I am looking at a 71 Comet GT that has great metal in the floors, trunk, quarters and all around, except for the roof. You know the story. It had a vinyl roof, then it was removed. It is now rusty and pitted, though not leaky, yet. Do I try to have it fixed, then add a vinyl roof (that I am not crazy about). Do I have it fixed, then have it painted over (knowing the rust will definitely return). Or, do I use a donor roof (which I happen to have, even the same color!), and have a professional do the cutting and pasting. What experiences have you had, so I can learn from you! How hard is it to change roofs. I am sure my metal guy will want the wealth of your experience.
I would have to see the roof, but if its not bad you could cut/fill the holes and sand away the rust then coat and vinyl or paint the same as the body. If the roof is real bad... If you plan to run vinyl back over top I would cut out the bad spots & fabricate sheet metal to follow the shape of the roof in those areas. I would then sand the roof down and prime/paint (oil based, truck bed, or por 15, ???) then apply vinyl. This would be easiest if the rust isn't too terrible and you don't have to get the welds/body work spot on as they will be covered over with vinyl If you don't plan on applying a vinyl roof then a complete roof replacement sounds better, as the roof needs to be perfect in terms of shape/body work. Not a difficult job, just grind down the lead where the roof is seamed and cut at the pillars front and back. Align & Weld on your new roof and blend the seams back in. Thats just roughly my idea and it all depends on the roof itself and how bad the rust is.
If the roof is pretty bad....cut the whole thing off and replace it. Easier to smooth out the welds on the pillars than it is to try and smooth out numerous patches all over the roof.
If you have the headliner out, can you see sunlight through any holes? If not, you might be able to save your existing roof with a product like rust bullet. Search rust bullet and you will see what it can do. If you only have a couple spots with tiny holes just weld them up and use the rust bullet. Really need some pictures to see what we are talking about. If you have holes and lots of them, I like the donor roof route too.
Unless you have major structural issues, please consider replacing just the roof skin. This is my friends car, he really did do most of the work on his .
Thanks for the info. I am leaning heavily on changing roofs. I simply do not want to revisit the rust a bit later. Since I have a donor car, why not? I have a good paint and body man who has done this many times before... when he is finished, you will never know!
