cgjon

I have a 72 Cutlass S that I am restoring and when I removed the vinyl top found some small holes in two sections of the roof (see pics). The holes are located on the forward and mid/rear sections of the drivers side. I would really appreciate some suggestions/ideas on the best way to go about repairing them without having to remove the headliner since it is in excellent shape and I don't want to remove it unless it is absolutely necessary. This is going to be a daily driver and I am going to be putting a new vinyl top on.









Thanks

John

Oldsguy

My experience with vinyl tops is this, they hold moisture and the metal underneath will rust. For me, they are too much trouble. If you want to restore the car fully then I can understand your desire to do the vinyl top as well. I would recommend using POR rust converter, it is a heavy black chemical coating similar to primer, you don't have to remove all the rust and in fact they recommend that you dont. I think that what you are asking though is how to apply any kind of treatment without it dripping through the hole and onto the top side of the headliner. I don't have an answer for that. Maybe stuffing some kind of absorbant cloth or paper material into the holes first...? If you find a way to do that then using the POR product would be my recommended first step followed up with an epoxy type body filler and topped off with a good primer before you apply the adhesive and vinyl. Hmmmmmm, I just thought of some of that expanding foam insulation stuff, if you are very careful you might be able to squirt a very small amount into the holes just enough to prevent dripping, maybe try on a scarp piece of metal with holes of similar diameter first to see if the foam will adhere to the hole and fill it without dropping off the bottom......Just brainstorming here, none of these ideas may work but good luck. If you do use the expanding foam, check to see that the POR product does not eat it away, that would be bad.

clloyd

The spots that are not rusted through can be treated chemically. The others look to be fairly small. You can grind them to bare metal with a dremal type tool and a shop vac. Just keep your vacuum hose at the hole while you grind and you should be able to keep metal and rust from falling onto your liner. You should have a layer of insulating material between you roof metal and liner. I would then brush rust converter on the holes then plug them with two part epoxy putty. Then rust treat the whole roof, epoxy it, polyester skim coat then paint with at least two coats of primer sealer. When you apply your mastic for the vinyl make sure your roof is smooth and dust free. Any imperfections can cause pin holes in the vinyl and you will be replacing it again. Take care.