Bob, looking good...I've learned there's invariably lots of grubby work in any worthwhile effort, at least as it relates to a car project. Best, John

think I finished the last of the sand blasting yesterday. it was funny spinning the tub over and seeing the sand fly around.... despite the tarp, gave the shop driveway a bit of a white chritmas look.

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got the car back in the shop. continue the grinding away of putty and other rubbery stuff that the sand blast would not clean. think I am getting close to finishing that work. then clean and final sanding....:D

after getting the modified rear calipers back, they did such a great job cleaning them up I had to clean and repaint the fronts that were in a bit rougher shape.

now to get rotors and put them together.

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looking over web sites for parts that will need to be welded into the tub.

so far my list includes:
* front through body sway bar reinforcement.
* rear shock tower reinforcement (only plan coil over helper springs)
* RSR front oil cooler deflector pan
* new rear sway bar brackets

anyone have more suggestions? go ahead ... spend my money.

considered putting the oil coolers in the rear fender vents. created a couple threads to research and got feedback and determined that was not a good approach.

so now that I decided to do a front valance cooler... when the time comes will get the ER finned metal lines.

ordered all of the above.

been working on the rebuild of my 951's engine. so while waiting for the head work and other parts getting back to cleaning this tub.

my cousin is a welder and will be in for a couple weeks. may get a chance to have her do the welding.

and from a test fit realized how much the sunroof opening has to be ground back to allow a flush fit of the panel. the panel offset is just the thickness of the roof metal.

well went to work on the sunroof area with a grinder. went around the entire opening grinding off the edges so I end up with just the sheet metal.

I had even called rennline to confirm my suspicion this was needed. the offset of the panel is basically just the thickness of the roof metal.

when grinding off the edge on the rear of the sunroof opening it had a folded over edge. after grinding that off the brace that goes across the roof pulled off easily. but when I did the roof flexed down.

it appears that brace is bonded in place and then the roof edge is folded over. with that folded lip removed the brace pulled off very easily. most of the bonding had let go.

I think this had been part of the sunroof cassette I removed.

will need to bond that back in and leave room for the panel. will use the guide that came with the panel to get the curve of the roof back to where is needs to be when bonding that brace back in.

had not read anything about this in other threads. any advice on how this should have been done for the next person doing this?

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Bob, was that an oh $hit moment? Meaning, are you at all worried about getting the roof shape correct again? Best, John

not too worried. hoping to get some suggestions.

I am assuming you are going to have the new panel welded in? That is the best way to do it, but takes some skill.

I created a couple of cardboard templets to make sure my roof's couture was correct during the process. I took those off a friend's perfect and original car.

However my roof did not sag like yours. Maybe use a couple of sheet metal screws to hold the brace in place to restore the original shape during the process. Or use something like silicone seal to glue it back, so you can use a heat gun to melt the glue when done.

Bob, I'm not a bodyman.

I filled a sunroof using a donor skin from slick lid car, butt welded no flange.

I removed the entire sunroof cassette and my first observation was the roof skin went limp. Similar to you I had the luxury of having the roof upside down so I placed shot bags on the donor skin to weight the roof and restore contour, though amount and placement of weight would alter the contour, it was touchy.

At this point I scribed my insert and trimmed it, then concocted a way to hold it in place for welding.

I injected too much heat in the welding process (I'm not a bodyman...) and the shrinkage resulted in a limp roof skin. I enlisted a friend who is a retired bodyman and he carefully bucked the skin to stretch it back to contour. It took the two of us only two hours. I noticed he was watching for soft spots which needed slight amounts of added stretch to gain uniform strength. The end result was a smooth uniform skin. Minimal filler used, mostly high build primer.

I have no advice aside from using small mig spot welds until completely welded. And don't inject too much heat when grinding the welds as this too will cause shrinkage. Don't be surprised if you end up doing some metal working. A person who has done a few 911 sunroofs will undoubtably have a refined process, and like most things in autobody it's an acquired skill.

got to looking more at this and starting to develop a plan.

I have a professional welder coming to look today. she is my 21 yr old cousin. after taking welding in high school and loved it, after HS graduation spent over a year in welding school in Jacksonville, FL. after finishing welding school had been working at the ship yard there for over a year.

tried to just clamp the cross brace in and did not return the roof shape completely to original. I have the template from rennline of the proper roof contour.

my current thinking is to sit the panel in place and then lay the cross brace on the panel lip. and do a little bending of that cross brace if needed to get the shape correct.

one thing I think helped produce the roof curvature was that little folded lip on the rear of the sunroof opening. such a fold tends to help hold a shape.

once bonded in place and the roof contour correct, have her do little tack welds all around before filling with metal body filler.

Let us know what she says.

she and dad stopped by yesterday. she can weld anything. but the shape of the roof, that's up to me.....

sigh.

Another thing to consider is the squareness of the windshield opening. You may want to put some bracing in the windshield opening. Those bodies can flex so be careful.

Good to hear she is up to the welding. Welding car bodies is a special art.

You have to prop the roof into place with an adjustable rod.

You have to prop it while clamping it.

thanks Fixer. as noted in my reply to your PM, can turn the car upside down on the rotisserie to get it fitted and pressed back to the correct form.

trackrash,
since it is an empty tub it is very light.

Oh, she said she would not do the roof without a tig, metal too thin for mig. but I am suspecting she thought I wanted the entire edge of the sunroof opening welded, rather than some spot welds.

but will wait for this to get done when at the paint shop. they have a guy who is really good working on body panels and welding them.

lay/bond the panel in place and then lay/bond the cross bar with the edge of the bar overlapping the edge of the roof panel. lay some weights on it until the roof shape matches the template.

with me luck when this time come.

getting the areas ground clean for the shock tower reinforcement brackets and the inside fender area for the through body sway bar reinforcements.

got those areas preped.... next to work on front oil cooler deflector pan and get the roll cage to the shop to determine where to weld the bolt-in plates.

forgot the pics. SmileWavy

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