Roof swap?

[junkyardkustoms]

Nor sure if this is quite the appropriate place to ask this, but I hope so. With my C-Pillars being so rusted, I thought about replacing them with sections I can get from californiacorvairparts.com, but my drip rails are pretty bad too. So I thought about finding a parts car and just chopping the entire roof off. I doubt it, but have any body experts here done anything like this? Doesn't necessarily have to be experience with a corvair. I know hotrodders have been chopping tops for decades, this would be much easier (I hope)

[cad-kid]

No experience doing a swap. You should stay with a Corvair unless you like tons and tons of fab work. Get a parts car and go to town

[junkyardkustoms]

Oh I'm not planning on using a roof from something non-corvair, I just meant that any experience either corvair or otherwise would be helpful. I'm hoping for a straight forward cut and paste with little to no fabricating.

[bmwtodd1]

One thing you might want to consider if doing a complete roof changeover. Reinforce the inside of the body, In an X pattern with some steel gussets. 1x1 are sufficient. There is a good chance that the body will flex quite a bit once the roof is removed, making lining up another difficult. It's not a major undertaking, tack weld for the gussets, and then grind them off. And maybe a simpler solution is become friends with a truck driver, they use load locks inside their trailers, that might help too. But the will only prevent contraction, not expansion.

[azdave]

I've seen a 4-dr roof rear section spliced to a coupe roof and I'll bet you someone has done a full roof swap on a Vair before.

[2manyvairs2fix]

Changing the roof panel on a Corvair is easier than most because of how slim the pillars are. Do reinforce the pillars as bmwtodd suggested. Leave the car on its wheels on level work area. And reinforce the weld slip area with plates made from pillar scrap. That way the weld will be stronger. Never butt weld such a structurally important area. The last one I did took about 3 days to fit and weld.
(I measure and remeasure many times during the procedure).

[junkyardkustoms]

2manyvairs2fix, too bad you aren't in California. But thank you for the experience and words of wisdom. Hopefully I can pull it off someday.

[terribleted]

The posts are not a 1 layer deal. All layers must be welded in order to ensure strength. Cut the roof you will install longer than the part you need for sure. Study any layers involved in the posts where you will weld in place. Carefully remove any outer layers above and below where you will join the posts (retaining the removed sections of metal for installation later) so the inner layers can be joined and welded. After solidly welding in and anti corrosion treating the inner layers, simply weld on any removed outer sections to complete the job. Measuring and alignment of the new roof before welding is critical of course, but this is not a terribly difficult job to do.

[davemotohead]

[junkyardkustoms]

Hmmm....that makes me wonder. Perhaps I can replace the outer skin without cutting the inner. Supposing the inner metal is good. I guess I'll have to pull the headliner to check.

[terribleted]

Hmmm....that makes me wonder. Perhaps I can replace the outer skin without cutting the inner. Supposing the inner metal is good. I guess I'll have to pull the headliner to check.

Doing just the roof skin and outer steel post parts will certainly be easier if that is all that is needed. The trick to doing it this way is very careful removal of the extra (inner/structural) parts of the replacement used roof section so that a complete piece is left for transfer. (of course careful removal of the rusty skin and steel will also be needed on the car you are fixing) Doing just the skin will eliminate most structural concerns and make alignment much easier. The welds along the drip rail will cover readily with the body caulk that is used there making finishing fairly easy as well. The skin was a separate piece of steel when the car was built. I am thinking that the rear outer post sides were part of the 1/4 panels, but, for sure the outer front post steel on lates were separate small pieces that seamed to fenders and roof skin.

[lostboy]

My sedan has a good rot hole in the underside of the roof area where it hangs over the rear window... I'm still trying to figure out what to do about that. The rest is all solid though....


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