You've likely seen some of these pics in a thread on drip rail fabrication, but I've had a couple questions on how I fixed the rusty roof, so we'll put it out for all to see. If you've seen a hole in the roof that is noticeably up from the drip rail, chances are it has rusted from the inside-out, as you'll soon see. While waiting to do some painting, might as well cut up something. But not until after a quick check on the inside as well to see the extent of the problem. Looks pretty ugly, and will require taking out more than I originally thought. Time to mark out the cut line. If you've never seen what holds the roof on, there are about a gazillion spot welds that hold it down to the gutter. Maybe not that many, but when you are drilling them out, well it seems so. Once all the spot welds are drilled out, it is easily removed. This is going from bad to worse. The rain gutter doesn't look too healthy inside. In true domino fashion, time to lose the gutter, and the profile shot will show how they are ***embled together. Maybe this would make the start of a good Vista Cruiser? After some much needed sheet metal replacement takes place on the inside, we'll try our hand at making a rain gutter. Let's pause here and clarify the major components we're working with: The rusty pieces came out as good as could be expected, and were limited help in forming new pieces. Some of the measurements had to be transposed from the opposite side of the roof, which was virtually flawless. After further inspection of the affected area, I'm thinking it was a condensation problem, and the moisture followed down the roof crossmember just like a gutter. The car must have been parked with a downhill slope to that side. Gaining access: Here's a good indicator for using the 3" cut off wheels as a grinder for removing spot welds. The top layer starts to turn blue when the metal gets thin and hot. Once you are through to the second layer, you will see the bright metal surrounded by the blue ring. Time to stop and pry them apart. Think these will sell on ebay? More to follow, please hold responses.............
A trial run at rain gutters Fabricating the new pieces There was one more section that needed repair, specifically the section holding the headliner bows. Looking at the next pic, the left red circled area is what it should look like, and the right red circled area shows where some of the rust spread, weakening the headliner bow support. Time to cut this out, bend up a replacement, and weld together. Dress the exposed welds a bit, and the rest will be cleaned up in the sand blast cabinet in preparation for epoxy primer. Then this stuff can start going back together. Well most of the roof patches are just about done, ready for paint, but we'll need the rain gutter as well, so let's get that done so it can be painted at the same time. The section needed was about 31" long, and you tend to get crisper bends on shorter sections (especially with worn out machinery), so I made two pieces 16" long. Here's the bend process: These were all done in the apron brake, with the last one accomplished using the clamping section of the brake to flatten out the bend. Next, a mark is made to cut the "tail" to size, and this cut will be done using a 3" x 1/32 cutoff wheel. To prevent from cutting through into the back side, slide a piece of s**** under the "tail". Once the tail is cut this short, we'll need to resort to the press brake with some flattening dies to compress the fold flat, mimmicking the factory original. This could also be done using a good flat body hammer. Then it's back to the apron brake, and with the newly made fold facing out, make a slight bend to form the curved surface you see on the outside of the gutter.
Then the rest of the bends, and a trail fit. Although the gutter was fairly straight and needs to have a slight radius to match the roof, the heat from the plug welds should be sufficient to shrink the back edge and draw the gutter in tight to the car where it belongs. Now where's the smiley with the fingers crossed when you need it? Well the epoxy primer has dried so let's get started on the drip rail install. Some epoxy primer was also painted on the top edge of the quarter the other day, in an attempt to prolong the lifespan this second time around. Plug holes were drilled, and the first piece was welded in place. All the plug welds were ground flush as the drip rail will position on top of this for welding. The next piece was overlapped and welded in place. And now for the drip rail Well I bent up a patch for the gaping hole in the roof. When you don't have the right tooling, sometimes you have to improvise. It would have been nice to use a slip roll to form the contour, but since I don't have one, we'll have to settle for incremental bends to form the radius. Then the bottom flange is bent, and we'll clamp it in place to scribe a mark from the back side and trim to fit. All trimmed, clamped in place. Now to see if I can pick up some tips for the spot welder tomorrow, they will likely need to be custom made to fit in the narrow void between the drip rail and the roof. If that is unsuccessful, I guess we're plug welding from the bottom side. The normal cone shaped tips will definitely not fit the bill:
Looks like we'll have to make our own, so lets start out with some flat tips, and start on the bottom. This one has to be trimmed down pretty short to fit in there because of the outward crease just below the drip edge: Then to shape up the top one, it will need the extra length to reach past the drip edge: Then a test fit, this just may work! Let's see the spot welder in action: This looks darn near a factory finish! We got the rest of the spot welds done, and the welder performed beautifully, tips are ready for another roof! Then we got the mig welder going and started getting the hole closed up. Finally got the rest of the roof structure welded back in the wagon, and the welds dressed. There are a few low spots in the roof repair, so will need to address those at a later time with some hammer welding to minimize any filler. Using the hindsight 20/20 thing, the opening should have been cut up a bit higher, so the long weld would be more readliy accessible to hammer/dolly. I do have a U shaped dolly that I can use in this instance, but the metal finishing after closing up the "patch" should always be a consideration. All done........Happy welding
I just went thru the same thing with a 55 chev 2-door wagon. Started out to replace a bad outer skin on the rear corner of the roof. Ended up doing basically what you did, except I had another roof for parts so didn't have to fab up the drip rail and curved corner pieces. Used the spare roof for patch pieces. I was lucky I had a spare good roof or would have had to do it your way. Nice work by the way. Pat.
Thank you! I have this work to look forward to on my 57 two door, only worse. From the nests in the headliner, I think the damage to mine was mouse piss. Yuck!! Fabulous tutorial, though. Well explained and photographed. The drawing really helped me understand all the layers too. I'm dreading this job. Ralph
You're a true craftsman. One thing for sure, the cancer one sees coming through the skin is much worse underneath. Buying a car like that can be a nightmare for people not equipped for metal fabrication. Awesome work!
Thanks for the comments, guys. As my luck normally runs, get something welded back together, and now they are making rook skins and drip rails for the hardtops. A piece of drip rail would have saved some work...
Really nice work, i wish i would have done the roof on my wagon like that. I bought a roof from the junk yard and replaced the parts that were needed and now the rust is coming through again throught the paint.
robert i have followed your metal work on chevy talk and that is some of the nicest metal fab i have ever seen
Ralph, talk to some of the tri-five vendors. Some of the same off-shore companies that are making the repro front fenders are now producing drip rails and roof skins for the hardtops. Haven't seen any in person, just what I've heard.
nice work, i love the part where you made the spot welder tips, is it common to have to do that or it there a "kit" like some blank tips you can buy & shape yourself ? jt
jt, miller has some ***t tips they sell, but actually I had to buy two sets to get those. Each of the blunt ends you see there came paired with a cone shape, thus two sets needed. I don't know what the factory used for tips in 55, but I sure didn't want to use plug welds and have to clean up that mess. I don't find that a common occurance to have to make tips like that, but then most areas aren't as tight to get into. It's funny what you can come up with when backed into a corner!
Nice....there is a 57' Pontiac Sedan Delivery I have been looking at but can't afford right now that has roof rust like that. Nice to know its not that bad to repair.
Robert, Love your posts always informative . I ve learned a lot. I also follow your posts on tri five. I also use HOK KP2CF epoxy primer. This may be a stupid ? but how did you weld thru that primer? I didnt think you could do that? Mike
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