Ivan's coupe: bodywork is done

[Ivan141]

So, since my last post I have committed a few days to beating the devil out of my roof panel, and it's getting closer, but I've no illusions towards getting it really close with my panel beating skills.

One of the guys in the garage was so kind as to evaluate my work (bodywork prep and painter by profession) and pointed out 2 problem areas I need to address.
The 2 biggest former dents have lost a bit of their strength, meaning they depress easily when pushed (they to spring back in the correct shape though). This apparently is a disaster for doing filler work on such large surfaces, since sanding puts in heat into the panels + the panel giving in makes it really hard to work on.

One of those spots seems to be getting stronger as I beat some crown back into the area, so I'm still hoping I might be able to fix it, but the other is really not that far out of shape to justify me trying to beat more crown into it. So I'm adding in additional support to prop the roof up.

It doesn't touch the roof panel anywhere, but once it's in place, some dots of thick glue will do the trick (same as the OEM roof support).


I dont want to weld this thing in since I've no idea if the liner will fit with it in place. I also intend to spend at least 1 day more beating the roof into better shape.
So I devised a clamping mechanism to hold the support in place.


Here's a shot of the roof, this one hides the remaining imperfections well though...