Roof removal and replacement

[clay69camaro]

Well the roof had some frankenstein work done too it before I bought the car. Looks like the roof skin from another camaro was bondo'd in place.

I found this out when I was grinding a LOT of bondo/fiberglass away from the rain gutters. It is a complete line with one skin on top of the other. (NOT cool previous owner) but I knew the car had it's problems when I bought it.

So how can I ditch the stock roof skin? I'm going to attempt installing a new one lol.
Where do I cut and how deep? Are there any spots welds I need to drill out? Are the rain gutters attached to the roof skin? since I want to remove them anyway shall I just do so?

Thanks

Clay

[kush69]

I would get the new one before you do any cutting .just so you can see exactly what you get.then cut,grind ,drill as carefull as you can to remove the old skin.Also stripping the old paint off of the edges of the old skin helps hope that helps

[GPR]

Originally Posted by clay69camaro

Well the roof had some frankenstein work done too it before I bought the car. Looks like the roof skin from another camaro was bondo'd in place.

I found this out when I was grinding a LOT of bondo/fiberglass away from the rain gutters. It is a complete line with one skin on top of the other. (NOT cool previous owner) but I knew the car had it's problems when I bought it.

So how can I ditch the stock roof skin? I'm going to attempt installing a new one lol.
Where do I cut and how deep? Are there any spots welds I need to drill out? Are the rain gutters attached to the roof skin? since I want to remove them anyway shall I just do so?

Thanks

Clay

The roof is attached with spot welds in the drip rails, windshield and back glass area.

[Smitty67]

This thread should show you what you need to know. If not, just ask Todd.

http://www.camaros.net/forums/showth...46455&page=166

[DOOM]

Originally Posted by GPR

The roof is attached with spot welds in the drip rails, windshield and back glass area.

Lots of spot welds in the gutters!!!. I found it much to faster trim the roof off and drill the drip rails off alot less spot welds.....Weld in new gutters. I'll be gluing most of my roof on. It will be welded along the windshield and rear glass area then I'll glue the gutter . I'll put a weld at the ends and the center of the gutter area just for good measure.

[clay69camaro]

Yes! Thank you everyone. I believe this answers all my questions. I will post up some pictures in a few weeks when the funds are available to buy a new roof skin. Till then I just have to stay vigilante and hope my DD does not break on me at auto-x lol

[elitecustombody]

Buy a new skin first,use metal panel bonding adhesive on all pinchweld flanges, weld only on A and C pillars,

DOOM, there is no need to weld on pincheld flanges,only corners and sail , the adhesive is alot stronger than welding, if you have ever tried replacing bonded quarter or any other panels, you'd know.

[DOOM]

Do it every day!

[kush69]

I agree with panel bonding ,also helps with rust between the seams

[elitecustombody]

Originally Posted by DOOM

Do it every day!

so why create more work for yourself and end up with weaker result and a chance for corrosion down the road?

Years ago I read an article in Bodyshop Business Magazine where they did a test on two Nissan Sentras,one with with glued on quarters and roof skin ,another with welded panels and dropped them from a crane lifting cars to 75 feet in air, the results clearly showed the car with bonded panels had won hands down,that's what has sold me,I've been using Duramix till few years ago,because 3M bought them out ,so now it's Automix, I also use SEM stuff and both work great,I would never weld ,unless the seam is on exterior,it makes watertight seal and is much stronger than weld,just my .02 cents