[FC] FC Roof Removal

[Dale Dewald]

Hello Paul,

At 16:45 9/27/2008 -0400, noahsarkinc wrote:
>I have a FC van that has a large hole cut in the roof.  Someone attempted to
>graft a pop top camper roof to the vehicle, and I would like to remove it
>and repair the hole.  I have a parts van that I can use for the roof, but
>after looking at it, I still can't figure out how the original roof was put
>on at the factory.  It appears that it is spot welded, but I also see some
>bolts that also look like they are holding something together.  The assembly
>manual shows both spot riveting and glueing, and I have no idea how to do
>this without destroying the good roof, and I don't want to do further damage
>to the good van. Has anyone ever removed a complete roof panel successfully
>without damage?

In addition to spot welding, I believe there were also some MIG welds at 
the door openings.  From what I understand, the roof was bolted to the side 
and front body panels for the convenience of assembly and alignment, then 
welded to make a permanent structure.

I remember one fellow's solution to this problem from a few years back. The 
devil is in the details but his basic procedure was this:

1) Trim away the butchered roof all the way around to within about 1-1/2 to 
2 inches from the rain gutter; leaving, in effect, a mounting flange for 
the replacement roof. Be sure to leave the support rails in place.  Splice 
in replacement rails from the donor van, if needed.

2) Cut the roof off the donor van right in/at the rain gutter, to obtain a 
large metal roof shell.

3) Prep both surfaces (grind to bare metal) and remove the putty in the 
rain gutter of the van to receive the new roof.

4) Check for fit.  The replacement roof panel should fit closely on the 
flange all of the way around and down into the rain gutter.

5) Use the two-part (uses a special mixing nozzle and double caulk gun) 
urethane auto body adhesive to glue the replacement roof in place.

6) Apply new caulk in the rain gutter to hide the exterior seam. Apply 
paint and interior rustproofing as needed.

Perhaps the person who originally wrote about this repair could respond and 
discuss this further [and correct my errors].

Dale Dewald
Hancock, MI