Roof rust (1 Viewer)

[pepsifantacola]

So I've made some progress... Used a wet towel as a heat sink to avoid fire since I'm not taking off the headliner. Sprayed with primer to prevent flash rust and will be sanding and filling once everythings welded on.

Had a fire one time. Not a big deal since I was going to replace the headliner next year anyway and I could just live with it for a bit... I suspect that it wasn't the sparks per say that caused the fire but the heating up of the roof and the 99F clear summer weather that heated things up which made it really easy for sparks to catch. After using the wet towel as the heat sink no such fire occurs even if sparks splash into the deadening material.

So far about 30+ hrs into this job and have finished about 45% of the roof...

Primer has been sprayed on the interior of the roof as well so there should be a sealed surface behind the new outer roof piece

 

[pepsifantacola]

Wet rag heat sink

*Edit
Changed thread name to roof rust since this ain't exactly a temporary prevention anymore haha

 

[EscapeWagon62]

Very impressed.
Many people would have run from this type of repair and labeled it a parts truck.
Rooting for you!

 

[zakthor]

Wow good for you not making a bondo rust bomb.

Cut everything straight. Leave a gap between new and old metal, the weld metal will suck into the gap. 1/32" gap is great. The little magnets at welding store are great.

Keep temp down. Dont try to weld a continuous bead, one zap, then go elsewhere and another zap. Its a long long process. Not a weekend. Weld again once a spot is warm to the bare hand.

Get good metal primer and never let weld sit overnight. Spray everytime youre done for the day. Get epoxy primer for your final primer coat once you are done and everything is grinded flat.

Cover everything you dont want destroyed by weld splatter. Windows, good paint, backside of your knee...

 

[pepsifantacola]

Wow good for you not making a bondo rust bomb.

Cut everything straight. Leave a gap between new and old metal, the weld metal will suck into the gap. 1/32" gap is great. The little magnets at welding store are great.

Keep temp down. Dont try to weld a continuous bead, one zap, then go elsewhere and another zap. Its a long long process. Not a weekend. Weld again once a spot is warm to the bare hand.

Get good metal primer and never let weld sit overnight. Spray everytime youre done for the day. Get epoxy primer for your final primer coat once you are done and everything is grinded flat.

Cover everything you dont want destroyed by weld splatter. Windows, good paint, backside of your knee...

Yup I am actually fixing the bondo rust bomb that resulted from the PO's improper repair

Forgot to cover the rear side glass and yup there is now pitting from the molten spatter. Yikes!


Starting to see the end result and am really motivated to finish this project. Already got a buddy to do the paint for me and got some Toyota Red 3F4 paint for him from The Auto Paint Depot who also helped me find the color match

Thanks everyone for the support. It's been about 2 and a half weeks everyday on and off that we've been at it so far.

I don't know how to tackle the corner of the A pillars as rust has eaten away all the metal that the windshield gasket was supposed to mate against.. I'm guessing the windshields probably gonna have to come off?

 

[zakthor]

Probably you will take the glass out to paint? I had a rust hole that reached the gasket, windhshield guy said it would break if he tried to remove it, so i grinded all the fust away painted really well and stuffed jbweld steel stick into the hole. When it dried i painted on it until it would take no more. Then thin rage xl bondo and more paint. Its fine for now. When windshield cracks and comes out i'll grind and rebuild with the mig. If i was getting truck 'painted' i'd have all the glass out, blast and epoxy primer, otherwise its rattlecan for me.

 

[pepsifantacola]

Hello all! Apologies for the lack of updates...I kind of forgot about this thread I made. As a result I only have the after pictures, sorry for that

Finished the roof and had it painted white. I love it so far and haven't had any issues for about a month now.

 

[pepsifantacola]

I also got a free rust bucket courtesy of yet another uncle lmao