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My roof is caved in

M

monkeystash

Active Member
So I've had my fastback for 4+ years now and I just noticed this today. I finally got around to stripping the multiple layers of paint, primer, filler, etc from the roof and noticed this:

53_14_04_09_6_24_29.jpg


I know it's not much of a drawing but it gets the point across. This is the roof panel with the front of the car to the right. The arcs are the high spots in the panel, giving a huge crater in the middle. I don't have any idea what happened; it's almost like a child walked on the roof or something heavy was stored there. It's VERY obvious by feel, and pretty obvious by eye. Being an amateur bodyman, my best bet might be to replace the roof skin rather than attempt to fix it. I'm gonna play with it a bit and see what I can do, but.......bummer dude.
 
What a bummer. I know from past experience that is a pain to fix. My last '66 had a couple of small ones in the rear and the body man did a lot of complaining but did a good job. Two things, getting out the small crease where you drew the lines and keeping it from "oil canning" due to the metal being stretched. Good luck.
 
I've had the misfortune to suffer through the same roof dent problems on just about every Mustang I've rebuilt. What a PITA. I swear that back in the mid-late 60's it was standard fare to walk into the Ford dealer, buy a Mustang and then head to the local drive-in movie and let your kiddies/fatass GF dance all over the roof. :wtf

Read up on "metal quenching". It's worked for me on several occasions.
 
hmm ive helped with make these dents on a few project fastbacks when i was looking to buy mine i found a guy that had about 40 fastbacks parked to close to walk through so we walked on top of them he did it first so i followed he gave me a rubber mallet and we went around getting the big dents i felt bad walking on the cars but i wasn't going to buy a car without seeing it first
 
"pnandy" said:
hmm ive helped with make these dents on a few project fastbacks when i was looking to buy mine i found a guy that had about 40 fastbacks parked to close to walk through so we walked on top of them he did it first so i followed he gave me a rubber mallet and we went around getting the big dents i felt bad walking on the cars but i wasn't going to buy a car without seeing it first
Click to expand...

You walked on mine. Now come fix it.
 
"hivewax" said:
i would say the shrinking disc is only for small dents.
Click to expand...

Well, I can only do small areas at a time, so it won't be quick. However, I just need to shrink the arcs in my picture above, and this should allow me to do that. I also have a dented up decklid that I will practice on first.
 
Damn Ryan, I hate to hear that. Good Luck getting it straightened out. Oh by the way, next time, buy a vert :hide2
 
Okay, I gave the shrinking disc a shot today...and it sucked. Actually, it is probably me that sucks. Anyway, I wasn't able to shrink the metal at all using the disc. I then resorted to the torch/quench method which didn't work either. I think I need to hammer a bit more after heating the metal, but before quenching it. I'm gonna give it another try tomorrow.
 
"monkeystash" said:
Okay, I gave the shrinking disc a shot today...and it sucked. Actually, it is probably me that sucks. Anyway, I wasn't able to shrink the metal at all using the disc. I then resorted to the torch/quench method which didn't work either. I think I need to hammer a bit more after heating the metal, but before quenching it. I'm gonna give it another try tomorrow.
Click to expand...
ata boy, GET R DONE! You could always just wuss out, and fill it with bondo, but what fun would that be. But first, Keep trying, and i think youll get it.
 
"AzPete" said:
Make it a glass top..........................
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Thats true, i test drove a 2010 gt today with the glass top (it also happened to be a white 5 spd) ... And the salesman said "they have a guy that can put them in any mustang." Just wonder if that goes for vintage too. but man that would be trick.
 
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