crew cab roof blues

[socalcraigster]

I have a 67 crew with a roof that has what I believe is rust (not rot). After looking at some pictures of the roof, a local body guy told me over the phone that he thought that the roof would have to be replaced because it appeared to be "too porous." He even said that it was too big of a project for him to get involved with at this time and did not even quote me a price. What a *%*$(%!

I think the majority of the body shops in my area avoid "projects" like these because they focus on collision repair.







Any suggestions or advice. If anyone knows of a good body shop in the ventura/los county area, please let me know.

Should I just hand sand it and seal it myself?

[fordman]

sand the heck out of it and just see how thin it really is. it might be ok. it might not. pin holes can come from nowhere. restoration work takes alot of time. body guys can make more money doing the insurance repair than they can a restoration job. because repair is less fussy than a restoration person. for example. when selling a daily driver. yo ucan get away with putting astop sign under the carpet for a new floor. but when selling a trcuk as restored. a stop sign wotn do the job. a person looking ot buy a restored truck is going to look for rigging of things like that.

[CNM67]

Remember when you go to sand it use a dust mask and safety glasses, and also I wouldn't use a rough sand paper go with like a 220 grit and take it easy don't stay in one spot to long and burn a hole seeing as the metal may be thin. Use a cross etch when sanding bottom to top diagonally then vise versa.

[hazelnut]

Grayco make a tip that goes on a power washer to sand blast. Its like a Y fitting that pulls sand into the stream and sandblast what ever your wanting to. The blaster is around $300 and strips rust off with out getting the metal hot and warping it. Sanding it down isnt going to get all the rust out of the metal and if you dont get all the rust out then its a waste of time because rust is going to come back. Useing a pot blaster (air) to sand blast will warp the roof because its a large flat area with thin metal and ive mess up more metal than i want to admit trying to remove surface rust. Blasting with a powerwasher is the only way ill ever remove rust again.

[dieselbronco]

I redid a mustang that I took the vinyl top off and the roof was bad. I just sanded it used a rust killer and filler primer and paint

[70_F100]

That last picture shows what looks to me like some pretty serious rust.

Almost like stage 1 cancer...

[70 ranger]

I would sand blast it then apply some epoxy right away. Put a thin coat of two part putty in the pitted areas. Sand it smooth, then primer it with a two part primer. Spray a lite coat of guide coat on it and start sanding. It's not hard just time consuming.

[Whateverman]

That last picture shows what looks to me like some pretty serious rust.

Almost like stage 1 cancer...

thankfully the patients respond well to treatment

it looks like a little metal surgery is needed there ,how is the metal above the windshield (underneath the drip rail)?

[socalcraigster]

I really appreciate all the comments and suggestions. However, it seems that everyone have a different way/idea to deal with this problem. I find it unsettling. And I am still not sure how to proceed.

[Whateverman]

like fordman said ,how you approach the repair depends on what you want out of your truck...
if you are restoring it to show room condition,then you'll want to replace the rusted metal in the roof and etc.
if you just want to drive and enjoy it (or work it) with out gagging everytime you look at it,then you'll just sand the sucker down,kill the rust, patch the holes with some aluminum tape and a skiff of bondo ,slap some paint on it and call it good enough...

[socalcraigster]

I used this stuff called quiksteel above the driver's side drip rail on my 69 to "repair" the rotted out section.

http://www.dual-star.com/index2/Service ... _putty.htm

But, I do not think I willbe using it for the 67.

[Whateverman]

if you do use that kind of putty to do rust repairs ,repairing it "properly" down the road will be more difficult
i learned that the hard way ,way back when (before i became a welder), after doing a bunch of bodywork on an old datsun 510 i had with "liquid metal" (sort of like fibreglass resin,only with massive amounts of aluminum shavings mixed in to it...nasty stuff,after it cured it was almost impossible to shape it even with an angle grinder)

[foghorn]

Well in my 30+ years in the body shop i used a da with 80 grit sand paper to get all you can then use a 3M product called dual etch following the directions then use a good epoxy primmer. Then guide coat this to sand block sand using 240 or 220 grit paper any minor pits should block out. The bigger deep ones will need a thin coat of finishing putty. After blocking the finishing putty reprime and guide coat again block again with the same grit paper as before. Then i would spray another guide coat and block with 400 or finer for painting prep. Now i was taught the old school way so i would put a sealer on just before i sprayed the paint on. The sealer will or should stop any problem you should come across from any sand scratche's. Just make sure the primer you use is a 2K type of primer mar-hyde makes a good primer in a mustard yellow color. The sealer you use will hide the yellow that could bleed through.. The best sealer you can use will be whats called a tintable sealer it will be tinted to the color that you will be top coating with. I hope this will clear up any second thoughts you have on the steps to use .




Foggy