How to correct....roof rust

[1carcrazyguy]

Just curious how a roof rust along the rear edge of the roof could be fixed?  The car had a vinyl top and the rear edge is the only place that has seperated.   Would it be possible to reweld instead of having to re-roof the entire car?     

[Charger1973]

I have a feeling that will look alot worse once you get all the rust removed from it. 

[1carcrazyguy]

It is strange though because the front of the roof is super solid, as are the sides where it meets the drip rail.   Just wondered if anyone might have had one repaired that might have been in the same condition or worse.   I thought maybe a shop might be able to either reweld or form a patch to weld in without having to locate another roof.   

  The pieces that are coming up from the chrome trim are actually pieces of the vinyl top.   The metal looks like it is a clean seperation at the bend.  It is not seperated all the way across.  Maybe about 8-10 inches or so. 

[The70RT]

Looks pretty scarry. If you can do metal work you can do it. Mine wasn't that bad and I bought a top channel from auto body specialties. It has maybe just over an inch to work with towards the roof. It wasn't the best pice but was better than trying to make one. You will probably have to blast and see whats left so you know where your at.

[Mike DC]

 
I bought a replacement one of those from Charger Specialties a few years ago.  I disagree that it was better than trying to make one.  I wish I'd just started from scratch to hand-shape what I needed.  Welding on the skin of the roof was  B*TCH!  Trying to keep the metal roof skin from warping was not fun.  That was BY FAR the hardest part of the job and I'm still not really happy with the results. 

If I was doing it over, I'd DEFINITELY hand-shape a replacement part, and then bond it into place with panel-bonding adhesive rather than weld on the area.  I'm not big on panel bonding in most cases, but in retrospect that's really what I should have done in that particular situation.

 

[The70RT]

 
I bought a replacement one of those from Charger Specialties a few years ago.  I disagree that it was better than trying to make one.  I wish I'd just started from scratch to hand-shape what I needed.  Welding on the skin of the roof was  B*TCH!  Trying to keep the metal roof skin from warping was not fun.  That was BY FAR the hardest part of the job and I'm still not really happy with the results. 

If I was doing it over, I'd DEFINITELY hand-shape a replacement part, and then bond it into place with panel-bonding adhesive rather than weld on the area.  I'm not big on panel bonding in most cases, but in retrospect that's really what I should have done in that particular situation.

 

I had to cut V's in the top to curve it. If I knew ahead of time i would have not bought it. Mine turned out ok and i am happy with it. It took a lot of hours but I got it done. I put a coat of all metal on it and then skim coated it with filler.

[Mike DC]

Me too.  Hadda cut the replacement piece up & reweld on it.
I ended up with a decent result and there's only a thin layer of filler on the whole thing now. 

But it could have been better.  It could have been virtually a no-filler job if I'd hand-fabbed the entire patch section and then bonded it in place.

 

[Rolling_Thunder]

My roof looked exactly the same...       media blasted it and i found that....         took me 2 days of patching to get mine correct looking   

[The70RT]

By looking at the pic that's just some of the problem. Wait till all the trim is removed.

[daves68]

Remove the window trim AND the rear window. Guaranteed there will be more beneath that stuff, especially the lower corners of the window. True- it is a B---ch to weld there. The roof will oil can on you real easily. I did mine the hard way(welding) but it was not as bad as yours. In retrospect, I would try the bonding method.
Daves68

[bill440rt]

Unless you plan on re-installing a vinyl top, I would NOT use panel bond adhesive on an exterior seam. On the flange that's covered by the window, it will be fine.
Once cured, you will see "ghost lines" appear over time where the panel bond seam is. I've used 3M's adhesive. It works awesome. However, they even state in their instructions not to use it in certain areas. I used it on my trunk floor & extensions, rear valence, around the wheelhouses & lower 1/4 seams, etc. For flat exterior seams, such as where the 1/4 panel skin went on up at the body line, I welded.

If you are planning on a vinyl top to cover the seam, adhesive is the way to go.

[1carcrazyguy]

There also is a little rust around the sail panel area and the top trim.    The trunk lip actually has split and would need to be patched and welded as well.