Inner Roof Panel Replacement

[55chevy]

Finally got around to replacing my rusted inner roof panel on my 1970 C10, a buddy gave me a donor roof section, I decided to replace the entire panel from the front to the back seam joint since it was rusty even above the doors. I drilled the spot welds from the donor panel, and the welds at the back joint came apart easily with a chisel, much easier than the joint in the truck.











The donor had a small amount of bondo and holes in the front, so I repaired it with fiberglass cloth and Chassis Black pant, real sticky, hard stuff.





I used a chisel ground old screwdriver to seperate the spot welds of the rear joint in the truck, make sure to only pry against the old top panel at the surface, it took some work hammering from each side for each spot weld.

[55chevy]

I put rust treatment, primer, and seam sealer around the inside edge of the old roof while I had the roof out.





When you slide the new panel up into place you have to fit one of the triangle shaped tabs at the front into the slot on one side first, then I used a rubber mallet to pound the other one up into it's slot. The new panel at the back was raised up in the middle so I made a hook to pull it down into place
for gluing. I used JB Weld along the back joint, spread it in spots with a popsicle stick, pulled the roof tight with a strap clamp, and put strapping tape over the JB Weld to hold it in place. A 4 inch section on the passenger side worked it's way above the lower section over night by about 3/16 inch, but other than that the rest turned out pretty well. I still need to weld the holes along the side and front to complete the job, this isn't going to be a show truck so looks a lot better then it did.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Man, that's pretty awesome. Kinda scary to see how rusty these trucks are when you pull them apart. Mine doesn't have any inner roof holes but I'm sure it's coated with surface rust in the inside.....

And I just have to ask... is that an alabama truck? That seems odd to me how rusty it was? I guess the seam sealer cracked out and it leaked for years?

Great job

[qksilver]

what about using the new stuff, body ahesive? Would that be stronger.
Good work.........I wouldn't have had the patience.
Wanna do my outside cowl panel? lol

[roj2323]

hey thanks for the pointers. they will come in handy when i do mine.
ondrew

[55chevy]

Yup, Alabama truck, seam sealer was gone on drip rail. Not as many old cars and trucks around here as I thought there would be, and they are rustier than I thought.

[qksilver]

The humid south! Around here it is the pine needles combined with the humidty that causes the rust out

[68C15]

where the rear section lifted, how about drilling a series of small holes and using eye hooks to pull it down. you will have to spot the holes back in but at least you could get it even.
how are you gonna attach the rear joint? is it too late to use panel adhesive? the reason I ask is mine moves some while driving on bad roads.

[55chevy]

Originally Posted by 68C15

where the rear section lifted, how about drilling a series of small holes and using eye hooks to pull it down. you will have to spot the holes back in but at least you could get it even.
how are you gonna attach the rear joint? is it too late to use panel adhesive? the reason I ask is mine moves some while driving on bad roads.

I used JB Weld on rear joint, it's similiar to panel adhesive, stuck very tight now. I'm not to concerned about the uneven section, it's just a driver, will be for sale.