scotts74birds

Hi, guys. I have a 74 Roadrunner that was rolled . The sheet metal is rippled and there was some slight bending of the braces, but the glass is intact and the car and roof are still square. The roof will be painted, and its a sunroof, so I doubt hammer and dolly work will fix it. I have a new roof for it, also a sunroof, that was cut off another car. My question to you is, should I remove the old skin, straighten the supports and reskin it with the new roof? Or should I remove the whole roof at the pillars and weld in the other one? All opinions and advice are welome. Thanks in advance for everything.

theomahamoparguy

do the whole roof.{my friend owns a body shop and I watched him replace the roof on a cuda at the pillars as you mentioned} careful measuring required.

scotts74birds

Thanks Omaha, you always have good advice. But since the car is a unibody, how does one keep it from folding in half when the roof is cut? I know it must be supported, but how do I keep it "square"? I'll be doing this myself due to funds. This will happen soon. If I do the entire roof replacement, I'll make it a small article and photo it for everyone.

theomahamoparguy

Youre doing it yourself? OK, you have to weld in some supports prior to doing any cutting Like across the door openenings and side to side at the top of the door pillar. Use some good heavy angle (2 x 3/16) then run a couple at angles from the subframe/ rocker area in the front floor to the side to side support angle [making an X pattern].
My friend cut the front A pillar [windshield] right in the middle and slid a small section of small square tubing to use as a guide {plug welded in there}

cant remember where he cut the sail panel will get back to you on that but I think it was from the lower corner of the side window to the center of the rear glass opening. Any way I know that he used 3 different cars to make one and went through 1 1/2 rolls of welding wire [the big ones].
It was a 70 Cuda 440 4 spd car, triple black if I remember correctly so I guess it was worth it. Also help ful are some of those scissor jacks from the junk yard to put the car level, weld a base to them [some cheap curl bar weights ] and trim the tops level. this way you know u have even pressure from the bottom supports.
I'll ask him some more question and get back with the info soon.

scotts74birds

Ok, a bump to myself. Contacted a local body shop,{btw, we live in the country, so things are different here} Before I do the roof swap, thought it might be a good idea to make sure all is straight. They said they'd put it on the frame machine and check/ measure it for $60!!!!! God I love where I live, good folks. I'll check the labor rate, might just end up having the pros do it. Still would make a photo-op out of it and detail it for the general knowledge. Stay tooned!

scotts74birds

Update....Started the roof removal! I decided to try to re-skin the roof myself. Been drilling out spotwelds for the last few days! Ran into a few snags while learning how the thing was built. I think I have it down now, roof skin should be off tomorrow. I now have to skin the replacement roof from the frame. Alot of work. I may need to replace a few side-to-side braces, but the front to backs look great. . I'll try to have pics for you tomorrow!

mopardrt

Good luck cant wait to see the pics, the project is always more work then what it ends up....

67gtxclone

Scott. I give you a huge amount of credit for taking on such a huge effort....at least it is huge to me. Keep us posted and let us know how it comes out!

scotts74birds

Thanx GTX. Roof is off! Make some F/ups. I knew I would. Wont do them again. I cleaned out the lead joint and it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be. Here are some pics.


This is the front pillar. The roof is tacked to the frame, then leaded smooth

Old roof off

Not as hard as I thought. This is the second side I did. The first was pretty ugly on my part.

scotts74birds

The front header for the roof is tweaked slightly. I'll start de-skinning the replacement roof as soon as I can get it un-frozen from the ground behind the garage! I'll use the header from that to replace the other one. I'm not as worried about side-to-side movement as I am front-to-back alignment. But I will weld a brace across the a-pillars just to make sure. All advice is welcome! Better photos on the way I hope! just wondering what to do with the light rust on the roof braces. Ignore it, seal it, remove it.....? Opinions welcome on that one too. Thanks for looking, Scotty.

Zach8200

ok come on over my roof is next

scotts74birds

You couldnt afford the beer and tequila! You ever go to the "Gun" or the "Round-up" bars? But yeah, I'd still help you anyways! I found the tweak in the front roof support from the roll-over, but not sure of a good point to measure from to correct it. Will probably just weld in the good brace from the spare roof. I used a spring-loaded center punch in all the welds and used a "Blair Spot-Weld Cutter" to drill them out. I screwed the pooch on one of the sail panels, but got it right on the other. Never dealt with a lead solder joint before, or any of this so far! I work at the Avenger plant, so I have a good understanding how a unibody is assembled.

scotts74birds

Spare roof is now unfrozen from the ground! Ill start de-skinning it tonight. I'm sure a pro just would have cut the whole roof off and done it in one shot, but since shoptools are limited, I'm trying it the slower and safer way. I wanted to brace the car and do the whole roof, but if ya screw it up, thats a bell ya cant un-ring! I can see it now, one wheel riding off the ground like a wobbly chair! Stay tooned.

72RDRNR

If that happens, you just get a taller tire for that corner. Then no one will know.

mopardrt

sounds good its great there are people doing these big job cars and not just parting them out like they were in the 80s and 90s just like my 2 full quarter and tailpannel dart sport replacement

scotts74birds

The cincher was that I got this car for a STEEEEEAALLLLLL! So even if it didnt pan, I wouldnt loose much. The other point is that the bottom is rock-solid! Has a cammed 383, built 727, and a 3.91 sure-grip. PLUS... a sunroof car! All the damage is up top. I figured even the most effed-up rust bucket is still good for what I need! Thanks for the kind words. I'm from Deetroit. Now in the stix. Where you at mopardrt?
BTW 72, Wouldnt a 30 inch tall tire up front look kinda funny?

mopardrt

im in taylor/downriver where exact are you at?

and are you putting a sunroof back onto the car?

scotts74birds

I'm a few miles north of Imlay City, off M53. And yes, it is getting a new sunroof! Good luck on your paint! All these years and I've never sent a car to paint!!! Never had that much at one time!

scotts74birds

new roof ready to be skinned
[/IMG]

72RDRNR

Maybe not if you got a larger rim, that way the tire to rim ratio would stay the same
Or you could just put on some hydraulics and bounce it down the road. Now that would be a funny sight...You with a bunch of bling, some bass thumping and your RR with hydraulics. Maybe a new grill for the grin?

scotts74birds

Finally finished the roof drip rail removal. 51+ welds on each of them too! Now the job is to disassemble he replacement roof. Lots more welds to drill and bust. I think I'll try to sub this out to the step-kids. lets see if they want to work! I've been using Blair spot weld cutters and a spring loaded centering punch. High kudos to the Blair cutters, good product, I'm happy with its performance. My drill finally gave up the ghost. Got it as an apprentice electrician, 19 years ago. It was a DeWalt 14.4. What a great tool. I have abused it for all these years as a contractor and hobbyist. It was the only drill I ever owned, never needed a corded one. I have a Bosch for concrete drilling, so I never used it for that. I think I'll buy another one, good tool.

old tired rebel

What size spot weld cutters did you use?

scotts74birds

3/8" Double-ended
http://www.blairequipment.com/Spotwe...d_Cutters.html

scotts74birds

Update................The new roof has been de-skinned, and the useful parts have also been cut off. Fortunately the spare metal will save my *** on my mis-measurement f-up. I have to replace the front header support for sure, the rear will be re-measured when I'm done with that. Heres some new pix. Remember, I have never done anything more than hang a fender before. I have done all this thanks to the advice of forum members, books, and the web. I dont know how to weld either! But I WILL!!! Never be afraid to ask questions of the pros. Ask 10 folks the same question if you are unsure. Everyone wants to pass on knowledge, you just have to separate the wheat from the chaff. After this, hanging a 1/4 looks freaking easy! Thanks to all of you for your help.

scotts74birds

Tonight I cut out the front roof support. when that was done, the drivers side, where it took the hit, was about 7/16" low. Used the redneck porta-power [ floor jack and a 2x4] to try to put it back to line. Got the height so far, but need the proper degrees/ angle. will fix that tomorrow. Pix are coming. Actually, for an inexperienced person like me...I'm quite proud so far!

old tired rebel

It's coming together nicely.

Zach8200

does anyone happen to know anyone that could make a custom fitting roof skin for a 71-72 road runner

scotts74birds

Why would you need a custom skin?

Zach8200

they dont make roofs or roof patches for the 71-72's I already have a spare roof that i purchased and was screwed over on its bent really bad almost 90 degress and the original roof thats on the car could use the top skin instead of chopping another roof

scotts74birds

Hey Mods, if you want to move this thread to a projects section, or b-bodys thats ok. Its getting kinda specialized. I kinda want to document this and dont want to clog-up the mainstream sections.
Now, todays news. I found the rear c-pillars are off too. About 3/8" to the right on both sides. I dont have body shop tools available to me, so everything is done redneck style. I measured crosswise in the back of the car and could not get the same inches everytime. 3/4" off between the points I measured to. Divided, that means 3/8". I dont have anything strong enough to move that, or even something to brace against if I did. After looking at the back of the car, I realized I was dealing with an ARCH. An arch is one of the strongest shapes in nature there is, and stronger than the sum of its components. The new plan is to remove the rear roof cross-brace, and attack the tweaked c-pillars individually. The cross-brace is straight, and I have another just in case. Pics to follow. Wish me luck!