I recently pick ap a 55 Buick 2 door hardtop and the roof is pretty banged up.....instead of trying to "pull" or hammer out the dents (and there is a bunch) - i decided to try to swap the roof off for one in better shape has anyone done this? i looked through the search feature and veiwed some of the chopping techniques - i am planing a straight up swap (no chop) does any one have any advice or pointers for the proceedure (where is the best location on A and C pillars to cut - and any tricks)? i have a new roof coming and have not put the knife to mine yet some pics in my profile thanx in advance Jesse
It should be easy enough, strip the paint and you'll find lead from the factory where the seam is, melt it out and grind away the weld. Reattach the same way as you removed it. Brace the body good and strong before cutting the roof off.
Measure, measure, measure and then just before cutting measure again. I swapped the roof on a '48 panel truck, went on the first time I tried to fit it.
show a good picture of the roof. doesn't look like it needs replacement to me. if I were going to do it I'd figure out how the roof was attached originally and replace it that way. either just the skin or the whole thing cutting factory welds or drilling spotwelds.
I replaced my roof on my '56 when I chopped it. All you have to do is cut at the seams on the posts and switch the roofs. Pretty easy and doesn't take that long. Just keep everything centered from bolt hole to bolt hole (on the inside trim to mark center) and take measurements of height to duplicate with the new roof.
No way you need to skin that roof. I took this: To this: Its even better now but I havent got any pics of it yet. Way to many things to go wrong trying to swap a roof, its usually a lot easier to work the factory metal back to shape.
Try to fix it first.If it's not rusted out you can fix almost anything on those old roof skins if you take your time.If it's beyond repair then just change the skin.
you'd wanna square it up and releave the tension anyway, so ya i'd go with tinmans advice. if it dont work out, then skin it changing a roof skin is not real hard, but its a bunch of work you gotta trim 2 skins, or you can cut it at the posts, but id rather keep the oringinal inner struture when possible. give the repair route a chance first edit: i just found your pics,,, that dents nothing, dont sweat it. most shops would only hit ya up for 8 hrs or less to bang that out. its gonna be an easy fix skull
Da Tinman and Tinbender - with names like those you guys most likely are not freightened by a bunch of dents however here are some pics - it has what you see plus some on the driver side, and one above windshield as well (photos make the car look better than it really is) being a hardtop car my intial thought was to cut the A/C pillars due to them being quite thin - sloppy body work on my cars is kinda a sore spot (i guess i feel more confident in repairing the pillars than finishing off what could not be "banged out") thanx for the replies i am 50/50 on what method to follow - most likely i can try to bang 'em and if that fails i can swap if swapping i guess there are 2 different plans of attack 1-cut the pillars 2-re-skin if reskining - are spot welds concealed in window channels and places easily hid - or in plain sight - for give the newbie-ness of my questions but i am charting into an area which i know very little about thanks again jesse
No not afraid of pushing on metal with hammers leafs springs and dollies. However, at one time I knew nothing about it. You have a good start and for sure cant make it any worse... if you do then go ahead swap the tops. If you were closer I would be glad to show you where to start, but since thats not gonna happen, here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=GullWingInn#grid/uploads Also the only special tool I used was a shrinking disk, everything else was hammers and dolies.
I replaced the roof on a 57 Chev hardtop with a sunroof hole. Cut at the factory joints on the pillars - welded the new one on - also welding the reinforcements. Measure carefully - check fit of moldings after tacking - no problem !
Hey Jesse, So where's the damaged roof? Sheeeesh! that one could still ware white to the wedding! Try to bring one back that sild down the freeway @ 75m.p.h.! Go and check out John Kellys' site, and score one of his dvds, videos, whatever they are called on metal straighting and shrinking, and buy his shrinking disc. Those deep dents look rough now, but inside of a couple of hours of "planned & careful" work not all that daunting! Just about any doner roof from this era GM is gonna have some rust issues in the drip & cant rails, as well as the front & backlight pinch weld areas. "Better the devil you know than the one ya don't", I say! If at the end of the day you say " no fuckin' way I can save her,'' and you find a good doner roof, here's how I'd go! Skinning one of these is a major pita, especially if you are jus a so, so metalman. And again, the doner is gonna have some rust work needed. I'd cut the A& Sail panel at the straightest, most upright area, with the least amount of welding. After the glass is removed, and before any cutting or welding, I'd cut some steel channel like Uni-strut, or some emt and place each of these in the window openings front and rear. Cut each of these so they fit perfect in the flange where the gasket sits. Nice 90 degree cuts, no bullshit fits ,here. Number each of these to match their location at the cowl flange & the dutchman flange to rearlight. THESE ARE YOUR MEASUREMENT STANDARDS, and will tell you your front & backlight frames are true and dead on the money! Measure, measure and measure your doner to vehicle cuts, and only do layout work over freshly ground metal, not old dead paint or filler! You could brach the snot outa the interior, but if the floors and rockers are good I'd go with a cross brace B post to B post, or jus tack the doors to the quarters. Not a biggie unless you or the guy welding this up weighs 300-400 pounds. I would sleeve the A posts, and step cut the Sail panels to the stretcher panels, at the back ,as well. Good, sound welds are what you're after, no birdshit welds, and no overheated metal when grinding out those welds at finish time. Go light on the filler, prime and paint prior to the glass goin' back in, and no one will ever know. Good luck, and if ya find yourself up to your ass in gators, I got plenty more bad advise! Swanky Devils C.C. " Humpty Dumpty was pushed !"
great info! i already purchased a donor roof (it's just not here yet) - doesn't mean i MUST use it when sleeving the A posts is this done for the following reasons and how is it done: -i am assuming that i can make a "connecting" strip of metal which bridges the donor to the existing post(s) -this increases the welded area -it will be concealed w/ inner & out trim OR am i Way off on the "sleeving" concept does anyone have a good pic of step welds for the rear? -again i assume the step increases the weld area length when fabricating the measuring struts are the welded (on the bottom) in place OR just inserted freely as a gauge? Pimpin' Paint - also i am glad you mentioned about welding the doors - sounds like a good idea Da Tinman - great videos - lots to sift thru
I replaced the roof on my 57 Pontiac because it was terribly rusted around the edges, there is a lot of work into it. Check my build thread and profile for pictures and an abridged version of how I did it. If you did yours you would have to be very careful around the C pillar because your seam would be exposed, Chevy and Pontiac cover that area with stainless trim. Personally I think you could fix yours or pay someone else to do it..... Good Luck, Bryan
this is the perfect time to learn some real metal work. putting a new lid on is twice the work of fixing this one.all the glass looks like it line up nice now beacause you pull the front and back glass you just made a commitment to buy new rubber seals $$$. watched a friend replace a roof on a 50' merc that had another car sitting on it. roof was already cut off when he got car. 5 years down the road he replaced a rusted out roof on a 50' merc. with the cut off roof of the other car. what blew my mind was he didn't knock out any damage until it was attached to 2nd car.
Hey, Most roof posts on automobiles are made up of box sections within box sections. Do this, take a cardboard box and stasn on its' side. Now, put a cardboard box within a cardboard box and stand on it. Much harder to crush! If you do not sleeve an A or B post, all that is holding the roof to the vehicle is you one small weld bead, a bead that will have its' crown ground flush, to the vehicle itself! Very bad news should someone ever roll this vehicle! I'd sleeve with square tubing if possible, and rosette weld in atleast three places above and below your horazontal cut. Don't make these welds in a line, but stagger them in a triangle. Then make sure you horazontal weld is a good sound one! Same story if this had B posts, at the B posts. For the rear posts, the idea is to stagger or step that seam, correctly to increase weld area and offset loading of the seam. I'd sleeve in this area as well, given it's a hardtop! The "measuring struts" or standards are jus ''go-no-go'' gages and just slip into the window openings come fit up time, and whyle welding. If they move from vertical during welding you've a problem that needs correcting! "if" the standards fit the window openings, the glass should fit, as before the cutting and welding. I usually cut four per opening, but six wouldn't be a bad idea. Again, 90 degree cuts, shug fit to window flange & pinchweld. You can do this! Swanky Devils c.C. " A legend in his own basement!"
Personally, I'd try and hammer it out if for no other reason than to learn from it. Worst case you screw it up worse and have to cut it off and replace it anyways, but you know more than you did when you started. I have a later O/T car that had a vinyl top ruin the skin, I thought about reskinning it too but I lucked out in scrapping a similar car - I scalped the roof for the tin first - and found a lot of hidden spotwelds that will make it more work than I thought it would be.
Replacing the roof is much more work than bumping out your existing roof. If you swap roofs, you better get the glass openings right or you'll have all sorts of fun.
Where I would start would be removing the headliner and straighten the roof; hopefully you'll be able to remove the headliner without removing the front and back glass. It would be a lot easier than replacing the whole top. Replacing the top isn't an easy task. Take a look at John Kelly's site for help straightening the top. http://www.ghiaspecialties.com/
All I know is I cut the roof off of a 51 Merc 4 door figuring somebody doing a chop might need it for filler pieces. I still have the damn thing 3 years later. I,m tired of dragging it to swap meets so I guess I,ll be scrapping it.....
I say fix your roof. You would be doing yoursdelf a huge favor by not replacing roof. Do you have body shops near you? Have you checked how much to bump out roof dents? 1 day job for a good body man. Say 10 hours to get it prime ready-at $44hour that $440 dollars and its ready for primer. You would have to pull the headliner. I have done many roof and body clips over the years. Figure roughly 40 hours to change roof and get it primer ready. 40hrs at $44 $1760.00 Why make a bigger job out of it than it has to be. Look for a good body man and save in the long run. Steve
Study it and try and figure out how the dents got there in the first place. Then try and reverse the way the dent's were made in the first place. Don't go to just banging here and there, because you will strech the metal. Bump it up slowly, bring your ridges down, and repeat. Look at a book on off dolly and on dolly work and you should get good results. Taking plenty of time and work it back slowly is the trick.
wow - some great suggestions seems like the majority feels that the dents are reverseable looks like i will get the extra roof as an "insurance policy" - 1. i'll strip to bare metal (identify the dents) 2. try to work out some dents (need to do some studing first) and worst case senerio i'll do a swap thank you for the help (knowledge is king)
All the trim and glass on that car scare me more than the dents. If you think you'll have a lot of time tapping dents out, think of all the time it's gonna take to remove/replace the glass and trim for the roof swap. And then there's the chance you are off by a quarter inch, and how's the glass gonna fit then? You will be very pleasantly surprised how easy those dents will come out. As said before, try to imagine how they went in, and work them out backwards. Small pushes and taps, no full swing hammering.
speaking of the window trim - what is the best method for removal of these SS pieces? plastic prying forks / levers?
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