Rusted out roof to a new vinyl top! (pics)

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Here is the work I just recently completed on my 68 Charger! I was changing a rear window trim corner and one thing led to another! I bought the car sight unseen two years ago and the seller did not say anything about rust under the vinyl top. When I got the car I immediatey noticed the lumps under the vinyl but I had no idea it could be this bad consiidering it was a Arizona and Texas car its whole life and there was no rust whatsoever anywhere else on the car. When I started pealing up the vinyl top I couldn't believe the mess I got myself into. I decided to tackle it myself and now after looking back Im happy with how it turned out. Its not a show car its a driver. Im sure some of you think I should have replaced the roof but that would have been a lot more work, money and time I did not have. I doubt the rust will come back in my lifetime as the car is only dry washed and never sees rain and is garaged. I treated the rust that could not be cut out by removing every last bit of loose rust with a 3m rust/paint remover disc (awesome product!) and then used rust converter and then rust encapsulator paint. (eastwood's por-15) For some of the small rust holes I welded a piece of metal to the underside to allow "all metal" body filler to be applied. The car was then sent to a body shop to get the roof nice and flat and epoxy primed. After coming back from the body shop I installed the vinyl top myself and then had the headliner professionally installed. I polished all the stainless trim as well. Sorry for the large pics I dont know how to make them smaller.







cleaning up all loose rust.

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More pics

[Charger74]

Wow, great work you did on that roof.  Very impressed you took it on that way.

[Stegs]

 

[bakerhillpins]

    That was some serious rust under there.   


Did a great job with the repair though! 

[tan top]

 nice job !!  looks good    love the color combo   

[nvrbdn]

good job.

[2592 creston]

    Looks Great!!!Fantastic Job!!!

[moparnation74]

That is true talent!  Looks beautiful!

[timmycharger]

Outstanding!!!

[6spd68]

Awesome job! 

[70-500-SE-EXPORT]

Thanks everyone for the compliments!! My biggest concern was preventing the rust from coming back so I spent countless hours removing the loose rust before treating the surface rust with rust converter and then applying four coats of por15. Then the roof was then sealed with two coats of epoxy primer. The vinyl top was not easy to install by any means. It takes two people for sure. If I wasn't out of money paying to have the big dent on the quater fixed and the headliner installed I would have paid a professional, but luckily mine came out great. Also just a side note the cheesy aftermarket drip rail moldings do not fit if you have a vinyl top!

[69rtse4spd]

 Great job, that is odd, how the roof rusted,  .

[XS29L9Bxxxxxx]

very nice work 

[Bulldog69]

Very impressive  work!  Great attention to detail. I can only hope my car turns out as nice when it's done.

[twodko]

Bravo Zulu bro. Nicely done.

[67tbird]

both my cars came out of Arizona, both have rust issues under the vinyl tops. One with out of commission a/c looks like it started from interior(salty sweat)

[Sublime/Sixpack]

Nice job, you should feel very satisfied with the work you did!

[69wannabe]

WOW!!! That's some real talent you have!!  Great job the car look's awesome!!!

[TexasStroker]

Very nice work!

[moparnut]

Back in 2004 I restored my 69 and could not bring myself to install a white vinyl top.It just had to be black .Fast forward ten years later ,I had the car repainted and plans of installing a new white top.While pulling the black top off,we found brown stains in the material that appeared like the moisture was coming thru the top itself.The roof had been repaired years earlier no rust at all on the metal roof.This car sits inside under cover and only gets wet while washing a few times a year. Ive never been told of any need to treat the vinyl, but some type of care should be taken.

[VegasCharger]

Nice work indeed

If I was to have a Charger with a vinyl top that created that mess I sure would not replace it with another vinyl top unless it was a rare concourse restoration. Which in my case I would not probably take on a project with a highy optioned/important to detail Charger project. I'm not a vinyl top guy on the 2nd gen Chargers. I was fortunate enough that my 68 Charger started life with no vinyl top.

Just my

Again nice work none-the-less

[moparnut]

The big question is for us with vinyl tops,is the material being used for the tops allowing water to penetrate thru.Could understand a 45 year old top possibly letting some moisture thru. A new top recently installed should not be a issue for many years.What type of quality are we getting?My top was from legendary both times and their was never any  instructions on having to treat the material to keep it moisture proof. moparnut

[6spd68]

When do you plan to do the drivers fender?

[PlainfieldCharger]

  I would have to say I would not have known where to start. I more than likely would start a post to ask not show. Sweet work!