Has anyone had any experience transplanting roof skins?

[Vaptor]

Thanks

I could post some pictures for you, I am removing my own roof skin these days. But yea its like you say, some spot welds that has to be drilled out, and a welding at the B pillar.

[pack]

Just to think that those Trueno wings they have for sale where molded from mine!

If youre transplating a roof skin, post it on the forums, like a tutorial!

[Jezza_hr]

pack Wrote:Just to think that those Trueno wings they have for sale where molded from mine!

If youre transplating a roof skin, post it on the forums, like a tutorial!

Awesome stuff.

I will be doing my best to put together a tutorial as part of a whole new project I'm starting up. It should all start the second week in January.

[McKenney]

hit up Aram, he swapped his on his Beams coupe

[Jezza_hr]

Doing the swap on a 2 door looks to be a little bit easier, since the B-pillar is hidden by the windows. So, even if you do a bit of a messy job, it will be out of sight once the windows are in place.

[Ivan141]

That's a bit unfair, the 2 door has a visible roof seam on the top of the C-pillars, so I'd say it's equally challenging.
You can look up my build thread for pictures of my swap, it's not very hard, you just need to be carefull.. measure twice, cut once. Or better still, cut with a good safety margin and work your way back from there.
I just welded the roof to the pillar, went surprisingly well. But the original is brazed. Dont forget to put some rubbery sealant back in to keep the roof from vibrating against it's supports.

[Jezza_hr]

Ivan141 Wrote:That's a bit unfair, the 2 door has a visible roof seam on the top of the C-pillars, so I'd say it's equally challenging.

That's a very good point, I had neglected to think about that Thanks for the information Ivan.

[Jezza_hr]

Just wanted to ask a few more questions for some people here. Does anyone have any recommendation for the size of the drill bit for the spot weld removal, 8mm or 10mm? also when chiselling the roof from the body, is there any sealant already there that I need to cut away at, or is it just the welds? And would I need to put a brace inside the car to stop the body from moving around or mis-shaping once the roof is off?


Thanks in advance

[4000GT]

You can get a specific drill bit for removing spot welds mate, Its maybe 6mm, and has a very flat head, so you can drill through the weld and not the second skin.

[Jezza_hr]

Yeah, I plan to get one with a spring loaded centre. But since they're available in different sizes, I'm wondering what is best to work on the roof skin. I'm typically seeing 8mm or 10mm when looking around. I'm thinking it might be better to be slightly bigger than the weld to make sure it does the cut, but I also don't want to overdo it.