Successful skin graft (roof skin, that is)

[Arne]

very nice job!

once you get some paint on there no one would ever know that it had a hole in the top.

That was (obviously) the idea. And yes, he did did the job I was hoping for.

I wish I had a set of those slotted mags for my Z

They aren't a matched set, the rears are a deeper offset than the front. Unless I can find something scrap to throw on it, they will go to the crusher with the remains of the shell later this Spring.

How much did it cost for the labor etc. and how long did it take????

thanks,

Carl B.

The work was done at Evolution Auto Body, a one-man (Scott Daniels) shop in Salem, OR, basically next door to ZTherapy. I don't know how many S30 roofs he has re-skinned, but I do know that mine was not his first, probably more like his fifth or sixth. I could tell the first time we talked that he knew exactly what he was doing. And he is incredibly affordable. I supplied the donor roof, and the total was all of $450! He invoiced me 14 hours at $30/hr. That included a couple hours to do a touch of rust repair under the windshield seal on the donor roof. I dropped the car off Monday afternoon, and picked it up late Friday, so four days. I can't recommend him enough for this type of work.

Very nice Arne! The new paint itch is going to get more intense now.

It's more than an itch. Now that the car is back home, I'm going to strip it the rest of the way down and deliver it to my local paint shop week after next. I would have let Scott do the whole re-paint, but he said he is so busy that he's not taking in any full repaints right now. But he said squeezing in a roof skin job was no problem. So I'll have the rest of the paint done locally.

Did your metal man give you an idea of the level of difficulty or any problems doing this transplant?

No problems, other than the above-mentioned rust repair on the donor roof prior to welding it together. The job is fairly straightforward. Drill out all the spot welds on the donor panel to remove it intact, cut the bad roof off the car and grind down (not drill) the spot welds on the car, and re-weld the new panel into place. I'm certain that any competent sheet metal guy could do it, but I'm glad I picked one who has done it on these cars before.

Before you reinstall the headliner, it would be the perfect time to research a good spray on stiffiner to apply to the underside.

Done. Scott cleaned and applied a nice glossy epoxy to the underside before he welded it on as part of the job. Perhaps it's not a stiffener, but it sure seems like it might be. On the trip back home (60 miles) the car seemed much quieter, even without any headliner.

[m4xwellmurd3r]

They aren't a matched set, the rears are a deeper offset than the front. Unless I can find something scrap to throw on it, they will go to the crusher with the remains of the shell later this Spring.

I kinda like them miss-matched like that. as long as both rears are matched and both fronts are matched. if you're gonna scrap it, throw the car with no wheels on a flat bed and I'll buy that set off ya haha

[Arne]

I kinda like them miss-matched like that. as long as both rears are matched and both fronts are matched. if you're gonna scrap it, throw the car with no wheels on a flat bed and I'll buy that set off ya haha

OK, I'll keep that in mind.

[Arne]

Anyone need a sunroof?

[m4xwellmurd3r]

OK, I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks. when the time comes for her to go lemme know what you've decided on

[Arne]

Can't stop now...

[geezer]

You had a busy day! I'm curious about the gaskets presence inbetween the headlight buckets and the fenders.

[Arne]

You had a busy day! I'm curious about the gaskets presence inbetween the headlight buckets and the fenders.

Day and a half, actually. After parting both the yellow car and the prior blue parts car, I'm getting darned good at taking these cars apart.

Ron, there were no gaskets between the buckets and the fenders. And there is no evidence that the buckets had ever been removed since new, and several clues that make me believe that to be the case.

Perhaps the gaskets were used on later cars that had metal buckets?

[a7dz]

Mine had gaskets and still does.

[Arne]

Mine had gaskets and still does.

OK, so maybe only the early cars came with gaskets?

[zanthus]

I know my 280 didn't come with gaskets. Arne, how much of the yellow car is left? I need some replacement panels that I'd potentially like to come cut off like the part of the frame rail in front of where the radiator core support is located. I've got about a 6 inch round whole there that needs replacing on the Drivers side. Still got that?

[Bonzi Lon]

My 73 had the gaskets that fell apart in my hands when I took the (metal) buckets off. Made new ones out of an old inner tube.

Bonzi Lon