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Announcements Post Suppliers Summit August 2015
- Thread starter AriLea
- Start date
John M Riley
Elio Enthusiast
Thanks, AJ. What is an owner were to have a larger one added by an outside body shop (if such were possible). Would that screw everything up? Just wondering.
John
John
The person that said the sunroof would be 12 x12 was me. I did sunroofs for years and know just a little about cut hole vs. visual hole sizing.
Plus take a look at this picture
The interior width of the Elio at the base of the "trunk" is only 14" which means the roof width is just a little less.
12x12 is wall to wall, and front to rear you start getting into the curve of the roof; sunroofs don't usually curve that way if you want them to seal.
I found a long time ago, an inch in a vehicle is like a foot in a house (dig your minds out of the gutter; good, moving right along now) most people don't realize how small the interior of a vehicle really is, but it seems large when you sit in the car.
John M Riley
Elio Enthusiast
one question .... have there been any measurements released for the roof redesign in the P5 .... I doubt it will make much difference in a discussion of a sunroof .... the announced additional backseat room is one of the main reasons I am looking forward to seeing the P5 in person
You never want to get into main structure in a vehicle cutting it out to make a hole; you take away too much strength.
In a lot of new cars the windshield is part of the rigidity of the whole car.
If you did want to cut a bigger hole in the car you would have to figure out how to re-engineer the structure in the roof; not something most shops will touch; unless it's a real "hack" installer.
One other thing to consider; if you want to make it a "Targa" style, you would have to stiffen the lower frame, chop off the frames around the door glass, make new door glass (frameless windows are thicker than framed windows), and new weatherstrips. When we did the T-tops in the Mustangs in the 80's it had the framed door glass, so it would be the same process. Not to mention fabricating the "Targa" panel, the frame and seals for that, etc. etc. etc.
If you were doing a show car that wouldn't be a daily driver (or even just a Sunday cruiser) , I would say go for it. If you want something that you will drive on a regular basis, either don't do it, or be ready to pay more than the car is worth.
John M Riley
Elio Enthusiast
It sounds like the problem of making a sunroof is not worth the trouble.
Making an oversized one is not worth the trouble; they plan on offering it as an option from EM, just don't expect it to be very big; more like a porthole.