Ripped My Vinyl Top Off

[Harlow]

Well I started pulling it off today....I have to say I'm a little worried. Hopefully its not as bad as I think it is. Nothing really felt soft, it did seem like towards the middle it would bend in a little bit if I pushed on it. I looked at the roof from the inside and I don't see any rust except for a few areas about the size of a dime have some light rust. Heres the pictures I have for now, more to come as I get the rest off of. Let me know what you think. My plan is to start sanding it down tomorrow and then seal it with some por 15. Then get to work on the rear quarter damage, which I may have to take to a shop due to my current circumstances. We can't move into our house until july 9th. At my aunts house I have no garage and very limited tools. Luckily we put our big tool box in the front of the storage unit so I can get tools out so I have pretty much everything except power sanders, drills, etc...









The lower windshield channel didn't even have surface rust...

[69RTSEV88]

Harlow,
don't get discouraged, this is exactly what most old Mopars (and other brands) roofs look like when you peel off an original vinyl top.  Mine was almost a carbon copy of yours only when I got to the back window I had big holes!!!  If you don't uncover any holes then your plan to cover it with POR-15 should work OK.  I'm assuming that you are putting another vinyl top on the car, if not then your going to have a bit more body work involved.  Also, the softness/flexibility in the center of the roof is simply because there is no bracing on the underside of it like there is around the edges,  its almost like a big flat piece of 18ga. sheet metal.

[Ghoste]

It's a lot nicer than under mine.  You should be okay.

[Charger1973]

Its honestly worse than I thought it would look... but no holes is a good sign.  I dont know enough about bodywork to really say if it looks saveable or not. 

This is a good example of what most of the cars look like that I have taken vinyl tops off of.  They always look nice except the front edge, a pillar seams, and the quarter window plugs (on SE cars). 

[hutch]

my 73 had the big flakes and deep pits when I pulled off the top. My heart sank and I thought the top was a total loss. but it worked out ok.  Hit it with a 60 grit wheel and naval jelly.  if you are going to recover it all it will need is a good rust removal and then paint for future protection. 

[Harlow]

Alright, I got the rest of the top off this morning, hopefully I'll start some rust removal today. I think I'll be able to get away without having to patch anything, as I can see nothing but sheet metal from the inside...but we'll see.

[Charger-Bodie]

did someone replace the vinyl top with one of those padded ones at sometime of is it really that scaley like it looks in the pics?

[Harlow]

someone put in one of those padded tops, but in the most recent pictures everything is off. I think it may have gotten so rusty due to the foam pad they put down under the vinyl.

[Harlow]

As I started scrapping away the scaly rust I found some small pinholes already. I'm not sure how to even start to fix these problems... Do I need to find a donor roof? Do I use lead to fill the holes? This is not good. I'll get you pictures once I get the rest of the rust off...

- Scott

[bordin34]

My roof is like yours in some places. I am just gonna get all the scales I can off, wire wheel it, weld all the holes closed, then use that por-15 and fiberglass sheet stuff for floor pans.

[Harlow]

Alright, I've found about 6-8 rust holes so far. I just finished the worst side so hopefully it gets better. I'm pretty discouraged at this point, not sure what I'm going to do. I'll probably just farm it out and let someone else do it. Cause at this point I don't even have a garage and no power tools. Should have a garage and all my tools back by july 9th. Heres some pictures:

[supserdave]

Thats not good.....

[Charger1973]

   Bummer man I dont know what to tell you there...  It doesnt look too good to me. 

[Harlow]

I talked with my dad and wants to undertake replacing the whole roof skin. We are talking with someone who did it on his challenger. He did it in three days, including time prepping the donor. Now I just need to find a donor and get started. I'm going to have to rent a spot welder the day we put the donor on. It sucks a big one, but I don't really have any choice in the matter, as I don't have enough money to farm it out to a shop. I still need to finish up with the quarters, new gears w/ surgrip, new cam, exhaust and interior, which I should be able to do with the money I have stashed away, If I take it to a shop, it will most likely clean me out. We're still going to a shop tomorrow with the car and getting an estimate, and if its outrageous (like it most likely will be) we will see if they can give us any input or hints.

- Scott

[supserdave]

Sounds like you have a plan! Don't let it get you discouraged, if you need some motivation check out the midwest cars in the project or charger rotting thread. Take your time, and things will come around.

[Harlow]

Sounds like you have a plan! Don't let it get you discouraged, if you need some motivation check out the midwest cars in the project or charger rotting thread. Take your time, and things will come around.

I was pretty discourage earlier today, but things are turning around and from what our friend said doing a roof is easier than floor pans . I've even got a few possible donor cars I already knew of at a few salvage yards that I'll be taking a look at. One is a 68 coronet 440 and the other one is a 69 super bee shell.

[73ChargerSE]

What salvage yards are you looking at?  Are they here in Tucson?

[Harlow]

Yeah their here in Tucson. I don't know the names, but their out by the electrical plant by Palo Verde. They're over by the volvo revolve store if you know where that is.

[73ChargerSE]

You're probably looking at Classic Auto Salvage, they're the only ones I can think of that would have that kind of cars.  Kind of pricey.

[Harlow]

I know one of them was called Desert Specialties or something like that...I'll be swinging by a few places tomorrow I'll let everyone know how it goes.

[73ChargerSE]

Desert Specialties had a lot of great stuff, he crushed about half his yard though Chargers, Challengers, Cudas etc.  Sad to see it all of the sudden gone.

[Ghoste]

You're still starting off better than me.  You'll get through it.

[The70RT]

Yeah good idea to replace that. You will never fix that right by patching. That horizontal line on the sail panel tells me it It looks like someone put a roof on it before. Good luck.

[hutch]

wow, best of luck.  its not hard to replace if you take your time with it.  A few guys on this board have some how to info if you need any advice.

[Charger_Fan]

That horizontal line on the sail panel tells me it It looks like someone put a roof on it before.

Wow, it sure does, huh? I don't see the usual dividing lines on the A-pillar either.

Good luck Harlow.