My AAR Resto gets serious

[anlauto]

A metal fabricator could repair the roof without replacing it 

[AAR6BBL]

Hey Alan,
Thanks for your reply.
I figured that, and actually toyed with the idea of doing it myself, or patching in the rusted pieces with pieces cut off an AMD roof.
But by the time I payed someone capable of fabricating it correctly, or figured my time to do it (several times probably)
I would be money ahead with a new roof.
I am more concerned with what might be under the corners of the roof where it has rusted through. I don't want to start cutting rusted metal off to find rusted metal underneath!
Greg

[anlauto]

Agreed...I was just trying to point out it can be done, actually quite common on our beloved E Bodies.

[734406pk]

Hey Alan,
Thanks for your reply.
I figured that, and actually toyed with the idea of doing it myself, or patching in the rusted pieces with pieces cut off an AMD roof.
But by the time I payed someone capable of fabricating it correctly, or figured my time to do it (several times probably)
I would be money ahead with a new roof.
I am more concerned with what might be under the corners of the roof where it has rusted through. I don't want to start cutting rusted metal off to find rusted metal underneath!
Greg

A section patch would be easier if you can do it yourself, but by the time you buy a new roof panel and find/pay someone to weld in the patch, not cost effective. If you can handle removing the roof panel and spot welding in the new one, go for it! I would feel better with new metal but that's just me.

[rUNCHARGER]

Have to fix front and back, I would replace the roof as well and it will give you a chance to clean up and coat the framework underneath the skin.

Sheldon

[jimynick]

Where did those boys come up with their price? What's a tow cost? $100-200? The crossmember repair shouldn't exceed $500 max and that says they're charging approx. $2700 to blast/epoxy your car? Man, that sounds pricey to me and I'd ask them for a breakdown on how they arrived at it. If they'd be willing to R&R the roof as well for that price, it'd sound more realistic to me. It shouldn't hurt to sit down after a repair- or at least not TOO much! Good luck! 

[Topcat]

Hey Alan,
Thanks for your reply.
I would be money ahead with a new roof.
I am more concerned with what might be under the corners of the roof where it has rusted through. I don't want to start cutting rusted metal off to find rusted metal underneath!
Greg

No two situations are the same.
Metal stuctural under the roof is pretty thick. If your car was living on the western U.S. most of it's lifespan; chances are the under structure is alright.

[AAR6BBL]

Morning All, Happy Easter!
Jimynik,
Yeh we are arm wrestling over the price right now. They figure 6-7 hours on the crossmember and floor, and they get $95.00 per hour out here.
Based on that and the cost of moving it (twice) they are about $5-600 high on the blasting/epoxy over the cheaper guys, about even with what the guy my painter recommends. Part of the high cost of living in the P.R.O.C.
Mike,
Unfortunately the car spent most of its time on the East Coast and Midwest, and the underside of the roof is covered with a lot of "surface" rust.
I think I am going to pull the roof and replace it, I will feel better knowing the under structure has been addressed.
By the time I cut and patched panels in I will be way ahead of the game.
I am trying to conserve $ where I can, but I only plan on doing this once!
I think I will go out and start grinding seams and cutting spot welds!
Ya'll have a great Easter!
Greg
 

[AAR6BBL]

Ok Boys & Girls
As previously mentioned I decided to cut my roof off before sending the car out for blasting.
I am glad I did, because although most of the structure is just covered in "surface rust" as you can see in the one pic, the right side drip rail is pretty rusted at the front end where it is welded to the roof frame. Guess those nice bondo plugs you can see didn't stop the rust from continuing. Go Figure!!
Anyway now I am wondering if I should remove the trunk floor (also needs replacing) lower section of rear Qtrs (just cut out the rusted section) for the same reasons. Just how much metal can you take off of one of these before it folds in half!
I am posting pictures of the roof removal in case anyone is interested.
 
Greg

[AAR6BBL]

More Pics,
After about 8 spot welds I took a 1/16' cutoff and zipped off. I will clean up the remaining metal later.
Greg

[anlauto]

I wouldn't go crazy removing lots of metal before it's blasted. It's the metal that these uni-bodies rely on to stay together

[AAR6BBL]

Yeh Alan,
I don't want to go too crazy, but after seeing what was lurking under the roof, I want to be able to get to as much of the nasty bits as possible.
Of course I may get it back in several large buckets at the rate I am going!

[AAR6BBL]

OK Guys & Gals,
I talk to the owner today at the shop that was going to do my (expensive) media blasting/crossmember repair/primer. His frame rack is ready next week if I want to do it. So I tell him I want to get that done now and I am still checking out pricing on the rest of the job because he seems high. Then he starts telling me that he may have more time in the crossmember repair then we had originally talked about, he may need to remove it to make it look right
I told him if we were going to remove it I can do that myself and weld in a new one. So.....
I am back to probably dealing with this myself after I get some measurements and find out how much tweak I have if any.
For now I am going to probably do a couple of more things to get it ready and then send it to a guy that one of the members here turned me on to. They strip it and then epoxy powder prime the whole car inside and out for 1700-1900 all in. I talked to the guy today and really got a good vibe from him and he has great references.
If everything measures out ok I may drill the spot welds out of the floor to crossmember, anyone who has had it apart know if you can pull the crossmember without removing the floor if you get all the welds cut? I figure if I replace the crossmember and weld in SF connectors before I have it primed it will be cleaner and easier to do.
I think I have hit the paralysis by analysis stage.
All feedback is appreciated
Greg

[1 Wild R/T]

This was from my Coronet, I replaced a section of the floor, you might get a few helpful clues about how the flanges are overlapped & such...   Never had to tear into that area of an E body but I'd assume it's very similar...

[Haddixj]

If you want to make the drive to sac you can see my dads car and check it out also. The primer is on there and it looks good where they blasted and primed