rims, and pinstripes, and hood scoops - non functional of course, and too hell with the costs.
I ended up trading in the 87 sunroof bird with a low output 305 (i went the cheap route again) for an 1989 Formula Firebird with t-tops and a 305 Throttle Body. I was much happier with that.
I ruined the 87 V6 buy trying to soup it up. The level of sadness and disappointment at the result of the sunroof installation led me to foolishly install a 305 a few yrs later, as if to "realize my dreams", but neither of the upgrades increased the book value, and i traded it in for $1000 towards the 89. I miss that car, i wish i would have kept it stock. Of course i thought about it years later, and to fix the cheap sunroof install, i could have just gotten a premium, factory looking, higher end sunroof, fixed or sliding.
So a question i have, does anyone have a similar story - and did u actually go with the donor roof option?
Good luck, love your cars, don't drill too much into them, keep em stock.
the pic is from me in 1996 or so, u can see the sunroof peeking out. I had thr

ee camaros and firebirds, t-top and hard roof, for about 6 years. SO i had the 87 from 1995 to 1998, traded it in for the 1989 Formula, which I had until 2001, then drove a 1986 Trans am around until 2003. Then i had a 1991 4 cylinder eclipse in college, i liked that car, and had it from 2003 to 2005, when I bought a 1994 firebird, it was V6 and hard roof, had it for 5 years, the last FB i ever owned.

 

Well this is an oldie.

The pop-up sunroof was popular for a time, though the more expensive ones did look nicer. Sort of hit their prime in the vanning era in my opinion. While shopping for the car I now own, I went and looked at a teal Camaro RS. He didn't mention in the ads that it had the pop-up sunroof, and when I saw it, while it was a nice car otherwise, I could not warm up to the look. While I was working at a Chevy dealer late-80s, we had a guy who bought a Monte SS, and he added a high-end flush mount "frameless glass" power sunroof with sliding sun shade inside...it looked very nice and the install was very well done. You'd have thought it was a factory piece. Hate to think what he paid for it, but that SS was his baby, so I don't think he worried too much about the cost.

I beat the hell out of the steel cross brace under the package tray on my '70 Duster, just so I could add the fold down rear seat from a newer A-body....and all that so I'd have a way to get passengers out of the trunk through the interior when we snuck 'em into the local drive-ins! Ah, the foolishness of youth.

 

I have a power sunroof on my 84 firebird. Not sure who did the conversion, but it looks period correct. even has a sliding shade/cover for when it's closed.

 

Can you share pics of your 84 FB with sunroof? My 87 fb - you can barely see the sunroof (cheap flip top), i owned the car for several years, and i never could tell myself to take a pic of the roof, i was so ashamed at the apperance of it. pls Share yuor's i guess it's a power roof and must look muc