Tin top roof skin replacement

gafo said

Hrc ,How did you cut the panel that you weld in ?It needs to be dead on balls accurate, So how did u mark the new piece ?Also how many spot welds per session ?DId it warp at all? Do you have anymore pics ,close up of the welds would be great .Thanks man.

The way my roof was done was with two LARGE bits of sheet metal.

The easiest way to make the infill part (or the "plug") is to put the 1st bit of sheet metal under the roof on the underside/inside, then from the top, draw the shape you need using the existing roof as a template/stencil.

Then I've got another piece of sheet metal which is the entire width of the roof (sits in the inside roof gutters on each side), stuck on to the underside of the roof with mega strong 3M glue, this stuff will not budge and is used when glueing carbon roofs on. This baisically gives you a non sunroof roof, but with the hole in the roof still visible from the top/outside of the car.

You then use the cutout from the earlier piece and using the same glue, seal the infill/plug part to the larger piece of sheet metal on the inside/underside.

You can then spot weld and fill. The bit on the underside helps keep it rigid and all in place and takes a lot of the heat too (stops warping).

Mine had a light scim of filler is now painted and even after giving it a dozen BIG thumps from inside, a 40 mile trialer ride and a towe for a few miles, shows no sign of cracking.

Got a spare roof on the way, encase I decide to go down that route..


Sealant: http://www.lwsdesign.co.uk/product.php?product_id=211&category_id=48







Unfortunatelly I have no inbetween shot

Nice man.... Thanks for the detailed script

So is your roof finished now? Did you find a tool to fold those gutters back over?

gafo said

Hrc ,How did you cut the panel that you weld in ?It needs to be dead on balls accurate, So how did u mark the new piece ?Also how many spot welds per session ?DId it warp at all? Do you have anymore pics ,close up of the welds would be great .Thanks man.

I will be mocking the new gutter panel in a different material and mock fitting the skin with the mock gutters to check it is pucker…There are 74 spot welds holding each gutter on. I managed to get the panel off without too much warpage (enough to be able to line the spot welds back up to compare with new gutter.

More pics tonight hopefully, photobucket is not playing ball at all…can anyone suggest anything else for hosting photos for use on here?

jonwilliams84 said

can anyone suggest anything else for hosting photos for use on here?

Sign up for Flickr, 1 terabyte of storage and the iPhone app is sweet too.