model A roof inserts/fill in...steel roofs WHAT fits?

so iv searched a while on here and havnt found deffinate roofs that would work.

im working with a 29 coupe and the whole rear section is hand made so it doesnt have those 'L' sections that the original wood would sit in. so i want to go cut a roof off and weld it in, iv seen some posts about 80's gm cars.. thats what our salvage yard is full of so that would be best IF it would fit.

i understand it will need some work to make it fit, but i do not have the top bows for the car either. so i woudl like to know what works what year make and model. mini can,gm midsize ect. im looking to go and cut one up soon and am unsure what to get.

iv heard some cars mentione on here but those are hard to come by in our salvage yard. there is a LATE 70's mavrick out there, iv hear of using early mavrick. not sure what i should use, thanks guys

 

there is one 2 door corvair and one late 70's mavrick at our salvage yard, i plan on tearign into one of them tomorow morning since i hear those 2 roofs can work. any advice on wich is better?

 

http://www.waldenspeedshop.com/ ..................... steve

 

Maverick turned backwards. I can't imagine anything fitting better.

 

steve, im not going to spend a god awefull amount on somthing i can make if im guided in the right direction.

thanks landseaans air, does it matter what year? i seen a orange maverick out there, im unsure what year. it had a six in it iv i remember right. looked like late 70's..would that be better than the corvair roof? i think i get what you mean by turning it backwards since the maverick has a sloped back side, i can imagine how that could slope forward if it were reversed and seeign it tapper into the front visore area

 

I'd hate to see a Corvair hacked up just for the roof.

 

gsp, thats not the question, the corvair had an engine fire, i realy dont think anyone is going to save it. it will be crushed. our salvage yard crushes cars pretty fast.

this thread is about what works and what fits, wanting opinions what fits best.

 

I can tell you a Toyota FourRunner is about the right size but needs to be run through the english wheel to put a little more tumblehome in it. I know this because I visited a local guy here that used one and did not curve it and it looks like a pool table with a visor.
He was awfully keen on the factory sunroof that came with it but cost about two inches of headroom.
To each his own.
Do not order a roof from Howell's sheetmetal as I did. 40 hours on the english wheel got it right but much easier to search one out in the yard IMHO.

See attached pic of the Tudor roof

Been told the AMC pacer was a good candidate for a donor roof but haven't seen one of those in a while.

Good luck

Jeff

 

What I'm doing to my 29 roof.. I hope it works.......

 

i have no means of a english wheel,i dont plan on buying the sheetmetal one, its way to much money anyway.i agree, i think its easier to find one in the scrapper. just looking for ideas. so far im leanign towards the mavrick roof.

 

scrap i like seeing you post just cause i like to look at your avatar,i dig that car. i cant do louvers,mine will be kept outside. your car there has the 'l' peices to go off of, i dont so i need to get a whole roof and pretty much lay it on. my whole back wondow area i made cause it was a 'speacial' coupe

 

Well that's a better idea of what you are doing. It sounds like you need to go all the way from side to side at the rain gutters? ...Meaning that you need a sharp curve downward on the sides of your donor metal? that would be tough to find the right shape on a newer car?

 

no sir, i have the sides were the gutters are, i have the 'L' shapes of the roof above the doors. as i said the REAR section is hand made and missing the 'L' shape. it was a model a speacial, so i haf to make the rear section out of steel. the back window peaice is made by me and doesnt have teh channel to support were the inser would be.

kind of hard to explain but i only need the center roof part, with my idea to tie it into the back rear window section.

i understand how i wrote that did make it seem that way didnt it

 

look inside in teh back, see how its just sheet metal? i curved it to get the original roof curve in the back,you can see the seams were i tacked it in. and i have the sides, its just i can simply drop in an insert since teh back has no 'ledge' i was thinkin of just grafting the new roof middle into the back sheet metal. of course adding supports later on. my front visor i also rasied, i added steel were the wood was to get rid of that 'gap' they have. i want to tie the roof in so it flows right int othe visor and slows right into the back window and side areas

 

Here is a little more from a thread I posted a ways back.

[URL]http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=438263[/URL]

Good luck with your build.

 

your link is broke fifty!

 

another pic of the rear section, you can see i have the guutter side peices and all of that, just he rear peice is made out of sheet, it looks factory, just has no ledge(and the window isnt cut strait yet)

so basicly the sides are stock, its just the frotn and rear i need to get lined up with the donner roof.

 

^ that's a good pic to show how much curve there is. I thought it would have been a flatter donor roof piece.

 

just used the front half of a 54 customline roof to fill one last week.worked good

 

me to! but i know some one that used a pice of wood and it looks so weird, so i know i need some curve to it. theres more curve than one would think. but basicly ive got it all stock,just missing the rear ledge and teh visor is raised to were the old insert would have met the front part of the roof. basicly giving it the look of a 30' roof.

in the last pic you can see the trim on the rear quarter windows were the nails went, and it goes up, thats were the rear section of the roof i made stops. i tried to mimmick stock

 

What about a Chevy Vega wagon? I have access to one, permission to use it is another story. It has ridges in the roof.

 

Total different roof with almost no crown. I used almost flat metal from a 69 Dodge Dart HOOD, two pieces for the two very top panels. Not tacked in this pic.

I had them all tacked on about an inch between the spotwelds, to the 1/2" square tube framework. Then I made a huge mistake by welding the seams solid. even though I went slow and never welded a bead longer than 1/2"...the whole two top pieces warped badly, because I could not hammer stretch the welds on the tubing framework.

I am still trying to fix the front piece with more heat shrinking.

I should have just gone with good tackwelds and some filler on the seams, because it will be cloth covered.

 

there are no vega wagons in our salvage yard. as i said, lots of 80's gm, some 80's ford, a mavrick and a corvair. oh and LOTS of little import nissans and what not.

ive heard both using corvair and mavrick, and i have spotted one of each there. but i do not know which is a better fit. i think maverick looks to be better if reversed cause it has that nice slope.

 

whoa f&j, thats totaly flat, i like seeing roof build pictures tho. speak of the devil there is a dart out at our yard. also a big ass for ltd. town car

 

Well it ain't flat anymore since I screwed it up


I can't believe how bad it went.

Anyways, hope you have better luck welding.

 

I know the search feature doesnt work well on this forum but if you did a search, you would find many many threads answering this question.
I have posted on a lot of them.
The 1965 Chevy Nova 4 dr roof laid down PERFECTLY on my 31 coupe.
No bending, no tweaking. Perfect fit

 

.F&J, thats beautiful!

 

actualy i did search. hardly anythign came up, and half of what did was folks buying the repro oen that wound even work for what i need.

there is nothing that old in our yard that i have seen. but that is the info that im looking for what HAS worked.

and f&j i hope to take it REAL slow when welding it in. thats why half my roof isnt welded yet

 

here's another pic, right before I ruined it.

Not trying to steal Hooligans thread, but I just can't believe it went from fitting mint, to warped to heck in such a short time. Just trying to let him know to be careful. I am really bummed on mine.

car was a hacked ex-5w, channeled, suicide doors etc

 

at least im not the only guy hand making part or most of their roof on here. i was thinking it was a lost cause when i made that rear section. if no one has any more suggestions by tomorow im going to go get the maverick roof in the morning and see how it fits.