Moxeys93RX7

ok i got a prob. i bougt a 93 a while ago for $200 (yes that's two hundred and yes it ran. put 20k on it) it was in pretty rough shape but nothing too bad. excpet the roof im ot sure exactly what happened to it but it look like someone tried to pund out the double bubble and fill it with bondo. i got a few choices now. 1 is to buy a new roof or get one off a wrecked car and weld it in place of the old one. that would cost at least $3k and i might have a prob with the windshield fitting just right and possibly losing structural integrity.wouldalso need a fair amount of bondo or fiberglass. 2 is finding someone with a hammer and dolly or their tool of choie andrework the roof into somehting decent. would still have bondo or fiberglassthough and wll never be perfect. would also cost upwards of $3k. option 3 which i just thought of and alot of you are going to call ricey is to get a roof scoop like the eclipse in tf&f. and mold it in place overwhere everything is messed up. this would be the cheapest/ easiest option and i could do some sort of funcional vent in the roof as the a/c is gone. ths would aslo reqire some bondo/fiberglassbut it could be kept to a minimum. so what do you guys think? also if you have any other ideas let me know. i can send some pics if u want to see how bad it is. please help i need ideas. thanks

moxey

P'cola FD

If you got the car for $200 then you'll still be way ahead of the game even with another 3 grand invested. Take it to a good shop and fix the roof that's on there. I would be interested in seeing some pics.

Moxeys93RX7

pm me ur email and i will send it. im not sur how to post it or link it

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

Go for the new roof skin. Before you buy a used roof look into the cost of a new one from Mazda. Used panels are a bargin sometimes, other times you lose all the saved cash on "clean-up time" for the used part. See the used part will have to have all the spot welds drilled out, any dings taken out, etc. That all takes time.

The shop won't have to use any fiberglass and hardly any bondo. Replacing the roof skin is a totally legit repair. They drill out the existing spot welds that hold the roof skin to the pillars, etc area and cut it off somewhere in the A and C pillar. Put new top on and reweld. The only bondo will be on the A and C pillar and it should just be a little to cover the welds. You won't lose any structural integerity and if the windshield doesn't fit then they didn't do the job right. I'm NOT talking about taking a sawzall and cutting the entire roof off, just the skin.

You might also save some $$ and strip the interior out for the shop and replace it after the work is done.

$200 for an FD is such a steal, spend the $3K and save a FD.

Did I talk to you on the phone last summer?

Jeff from Oregon

Jeff

audibleeffects

I did the roof scoop idea on my car, I should have it back from the new gallon of paint and 10 clear coats on Tuesday. I can send you some pics then, let me know

ttpowerd

post the pics here, we are interested in seeing what it would look like.
I would do what Jeff was saying and just replace the skin. Just my opinion.

Moxeys93RX7

yes turbojeff that was me. what do u mean just take off the roof skin thogh and not the whole roof. i dropped the eadliner and u can see someone beat it with a hammer. the whole roof is like that. a new roof from mazda is about $1k so it's not too expensive. it is th labor involved in doing it though. the whole ar needs to be repainted anyway so i know that is already involved in the price

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

Cool.

Take a look at the door jambs where the roof meets them, you'll have to pull the weather stripping off to see there is a seam with a bunch of spot welds, under the windshield and under the hatch look the same way. The body shop will drill out all those welds and replace just the skin of the roof.

This is a much different repair than say a rolled car. On a rolled car the roof pillars would have been crushed and the whole roof basically has to be cut off and a new one welded on. A roll is a more problematic and difficult repair. On a car like yours (similar to a serious hail damage car) they leave the roof pillars and just take the outer sheetmetal off. On the very top of the roof that is all that is there, but on all the sides there is reinforcement metal that will stay. Since the whole roof isn't removed there shouldn't be alignment issues or structural problems.

Jeff

Moxeys93RX7

kick ***. that is what i will do then i think. i didn;t know it was 2 seperate peices. i dropped the headliner and the underneath of the roof was full of hammerhead marks. like someone took a framing hammer and beat the **** out of it