Anyone have any ideas for me with my wagon roof? The rain sat in the rain gutters for so many years it's litterall rotted all the way through from about mid way back on the edges. I started chipping away the fiberglass that someone laid over the rust to cover it up and it goes all the way down. Any help would be nice, I'm in Southern California. Thanks. the pic is just a small example
Tmuraine, I am going through the same thing on my '65 2 dr falcon wagon.....first thing is you need to find out the extent of the damage....you may have to do a roof reskin or worse a roof replacement like I will have to do....I have some pics posted on my forum 65 falcon wagon resto....in your situation you have to ask yourself a couple of questions: 1. Do I want to do the work myself or do I want someone else to do it? 2. Is the vehicle worth the time to put the cost/labor involved? Now if you decide to go forward with the repair I would suggest doing the following: A. take out all of the glass carefully, interior, and headliner if you still have it in B. the weatherstripping around the glass will more than likely need to be replaced which if it is old you may have to chip it out like I did Now since I was doing this myself I took some dewalt 4.5" grinding discs and cut off the roof skin leaving the inner structure and ribs in place (save all the metal that is still good as that will save you on some cost)....If you decide to take on the project it looks like we both will be looking for some roof replacements so keep in contact Jeff
hey man if you are just going to do a roof reskin BE VERY CAREFUL TO NOT WARP THE METAL WHEN YOU WELD IT....Are you going to weld it in at the rain gutter?
That looks like a stress free zone. As long as you cut out all the rust I'm sure it wont matter what you use. I dont think it will crack on you later. Glue on a patch or rivit or both. Use the glue they use in attaching fenders to cars then use Tigerhair fiberglass, and use a grinder to rough it in, then bondo it. Sometimes body shops keep junk sheet metal around. You might find a section of metal from some junk fenders that might have a nice curve already in it. Then section it out (cut it out)
Homestar62, if the inner structure is rotted through from the water sitting in the rain gutters and going all the way thru then he will have to do a roof replacement....me personally I would rather do it right the first time which would involve doing a roof replacement for longevity purposes rather than having to do it again and spend more $....now if it is just in the actual curved metal you could get away with smaller patch panels....just note that if welding the metal to again not warp it or that sucker will wave like an ocean wave
