cockerstar Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I feel your pain! I'm in the process of doing my body work as well. The biggest thing for me has been the roof, but mine had a huge hold in it. You know, that dreaded sunroof thing Cut the whole skin off of my parts car, cut the patch, shaped it, tacked it in, stitch welded it, ground it flush, and now I'm in the process of filling everything in to make it even. To go along with the huge patch panel, there is some warpage and a few decent sized dents to boot. I'll post up some pics once I'm finished. I haven't seen a write up on how to patch a sunroof yet Everything looks great! Nice and smoootthhhh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted August 12, 2008 Author Share Posted August 12, 2008 Music wire is not guitar strings... Music wire is heat treated, small diameter wire. It is as stiff as a spring. Look in model airplane shops and some hardware stores. The stuff can be bent by hand.. but just barely. I used 1/8" dia. wire for my reinforcement. It adds SIGNIFICANT structural reinforcement along the edges of panels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
city hunter Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 I sold my last 240z because I didnt want to deal with the wavy roof, and I knew I was never going to be happy unless it was straight. I just held out until I found a decent chassis wiht a straight roof lol. Nice work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockerstar Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 How would you go about mounting music wire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenJammin Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Anyone here ever go with cutting the whole roof off at the pillars and welding in a new one? Pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks280zt Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 I cut off an entire roof skin and had it grafted in. Took a long time to get it perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PalmettoZ Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 I had the same problem on my 280Z. What I ended up doing along with the shrinking with hammer and dolly was to bond in pieces of sheetmetal underneath. I used the bonding epoxy available at auto body shops that is great for this application. I made 6" wide strips and formed them by hand to follow the contour of the roof and glued them in. This really strengthed up the roof and took out the flexing which makes it easier to do the leveling work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zfixxer Posted October 2, 2008 Share Posted October 2, 2008 I can't stress enough the key to a good, straight panel is Evercoat Metalglaze, basically a watered down version of bondo. Your roof and door look good, but I would coat the entire panel one last time and sand it down with this stuff. I was amazed how "good" a panel felt after sanding and how much more continued to show up. I typically do the initial sanding with a random orbital, then a longer hand sanding board, approx 18", and finally a traditional sanding block. My roof looked about as bad as yours initially too. I have to tell you guys and anyone else that is reading this looking for info that metal glaze is not designed as a body filler. It is simply for bridging between the filler and the steel and for fixing small imperfections such as pinholes. If you use too much 2part glaze it will sink or ring after your freshly painted car sits in the sun for a while. If you have done the body work and cant quite get it perfectly straight (roof's are tough to do) there is a product called feather fill which is a spray-able filler that can be used to straighten out those wobbles that seem to never disappear. I use it on all the resto's that I do and every car comes out straight as an arrow. It is fairly inexpensive, actually its a lot cheaper than priming that roof over and over again to block it straight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doohopark Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 ya the roof is a PITA, the double crown makes it very difficult, i bought a 24" sanding block just to get it right. Mine was espically diffcult becuse i had to weld in a patch about 4"x4" right in the middle of the roof. the out come was good. this was done a few years back but i still remember that nightmare. Oh btw I own my own shop if any one is looking for paint/ body work in OC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wedge Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Anyone here ever go with cutting the whole roof off at the pillars and welding in a new one? Pics? Bad idea never cut in the structure of the unibody best would be to garft the skin of another roof . Just wanted to know since im a noob at bodywork couldnt you use lead to fill in the body i saw that on some hot rods and on Mull's car ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK-Z Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Bad idea never cut in the structure of the unibody best would be to garft the skin of another roof . Just wanted to know since im a noob at bodywork couldnt you use lead to fill in the body i saw that on some hot rods and on Mull's car ? You can do it, but you would have to weld scaffolding to keep the frame straight when you cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zfixxer Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 As someone who has 12+ years exp in collision repair and restoration fixing roofs are not too easy especially one that has been warped by sandblasting. Body filler is not always the answer. (even though it seems like the easiest) Learning how to use a body file and and the appropriate body hammer and dolly is better and usually quicker in the long run, but it does take some practice. Then a minimal amount of filler can be used to finish it off if necessary. If replacing the roof is the only route to go then, it can be done but I would recommend that you take it too someone who has experience doing so. The roof is an integral part of the unibody structure there is alot that can be wrecked by doing it incorrectly. I have seen it in the past where doors and windsheilds don't fit afterwards and it is more than double the ammount of work to fix it as opposed to doing it properly in the first place. It takes alot of measuring and test fitting to do it properly and bracing isnt always neccesary with roofs unless your car has rotten floors too. btw doohopark your roof looks like it turned out pretty good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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