Help! Underneath the vynil top gives me nightmares! :(

[defiance]

Ok.  My car was painted and a new vynil top put on about 7 years ago when my dad owned it.  I knew they didn't do a very good job, but apparently, from what I'm seeing now, these people are shmucks deserving of my eternal ire. 

As I said, I knew they didn't do a very good job.  The vynil was separating from the top in a few places, some small bubbles were forming underneath it (rust), some other bubbles were forming in small places on the body...  keep in mind the car is very dirty in these pictures...  The paint is pretty dull, but not THIS bad






So, I knew I needed to have body work done (mostly just repaint).  My quick estimates from shops in the area that  I trust put me in the $4k range, though, which is a chunk of money ... I have a budget of $500/month I've negotiated with the wife (heheh), and while I can fudge that sometimes, not by that much.  So, at a minimum, it's going to be SEVERAL months before I can get to that.  With that in mind, I thought it best to go ahead and remove the vynil top to clean up underneath it and prevent any further rust.  Oh, what a scary thing that was, though...  Rust, bondo, and other horrors, as far as the eye could see 









I mean, check out the rear window valance!  Looks like they just got a random flat piece of metal, stripped it across below the valance area, then filled in the gap with mass quantities of bondo...





So after some time of convincing myself not to jump off a cliff, I started doing what I could to pull off the bondo and brush off the surface rust.  I came across this oddity, though...
Seems there is some kind of wierd seam on the roof of my car...  There's an identical one on each side, plus one on each front pillar as well.  Below are several shots of it with the bondo that had hidden it removed.





Is this a normal thing for 3rd gen tops?  I would think the shop had done it, but the way the metal recesses into the joint, it looks like it was made that way...  If it WAS made that way, how does the factory usually fill in the gap??

Finally, and most importantly...
Does anyone have any recommendations for how to inhibit further rusting on this exposed metal?  I really know NOTHING about body work at ALL, so I don't want to do anything too in-depth (I'll probably screw it up  ). 
My dad 'knows a body guy' who said he'd help me with it this weekend.  He said if I took him up on it, we'd scrape off all the surface rust, use some chemical (I can't remember the name of it, but it was zinc something or something zinc) to inhibit further rusting, use some material that he described as a thick-resin, short-fibered fiberglass material that applies like bondo to fill in the gaps (including the two in the driver rain channel, the rear valance, and the 'joint' channels), then primer the whole thing.

Just the fact that my dad recommends the guy makes me think it's PROBABLY not right.  However, if he IS right, I'd be stupid to turn down free help...

If he's wrong, what should I do?  I wish I could just churn up $4k on the spot, but that's just not happening.

[original72]

it doesnt look as bad as mine did but to answer you question about the seams in the roof.... that is how the factory did the assembly and usually filled the area with lead.... and if the body shop cleaned it out they probably filled it with bondo.... when i filled in mine i used a product called   "all metal"   it is like aluminum paste with a hardener and is superior to bondo and less corrosive then lead.... and wont shrink and crack over time...

Bill

[Todd Wilson]

Not bad at all on the roof area. Looks like most of that will sand off with a DA.   Go get a 3m fiber wheel for a electric drill and tape up the glass  and polish the edges of the windshield area. You should be able to get the rust off. Your room seam is a normal thing for 3rd gens.





Todd

[NHCharger]

As another 3rd gen owner I agree with all above. I have seen worse, those are the factory seams, the factory did use lead to fill them, and please back away from the cliff

[defiance]

Wow, I just really didn't think that could be normal...  Thanks for the reassurance!  I've got free help awaiting me if I can just get it to drive about 2 hrs away,  (gotta fix a cooling issue, then I'll be ready for that)...  hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll have it all smooth, sealed, some sort of protectant on it to prevent future rusting, and primered.  Then it won't make me want to cry.....