hello guys. this is my first time posting. my project car is a 69 chevelle that im working on with my brother. this is also my first time working on a chevy. and also my first real attempt at body work. so please bear with me all. alright heres my question

the roof on my chevelle is rusty. at first we thought that it would simply be a job of making the patches and calling it a day. but since then we have gotten worried about the underside of the roof. especially the support braces (im not really sure what the name of them are butim sure that you know what im talking about. my question is whats the best way to get to the braces to clean and paint them? cut them out then weld back in when im done? or does the skin on the roof come off? or should i leave as is? please someone point me in the right direction. thanks in advance

Well from my experiences with rusty roofs, my 69 had a vinyl top on it, I sanded it down to bare metal, and painted it with the rust encapsulator from Eastwood, then it was sealed, primed, and painted then I put a new top on it. You can rip the cardboard insulator out of the car to access the underside of the roof skin, and sand it down from there and put a coating on it to help stop the rust. Don't go trying to cut the roof off or the outer skin off if you really are not sure how to go about it.

well the roof is not just a little rusty. it is bad! several sections have rotted away and there is severe pitting over a lot of it. the main thing im worried about are the braces that run front and back and left to right. the tops of them have lots of surface rust on them and i feel like im wasting my time welding in new patches for the roof when im still leaving rust on those pieces

the only thing you can do is to go and have it sand blasted inside and out that will get most of it but if your really nuts you can hack off the roof and braces and do each peace but you will need time money and know how. i sand blasted mine then welded in patches and did many many hours of bondo up there.

alright. i suppose ill just get it as good as i can with the roof and supports on. thanks for the advise.

Ok, so it sounds as if it is just like the roof of the 69 Dodge Dart GT I have. Just this weekend, I sandblasted the roof, got all the scale and paint off it, then I mixed up some Rust Encapsulator and shot the roof with it through a paint gun. I am letting it cure for a week, then this coming weekend I plan on doing some fill work on it to make it smooth once again. Then I will seal it, prime it, and paint it and top it off with a new top and it will be just as good as new.

I removed some parts today off of a 68 where it appears the whole roof was "skinned over" with one big sheet of fiberglass. Looked real good except wear the hole was punched through, I then ran a magnet over the whole roof and thats how I knew it was fiberglassed over, magnet didnt "stick"

yeah before i started working on mine i had the same experiece. the PO pop riveted some sheets of galvanized steel on top of the roof and then covered it all with bondo. no attemp was made to get rid of any of the rust.

Hey fella's, I just bought a 68 and my roof is the same. Lots of piting and a couple of big holes (around 3" in diameter). So Tom, when you where welding up some of the patches on your roof, where you concerned about warping the roof? Thats my biggest concern right now. Im getting ready to replace my quaters on the car and hope to get a little help or some good advice on what to do with the roof area. Im new to the site, I cant believe the info I have found on this site. Iam so thankful for it. Any suggestions please let me know. Thanks James

your roof will warp mine did but at least i got rid of all the rust and welded sheet metal back in when your all done just hammer and dollie the roof the best you can and start filling . just make sure you have a long board. it will take about ten hours at least thats the time it took me. and i been doing this for 18 years. storm

Do you think I could get the roof back to a paitable surface and not use vinyl? This car came factory with vinyl, but im just not that crazy about it. Have you ever had a problem with the bottom of the windshield tray, this piece is connected to the top of the dash. Alot of rust here too. Ive got a lot of work ahead of me and need all the help I can get. Me and my two sons are working on this car together and hope to have it done in about 3 to 4 years. I do appreciate your advice storm. Its nice to have someone that knows the ropes aout this stuff. I wish I would have taken autobody in school now.

yes you can keep the vinyl top off but its a lot of bodywork to be done and its have to be done correct so when its all done and painted you dont see any waves or sand scratches. go back up to my post and click on the little guy standing next to the house you will see my car and pictures of my roof before and after.

Why not just replace the roof skin instead of cobbling something together?...Eric

they dont make reproduction.