rust repair (around sunroof)

[SeanKanzig]

Have a crack about an 1" long in the roof right next to the sun-roof were there was a little rust. Believe that I have two options.

1.)Just have a body shop repair the rust, but figure that it eventually will come back.

2.)Have an aftermarket sun-roof installed that is slightly wider by about 1" on each side (have to see if I can find one). As the area that the crack is in is just about 1/8" of an inch from the sun-roof.

what do you guys think?

THank you,
Sean

[Ken Potter]

Closer inspection needed...

Is the headliner still in the car? Sounds like you need to pull it out if it's still in place and check from the underside. For the sheet metal to crack ( or at least how I visualize it from your description ) there has to be some serious rust to weaken the metal enough for it to crack / separate... Sounds like you need to cut and replace some sheetmetal?

[svobud]

You could re-roof the car. you can use any 79-93 Mustang hatchback roof. Just find a wrecked/junk Mustang and cut the roof off at the factory seams. Then you can go with a no sunroof, factory sunroof, or whatever (T-tops, aftermarket sunroof, etc).

Mike Ray had serious cancer rot in his 84. He came to the first Reunion with Duct Tape covering the holes - preventing water inside plus adding to the structural integrity. The next year he did a re-roof job. Maybe he'll add some tips to this discussion.

[SeanKanzig]

Actually, after further inspection it appears that it isn't a crack in the sheet metal, it is just where the paint has bubbled up and the bubble has cracked. kinda hard to explain, but I dont think it is not nearly as bad as I thought it was, now its just an area of surface rust instead of rust through.

Thanks guys,
Sean

[Eyelawdoc]

If is is just surface rust, all you have to do is strip it down, remove ALL the rust, fill any pits and voids, prime and refinish!

[Erik84SVO]

Originally posted by svobud
You could re-roof the car. you can use any 79-93 Mustang hatchback roof. Just find a wrecked/junk Mustang and cut the roof off at the factory seams.

My car had an aftermarket sunroof hack, and the roof got all warped when I took it out. So I found a donor car and cut all the spotwelds off both roofskins, then visegripped and mig welded the good one on the SVO. I had a friend fill the seams and you can't even tell the car has a new roof.

But, if I were to do it again, I would definitely just cut the pillars and do it that way. The roofskins have tons of spotwelds, and it's a major pain...

I've actually done a roof by cutting the pillars on a Maverick I used to own. A Sawzall and a metal blade makes short work of it. But it's one of those measure twice and cut once deals, or your glass may not fit.