Roof Repair: 71-74 B-body

[Chase383]

Hey guys,


Looking for some advice on my 71' Road Runner clone project. My car came with the vinyl half top and it has taken a terrible toll on the front windshield channel. I have some experience repairing similar (but not as extensive) damage on my father's 70' Challenger. On his car we fabbed small patches to repair the damage around the trim clips.

My car is far worse.... vast sections of the entire window channel are completely rotted away, there even holes on the outer roof skin... and the outer section of the lower A-pillars are gone.

The header panel has some heavy scale on it, but it appears to be solid. The inner A-pillars are also solid as well.

How would you recommend fixing this? A complete roof skin and pillars is an option, but what about sectioning the forward roof skin?

Has anybody done this?

Do 2 door and 4-door cars use the same windshield?

 

[moparmarks]

Sectioning a roof can be pretty hard to hide your work. Long smooth surface right at eye level. A V-top will help. I myself would change out the whole roof.
None of the glass interchanges between 2 and 4 dr.

 

[Ron 73]

Changing out the whole roof would be the best way to go, it sounds like a lot of damage to try to repair.. I agree

 

[Chase383]

Roof skin it is then.

Maybe AMD is reading my post :grin:... Below are some pics of the damage in question.

The roof rail reinforcements along both sides and the C-pillar reinforcements are in great shape. So my plan is remove my roof skin, and remove a skin from a donor and swap the skin after cleaning and sealing my framework. My center roof brace is bent down for some reason so it will be an excellent time to repair/replace it as well.

 

[Chase383]

The area below was also rotten on my father's 70' Challenger. We repaired this section long before AMD existed and now I see that a patch is available for this area.

Are the A-pillars or the just the area in the photo the same between the E-body and the 71-74 B-bodies?

I know the cowls are similar but not 100% exact.

 

[Donny]

That's some serious damage.

 

[wannadrag]

That's some serious damage.

X2

 

[Chase383]

And believe it or not....

The only really bad spot on the whole car. Not so much as pinhole in the trunk, 3 pinholes in the drivers' side floor. Solid rails, solid cowl. Even the original battery tray is intact...