This isn't really a tech related question, but I was just wondering if anyone ever had a similar experience. When I bought my Mustang a year ago it had a little rust formed around the sunroof, no where else on the car at all I had the bodyshop check just to be sure, but for some reason it was on the roof, anyways.. the bodyshop sanded it down, rustmort, the whole 9 yards for trying to remove the rust, but they said even though they got what they could see, it could eventually come back, no time slated. So to get on to my question, has anyone ever converted a sunroof car to a regular hardtop car and how much work would this require, would it be a simple cut and re-weld or would the integrity of the car become ruined? Also would the drain holes in the sunroof, I think there are 4 of them? also be rusted possibly. Anyways its not that big of a deal now but how long i am planning on keeping this car it could become a worse issue in the future. Thanks
Anyone ever replaced roof on Stang?
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hemi_fan
Active Member
Id imagine it would be really really hard to fix the roof unless you cut the pillars right off on 2 different cars and just swapped roofs. But in either case, u mite be better off selling it and buying a cleaner 5.0... they arent very expensive.
That would be cool.
Hissing Cobra
Founding Member
On the fox bodies, the roof skin is spot welded all the way around and then the lines skim coated to hide them on the pillars. The spot welds can be drilled out and the roof skin lifted off, but this is very time consuming, so I'm sure it can get expensive real fast.
I too, had this same problem around my sunroof and thinking that it may be easier to fix, I cut a roof off of a newer model. My bodyguy told me that it would be easier to fix the existing roof. So, he sandblasted the rust, cut out the weakened metal, welded in new pieces, skimmed, and finally finished it off. You can't even tell.
As for the other roof that I cut off the other car, well, I junked that.
I too, had this same problem around my sunroof and thinking that it may be easier to fix, I cut a roof off of a newer model. My bodyguy told me that it would be easier to fix the existing roof. So, he sandblasted the rust, cut out the weakened metal, welded in new pieces, skimmed, and finally finished it off. You can't even tell.
As for the other roof that I cut off the other car, well, I junked that.
mustang88GT
New Member
i used to work at a body shop, these were on new cars but they rplaced roofs and whole front clips... so image it can be done but unless u do it ur self it will be very expensive...
My LX was in a hail storm. I replaced the fenders, hatch, and hood, leaving about 50 hail pings on the roof. There were a few really close to the windshield, and on the corner by the quarter windows. With about 18 hours of rubbing and some thin coats of bondo, along with good primer, it's cherry now.
88stangmangt
Active Member
i would guess thousands i heard of a company that use to convert a car to t-tops and it cost thousands.
Thanks again for all the replies, ya I know it would be expensive, but later on down the road when I can afford to assemble parts for a 347, suspension, and the works, I figure since I'm spending so much already, might as well fix everything on it. Probably sounds dumb to some, but I'm just that picky I guess.
Chad
Chad
trbkrb
Founding Member
I know a guy that had it done by a friend in the body shop business. He got it done for a few hundred dollars.... it would have cost around $1500 or so if he didn't have a hook up. His car looked great after the repair.
I work at a body shop. It is possible and in fact easy, but takes a lot of time and knowledge. here are some pics of an intrepid we are repairing right now, including replacing the roof. the cost would be a couple thousand to replace and I don't recommend trying it yourself usless you are a great welder.
before:
as of friday:
before:
as of friday:
