Lead roof

[Ravage]

During my paint stripping it has come to my attention that the roof was leaded onto my car ,my uncle said that was a factory done thing.The craftsmanship of the lead job does seem a bit nice considering everything else I am fidning but I still find it hard to belive.Did plymouth actualy lead the roofs onto soft top cudas or did the original rot through?

[71fish]

Giood question.. I just finished taking my roof down to metal.. and was pleased to find where the full 1/4 is attached is filled w/ lead.. and a darn good job at that.. almost such that no or little bondo is needed. My first instinct is that it was done by whomever got the car painted because I've also taken down my other 318 barracuda down to metal.. and the seam was 'filled' with bondo.

At any rate, I'm sure glad mine was filled with lead. I'm estatic !!   

[70challengerrt]

Yes that is factory. My challenger was like that so was the charger I was looking at to paint this week.

[Alaskan_TA]

The gereral rule of thumb for cars I have seen is that cars with painted tops got leaded seams and cars with vinyl tops got filler.

Barry

[Challenger6pak]

I understand the reason Chrysler did this was due to body flex.  The lead would flex and not crack out as quickly. 

[Ravage]

I musta been special ,car originaly had a soft top and it has lead  now that I think about it only makes sense that wouldn't be a mile of solid steel ,but this was a chevy guy that told me originaly so I always have doubt  He calls me and my brother "the dodge boys"

[71fish]

Barry - that's interesting, because my 318 barracuda had all bondo in the seam & my shakler car.. all lead. Also found lead at the end of the rocker panels.. hmmm

I will say, they did a real good job with the lead.. after 30 years.. and almost no bondo needed to cover.

The gereral rule of thumb for cars I have seen is that cars with painted tops got leaded seams and cars with vinyl tops got filler.

Barry

[rchurch]

I heard another version of the same story. They all got lead, & the ones that came out good became hardtops & the ones that didn't got vinyl.

[Challenger6pak]

I have found the same thing as Barry; body filler with vinyl tops and lead with out the vinyl top.

[Wang]

I have only found body filler one time in my 30 plus years of doing "oldies".
Lead is great, but should be removed when doing a resto.
Reason being,,, the seam below it can be rusting from the inside out, which I have seen on nearly ALL resto's that I have done. (even California and Arizona cars). When you do your work, and if you DO NOT have good lead experience, I recommend that you use duraglass. This product remains somewhat soft, not brittle as alot of other body fillers. I have placed this in the sail panels of several cars that I have restored for over 20 years and they look great. (mind you, ALL lead removed)

[dougs bs23]

you will find lead in the sail panels as well as where the qtrs are seamed into the rockers. It is a good material and with some practice its as easy to use as filler. But there ore other types of material available to use in its place.  I've been leading in some of the resto I'm into getting it down close and then applying a very thin skim coat of filler and spot.  Dont really want to sand it,, as it can be hazardous so if you decide to lead back your welds dont forget to "tin" the metal firstand use a good file that will cut it down close to finish clean it good with acetone and skim it lightly with filler to your final finish Take your time with it and good luck 

[Wang]

I do not look to "undermine" my fellow mopar enthusiast, but ,,, leading is very difficult , even for those of us with many years of autobody trade under our belt.  First, you need beeswax, and a paddle, several sticks of lead ,and depending upon your skill, what grade of lead, (some have lower melting points than others, which effects flow and workability). Also needed is rubyfluid... a flux that is necessary to make lead flow over metal, then the art comes into play.

Once you have lead melted into place , it needs to be "sweated" .. this means to remove any traped flux (rubyfluid) that is caught below the surface ,brought to the surface for removal. (and if you can do this as a novice without dropping huge amounts of your repairwork onto the floor,, you are awesome!)

Long and short is ,, skip the lead, use Duraglass instead, it is very user-friendly, and will hold out very well ... so help me wang.,.......