This is a thread started to help anyone who has a section of their drip rail rusted out or mangled beyond other means of repair..... I welcome any others to add to this, their ideas and techniques to aid the folks with these problems on their car's roof rails.... NOTElease lets keep it about repair technique and not preference,as I and another Hambr'S POSTS were deleted on the other drip rail post,for bickering[and APPROPRIATELY SO]...... Anyway,here is a tip I am submitting to outline a way to fix your drips..... tools: this method is good for a section or could be utilized for total replacing of drips -done in short sections at a time...... mig or tig welder body hammer grinder forming tools/die: [mine was an old screwdriver and a chunk of bent 1/4" rod. a flat or square drip could be formed from a die made of 1/8 or 1/4" flat bar stock cut in the radius [of the bend of new drip rail] ,attached to a handle for ease of holding...] 1-Start by stripping off the old part that is bad. cut a strip of 18 ga C/R sheet to make a replacement rail from 3/4" to 1"wide- is typical but measure yours for sure 2- mark the location on the roof for the "new" one to be placed... 3-tack in place,then continuously weld all,then grind welds flush....[important step as once bent to shape //grinding is nearly impossible then] 4- hammerform the drip, slowly till achieving the shape you want.[notice the "slit" I cut to allow it to bend on the compound axis]-It's easier to hammer if you start out with a narrower strip,but you could end up with not being big enough finished size....so starting a bit wide and trimmming at the end is probably best route....] 5.trim off excess with snips or cut-off wheel and finish with a grinder to perfection!....
Memory serving ,you would need to fill the recessed area where the tack strip/drip originally fit first.maybe a peice of thin bar stock or sheet welded in flush ,then add the process here to add a driprail over that.....
The Jalopy Journal
