Fabric roof shave- 33 Ford coupe

[idrivejunk]

Howdy Gents    Got a rodder-type project to share!   Imagine that  

I inherited this task after our guy made a firewall and put floors in. My mission: Fill roof. Alright then, lets see-

Car-



Mike also chose a great salvage panel, the roof from the yellow 68 Camaro, to fill the hole left by Ford before deep-draw stampings were feasible-





Thats a pretty good eyeball for contours, I'd say.    Lays down nicely and that panel would be tough enough to shape nicely if fabricating. Camaro roof crown for the win.

I centered the patch over the hole, taped it down, and trimmed it while scoring / cutting the roof.





I know    most folks would have left the gutter in it. Not this guy. I went with my gut and chopped with reckless abandon!  

This is me excavating a half dozen layers of various lacquer products-



Oh, and then oh. The backside  

Cleaned up and rust converter-ed with Picklex-



Laid into the hole and tacked for an open butt weld-















Wow, what a good grab that Camaro roof section was! Peek at the inside too-



You know what comes next... dots ahoy! In assorted lengths? Is it really morse code? Stay tuned...

[idrivejunk]

Uh-oh. Dots ahoy but warpage has been spotted on the horizon. Frantic measures ensue but a cool head gets it under control. Given time, perhaps order can emerge from the floppy metal chaos. Spoons, shrinking tips, discs, hammers, dollies, I pumped the whole nine yards into the battle-





There was more urban combat, grinding indoors to flatten the seam for dolly.



Then on this, the fourth and a half day... the smoke cleared and a victor emerged.  





Woops, need to tap that a little-









Are the battle references doing anything for ya? Alright alright.

Well, how 'bout that roof? Wasn't sure I could pull that off. In the name of validating what can't be seen in just pics, I decided that a cave-in test was in order. It can't BLOMP if a cat walks across it.

So meet my test cat, Jack-



He has a friend, Stan-



...and they try to find the softest places to sleep-



I call that a bondo bed :!: because it will be. But it should hold up as well as any other car roof. I intend to fabricate a brace or two of some sort, for support in situations like bumpy interstate and to help drone.

That took me all week (preparing patch was a day and Friday is short) and I think hidden hinges are next. Thought some of you might find this useful some day.

[idrivejunk]

Almost forgot... here is where the patch came from. Recycling at its finest!

[WZ JUNK]

Looks great.  Very interesting.  Well done.

John

[idrivejunk]

Thanks, John    I truly enjoyed the project but it was a workout!

[idrivejunk]

Another oops, left a pic out...

[idrivejunk]

Aw maaan. I left out the good dot picture, too! Or was I saving it for our biggest dot monger, Bob? You're welcome buddy!  

There were several rounds of tacking, grinding, and hammering. I normally weld all first then grind and hammer, but this job demanded doing it the smart and careful way due to the size and the high stakes.

[UGLY OLDS]

Dat's alotta dots..

 Looks good ...What caused the panel to warp if you were using "dots" rather than concentrating the weld bead  :?:

Good job getting them all out ....

Don't those "jack" thingies normally go under the car  :?:   OH...I GOT IT....    You're messin' with KB's mind again, huh  :?:

Bob...

[Carnut]

I am in awe, seeing what a real pro can do.

[idrivejunk]

 Looks good ...What caused the panel to warp   :?:


Don't those "jack" thingies normally go under the car  :?:   OH...I GOT IT....    You're messin' with KB's mind again, huh  :?:

Bob...

 It was going fine until a starship captain walked past and said the word "engage". By the time I jumped over to the helm she had hit warp 2 and was climbing!  

Seriously I do enjoy humor injections in my car talk. The warpage was mainly on the side where I started and I'll detail why, I think. Is your beverage fresh though? Go top off then I'll explain.

       



After I scored the roof (messily, I digress) I decided that gap would be too big. I was wrong. But I would have used a skinnier cutoff wheel if I'd had one. Did it with a 4" x I think 1/8". It was Monday.  

So I put the panel up there, held down the sticky-uppy corners and rattle canned Chevy orange around it.     Then I lifted off the patch and cut the roof just inside the spray paint. The idea being to have the patch rest on just the very edge of the roof hole, so I could tack and trim for final fit with the most narrow weld gap possible.

Turns out I fitted the patch too closely that way. Once I had tacks all around, there wasn't quite room for the patch. The seam swelled up where my gap was too small, forcing ponds to appear further out on the patch. Theres probably a technical name for it. The effect is amplified on this type job, I guess. That may sound like a Major Nelson explanation but can you get the drift?

Solution- cut tacks as needed, hammer, re-tack. It needed the wheel's width all around to work right. Once I figured that out, it went much better. For the record I was deviating from my own standard procedure and grinding dots as I went, so I could also planish the seam. I just about aborted that tactic.

But ended up sticking with it and was glad of it. I think it did help but the end result looks more beat-up than usual. Usual being all welded first, then ground. But this way is more technically correct and is of benefit on a big picture frame like this.

Beyond that-

The patch is from old yeller. This car is red so body parts don't always readily interchange. What is the saying in crash shops...

Heat it til it drips, pull it til it rips, cave it, pave it, blend it and send it"  

 :?:    :!:

In the corners, the patch was too flat. As seen in the first pics. Well, I had to beat that shape into it. Some as I went and some after it was all in and smooth. Every application of heat changes the deal. It came down to the center front, in the end. Suddenly it was all tight and level. Hah!

Only took a couple extra hours to get it to where I felt like calling it done, after the weld n grind was finished. It could use more love but mission accomplished.

Wait- I gotta go turn the car over so it will sit right on the cat stands!   (runs away screaming)

[idrivejunk]

I am in awe, seeing what a real pro can do.

Didn't shave all week (not professional haha) because I knew if I made it happen it would be by the hair of my chinny chin chin. If I were a circus elephant this would be like standing on one ear. I was nervous at times and had to push my abilities pretty hard. I sure appreciate that sentence, sir.

[chimp koose]

Looks like you have done this before ! I have a question , why did you cut off the flange around the inside of the opening ? Would it have helped prevent some of the warpage or just got in the way of hammering and shrinking later ?

[kb426]

Good post, Matt. The shrinkage on the gap is something we all fight. About the time I think I have it figured out, I find I know nothing. I fully understand the value of that car.

[58 Yeoman]

Very nice job. Like Carnut, it amazes me what people can do with body work.

[idrivejunk]

Looks like you have done this before ! I have a question , why did you cut off the flange around the inside of the opening ? Would it have helped prevent some of the warpage or just got in the way of hammering and shrinking later ?

I sure had'nt done one of these before, but now I have. The fact is that at no point did leaving the gutter make a lick of sense... to this guy. I went in understanding that others might not. My reasoning is this and I'm serious, not trying to sound snarky:

Rigid can't really happen up there. The construction is stiff around the perimeter of the roof but you could move the gutter up and down by hand. Want to generate fatigue over time? Putting something rigid next to something unsupported and wide like that is asking for cracks.

Leaving the gutter would mean extra weight, amplifying that. Hang a headliner off it and crank the risk up even more. And yes it would be just about impossible to hammer and dolly the weld seam if left in place.

One more reason- the tension in the steel from stamping of the flange is like a coiled serpent in my mind.  That's why it made sense to me to cut farther out where the metal is more relaxed. This was my logic and I hope it makes sense. I asked lots of questions and gave the decision a great deal of consideration, but in my mind there was never a doubt that this would be my choice. I think it helped me and the car.

I really think that leaving the roof alone and forming a removable plug would have been kinda cool instead, and that fitting a glass panel would to. But those were not the request.