The Big Roof Replacement

74westy

Member
Well the time has come to take the roof off and replace it. I have all the bits and bobs and the car is in the garage.

As I mentioned in an earlier post the roof has rust in the edge above the drivers door. This has migrated to the gutter, bummer. Not sure how bad but I'll find out soon.
Roof edge.jpg
Gutter.jpg

I'm going to use a product called Dum Dum for resealing, thanks fellow members for this lead.

Dum Dum.jpg

I have most of the interior trim off but have hit a snag with the rear view mirror. Is this the type which is held in place by two tabs and you just pull it out with a bit of force. or is there another trick.
Rover P6B Rear View Mirror.jpg

As I go along I'll post more updates.

Cheers,
Craig
 
Yes, you just grab the mirror stalk near the top and give it a sharp pull straight back and it should pop out. It actually pops out easier if you push forwards, but I hurt my hand on the glass once doing that so I don't recommend it.

Yours
Vern
 
Back into it.
Yes the mirror pulled off. I did use a lever so as to take it a bit more gently.
IMG_7689.jpg
IMG_7691.jpg

With all the trim removed and all the screws gone it was very easy to remove the roof. I lifted the drivers side front by hand and some levering on the passenger side released it. Had my son assist and we lifted the front up slowly and wiggled the rear from the window seal whilst pulling towards the front.
Roof Lift.jpg
Wow! a bit mucky underneath on the drivers side. This is the remains of the roof frame on top of grey mastic sealer. There was grey sealer around the edge and black sealer around the inner edge. The black sealer is more pliable and looks to have been applied in a continuous bead from something like a cartridge gun. The gray is more solid and in a more uniform strip mainly along the sides. This may have blocked the gutter and caused the rust ??
IMG_7714.jpg

The roof frame is all but gone on the drivers side. Good timing to remove it as the rust was just getting into the drivers side rain gutters. The passenger side is OK.
Inside roof.jpg

P8090136.jpg

The body frame is very good on the whole. Needs some paint touch ups before the new roof goes on.
IMG_7717.jpg P8090137.jpg

The worst areas are the before mentioned drivers side gutter and the passenger side inside of the A-pillar. Off to the panelbeaters for these two areas.
Left A-pillar.jpg

I'll touch up the other areas myself. I have to also clean and prep the insides of the exterior quarter panel trims as there is some slight rust areas on both sides. I'll redo the vinyl as well.
 

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  • Roof off.jpg
    Roof off.jpg
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Looks really different open to the skies like that, doesn't it
When I did the same job a few years back I wanted to take it for a roofless drive but as I was occupying a friend's workshop space and we only had a morning for the whole task we had to press on - a pity, but the replacement has a fabric folding roof so it's partway there.
 
Can't help but think this panel is ripe for replacement with glass or carbon fibre. Rustproof and lower weight will lower the center of gravity.
 
There was a company in Johannesburg that had a mould for the roof and used to make GRP ones.
I called them when I got my car, but they had been through a major clear-out and tossed the mould as the car was effectively obsolete by then.
The CKDs that were sold in SA used to dissolve around the roof and support areas, hence the need for replacements.
 
It would be a piece of cake to make a new mould from a good roof panel, but would there be any call for a GRP roof in sufficient quantity to justify the set up cost ?
 
Molds are more difficult to make than you might think when the goal is for the GRP panel to fit where the steel pressing would be, because you have to account for shrinkage in both the mold and final part for such a large panel. That caveat aside, it would be a pretty simple panel to reproduce. The tricky bit would be the flange detail.

Yours
Vern
 
There's a bloke on the V8 Forum whose job is GRP, maybe he could be approached to make either the mold or a few roofs?
He operates as Gelmonkey on there.
 
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