Roof body work

[HilbornNailhead]

Hello! I'm pretty new to the boards, have been posting here and there for the past couple of weeks. Don't know how I didn't find this haven for Buick fans sooner, as I've had quite a few '69 Skylarks over the years, and now a '57 Special parked in my driveway.

Anyway, since I'm a big Buick fan, I figure this fact entitles me to ask some generic body work questions about a '73 Dodge Charger *ducks and covers*

Over the winter, the roof suffered some considerable damage from a structure caving in on it. Only the roof skin was pushed down (probably a good 6+ inches), the pillars and outer edges are still structurally sound, but it was pushed in enough to actually "crease" near the edges, and basically stretch the skin of the roof.

I've talked to a couple people that say it's not as simple as just hammering out the roof, as it is now "stretched" it will either be left a little convex, or a little concave. And they also didn't recommend pie cutting, or welding in a new skin due to the fact that it is so thin and can cause warping.

Both people I talked to seemed to think that finding a donor car, cutting at the factory seams, and replacing the entire roof would be the way to go. One of them said it would be the only way to go.

Just wanted to throw this up here to see if anyone has any experience with this type of bodywork, or if they've heard of how people handle this sort of thing (PROPERLY!). I'm also not about to turn a uni-body car into a convertible

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

[Canadian Buick Mogul]

Replacing from a donor car is the best plan. Sounds scary, but get yourself a good bodyman, whip out that headliner, and go to work!

Or....make yourself a convertible!!!

[HilbornNailhead]

I figured this myself, and most everyone I've talked to says this is the way to go. I've got a few hundred hours of body work experience under my belt, and I'm ok with a welder, but this job will definitely be handed off to a pro.
Obviously I want to get out of this as cheap as possible, but not at the expense of doing it right!

Thanks for the reply

[njlimbaugh]

Steel actually has a memory. Since your last resort is cutting and welding, I suggest first trying to slowly and gently hammer the top back into place. I would first start by removing the headliner and pushing up around the outer edges of the dent, always moving toward the center of impact. When removing any dents you should start at the outer edges and work toward the initial damage. It may be possible to get the roof back into the right position leaving only a crease where it was hit. The steel won't start to stretch until you begin to seriously hammer on it. Just pushing and gently tapping with a rubber mallet around the edges shouldn't stretch anything. If this doesn't work, cut away. If it does, all lyou need to do is finish filling the crease with bondo. Lots easier than cutting the top off.

[funnel]

fifty years of bodywork under my belt have done this type of repair dozens of times usually on rollovers Usual method is to carefully bring roof back up using a porto-power hydraulic jack while simultaneously working down the creases usually with a body hammer and a spoon You dont want to Hammer it up from the inside as you will probably stretch the metal and exacerbate the problem Suggest you talk it over with a competent bodyman before you begin or get help if possible. Previous poster njlimbaugh has the right approach and is good advice.

[HilbornNailhead]

Thanks for the advice funnel. Aside from new paint, any idea what this kind of repair costs in labor? I realize it differs from shop to shop, and is obviously based on the actual time involved, but just curious if you had a ballpark guess...

[JZRIV]

I am not a body guy and won't begin to try and offer technical advice but have recently talked to several shops concerning repair or replacment of a side impact dented rear quarter on my 66. From the sound of it your roof problem is very similar. Lots of stretched metal. No question it can be repaired but the skills required to do this "properly" can be very difficult to find. On the other hand, I found folks with excellent cutting and welding skills are a bit more plentiful.

Basically here is what I learned. I'm not suggesting one method or the other just offering some food for thought so you can make the decision thats right for you.

You have to determine what result you are after. If the rest of the car is average or has some other issues maybe paying for a perfect repair is not praictical. Are you happy with a result that looks decent and 95% of the people that see it won't even notice or maybe are willing to pay less for lower skill level tech and be happy with some minor imperfections.
Or are you the type that wants it to be 100% perfect so even the most critical eye can't tell it was repaired? What is your budget? In my case to get a 100% perfect repair it was more labor intensive to repair existing than a cut and weld job.

Though certainly not impossible in very skilled hands, it will be difficult to get a repair of the existing panel that shows zero evidence of it to the critical eye. How much filler will you be happy with? There are a lot of guys that are magicians with filler and not so many that can do the same with metal work.

In my case it came down to the end result I was after. I am somewhat of a perfectionist and would not be happy with anything less. I was guarenteed the panel could be repaired without cutting and welding new metal but the two people I had faith in to do it with minimal filler and no evidence were very expensive. They both charged $65/hour and estimated a min of 100 hours for the repair. I almost fell over. OK these were high end resto shops with guys that do this everyday for a living. I'm sure there are skilled small time guys that could do it just as well for less but I couldn't locate any yet.

The general consensus in my case shared even by the high end shops were that cutting and welding in a complete panel from a donor car would be the least amount of labor and offer the highest guarented quality end result with leaded seams and no filler. Of course that means I'll have to buy a donor car which I planned on doing anyway.

In the end it could come down to who you choose to make the repair and what they are most comfortable doing. If you sense any uncertainty in a shops ability after having a conversation with them, its probably best to keep looking.

Jason Z
ROA 775 BCA 29701

[HilbornNailhead]

Well, here's the thing I haven't mentioned yet, which is why I'm not in tears over this incident. Despite my hatred for these companies, I did something smart...........I took out insurance while it was sitting/being restored.

The insurance company gets to flip the bill for this one, but a final quote/price has not been talked about, just in the beginning stages. Since they're just cutting me a check for the expense, I want to make sure I understand the full dollar amount of the expense. In comparison with the paint that is already on it, I'm probably looking at $5K - 6K just for a paint job with little to no body work. With the roof job added to the damage, I want to make sure I am getting enough to get it back to where it was, if not a little better. If they try to short-change me on the check, I also have the option of picking out a shop, having them do the work, and them having the insurance company pay them directly.

When it's all said and done, the car will be a really nice condition driver, finished off in all areas. I've already rebuilt the engine with a bunch of performance goodies, new transmission, all new suspension, brakes, wheels, tires, gauges, interior, all new electrical headlight to taillight. I'd say it's been a "frame off" resto, but it's a unibody
I've built the car to handle corners, so it'll sort of be like a T/A Charger that never was.

This is a pretty big set-back, but it won't stop anything. Again, thanks for all the advice guys, I'm definitely going into this with a better mindset of what to talk about, and what to look for with the shops.