Vinyl Roof Replacement

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340_dart_power

340_dart_power

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FABO Gents & Ladies:
I'm looking for some input from anyone who has replaced (successfully) their vinyl top. I'm about to get into this project, and my primary question concerns prepping the roof after the rust is repaired and the metal work is finished. Has anyone used POR15 as a rust preventative on the roof before the vinyl is re-applied, and if so, are there any issues with the adhesive sticking to POR15? Should the POR15 be applied, and then a primer put down to give the adhesive something to hang onto?
I've used POR15 and am happy with the product; however, it does have a pretty "slick" feel to it when dry.
The side issue is the headliner replacement, which I'm doing at the same time. Please chime in with suggestions.
Any thoughts are welcome, as always.
Attached are some photos from today taken between rain storms. You can see the bubbles under the top and the problem areas around the lower edge of the rear window trim area.

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You can use the POR 15, but I would shoot a coat of primer while the POR 15 is still tacky. As you said, it is to slick and the adhesive won't bite into it. I have installed a dozen vinyl tops this way and have had no issues.
 
340john said:
You can use the POR 15, but I would shoot a coat of primer while the POR 15 is still tacky. As you said, it is to slick and the adhesive won't bite into it. I have installed a dozen vinyl tops this way and have had no issues.
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Excellent, thanks. You confirmed my suspicions about the POR.
BTW, used to work in Newark, N.J., in and around (Essex, Hudson and Union Counties).
 
340john said:
You can use the POR 15, but I would shoot a coat of primer while the POR 15 is still tacky. As you said, it is to slick and the adhesive won't bite into it. I have installed a dozen vinyl tops this way and have had no issues.
Click to expand...

John, the top and headliner are both off and the game plan is exactly as you described; the metal has some rust but no through-and-through holes, so once the grinding is done and any filler applied and sanded, the next step will be POR15 and then primer.

I'll try to post some progress photos.
 
Well the vinyl is gone and so is the headliner. As you can see, there was good reason to do this job. The worst area is around the rear window; have to wait and see how bad it really is once the glass is taken out.

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Looking at the underside of your roof brings back lots of bad memories. When I was doing the pre-purchase inspection on the Demon, the underside of the roof looked like that. I closed the deal and loaded it up on a dolly (no engine, trans, or driveshaft) heading from California to the Edge of the World about 1200 miles away.
Everything was going great until I hit a bump on the freeway. Immediately, I looked back at my charge in the rearview mirror. I saw a puff of orange smoke come out of the roof. My stomach began to turn.
By the time I made my first fuel stop, there was a hole in the roof I could put my hand through and several others that would pass a finger. It got a little bit worse as the vinyl began to be peeled off by the wind and more of the roof became road dust along I-10.
Recommend checking roof so that you don't have any areas that are close to perforation. Avoid my struggles.

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Holy crap! I thought mine was in iffy condition.
I went over it yesterday and it's almost completely intact, with solid (with surface rust) metal. Thanks for the heads up on this, though. Never would have thought they would deteriorate like that.
 
When I redid the vynil on my duster a couple summers back I found that the vynil didn't take to well to going into the drip rails along the edges of the roof. To help press the vynil into the rails and get it to stick, take the lower alternator bracket from your car (the long curved one, big block or small block, both work) and walk/roll the bracket through the drip rail to press the vynil down. the bracket is just about the right size to do this job. Once you've got one side done and want to move on to the next, make sure you have someone hold down the side that is already done to keep it from coming back up. As for surface prep I just sanded all the adhesive from the prior top off and sprayed some Duplicolor rattle-can primer on it, then scuffed the primer. Used a high-temp upholstery adhesive normally used when upholstering boats. Also make sure you start from the center of the roof and work your way out, and trim oversize at first then do a fine trim with sharp scissors and an xacto blade once the glue has set. Most important of all....have fun!!!
 
73duster47 said:
When I redid the vynil on my duster a couple summers back I found that the vynil didn't take to well to going into the drip rails along the edges of the roof. To help press the vynil into the rails and get it to stick, take the lower alternator bracket from your car (the long curved one, big block or small block, both work) and walk/roll the bracket through the drip rail to press the vynil down. the bracket is just about the right size to do this job. Once you've got one side done and want to move on to the next, make sure you have someone hold down the side that is already done to keep it from coming back up. As for surface prep I just sanded all the adhesive from the prior top off and sprayed some Duplicolor rattle-can primer on it, then scuffed the primer. Used a high-temp upholstery adhesive normally used when upholstering boats. Also make sure you start from the center of the roof and work your way out, and trim oversize at first then do a fine trim with sharp scissors and an xacto blade once the glue has set. Most important of all....have fun!!!
Click to expand...

You have captured completely all of the reasons I'm paying someone to do this job...
 
why pay someone? I had never done this before my car, and it took me a saturday to do, most of the time was spent doing other things while waiting for the glue to set. It was extremely easy to do
 
Too much metal work to be done, plus I don't have the workspace or tools or time right now. I hate paying someone, but I don't have the faith in my own abilities to have it turn out the way it should be.
 
if you are concerned about the drip rail, do what i've done. go to the nearest lowes, or home depot, get about 12 feet of 1/4 or 3/8 inch dowel(wood), soak it overnight in water, put your top on and use 5 or 6 sets of reach over vise grips, and clamp the dowel into the rail overnight. the water on the dowel will alow you to bend it around the entire length of the rail. then you can trim the edge and install the trim. good luck.
 
Silly question but how did you remove all the trim? Just one of those standard trim tools, look like a Y? I need to do this on my Duster as well and the trim seems so tight I can't imagine getting it off without buckling it.
 
I went by the shop this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of solid metal revealed by some surface grinding. The rear window track is rusty but intact; there'll be less work involved than I feared. I suspected they'd have to cut old sections out and weld in new ones, but it's all solid, except for the right rear lower corner. I'm a happy camper.
 
POR 15 under a vinyl top would be a waste of money if you are stripping the roof. Just paint it. Lots of Mopars came off the line without paint under vinyl tops. I have one in my garage right now. They sprayed both edges of the roof, and left the top bare. Paint will seal the roof fine.
 
Most of the grinding is done, and some POR15 applied.
Some small areas had to be welded and repaired, but overall it was in pretty good shape under the vinyl.

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Wow those guys are taking good care of your ride. Are they a body and mechanical shop? They look like they do good work. Cant wait to see the progress.
 
Slappy said:
Wow those guys are taking good care of your ride. Are they a body and mechanical shop? They look like they do good work. Cant wait to see the progress.
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They do it all. I believe they'll farm out/subcontract some of the more serious engine work, but do just about everything.
The shop is about a ten minute ride from my house, so they're conveniently located as well.
The guy doing the painting put down two coats of primer yesterday (May 27th) on top of the POR15, so it should last awhile. The next step was to check with the vinyl roof and headliner install guy to see if he wanted them to wait until he was done with the roof to put in the rear window and new windshield. The roof underside/interior has a coat of POR15 on it, too.
Slappy, I get up your way once in awhile to train at Club Fed just north of you. I usually drop south to Fredericksburg to hit the restraurants and movie theater.
 
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