UPDATE 7/8/2024: I made a jig that would help me form the sunroof opening in my new roof skin. The idea is, is that I formed some flat stock steel to the roof opening and welded some bracing to it so that it remains conformed to the roof curvature. When the new skin is installed, the jig is clamped in place and the sunroof opening is cut and flared down using the jig as a form. Not sure if it is going to work, but I have high hopes…
UPDATE: 9/25/2025
The guy who does my sandblasting did some work for me last week. He cleaned up the inner sunroof structure and freshened up all of my welds.
I was then able to put the entire shell in epoxy primer. DP50LF is still my favorite, though it is getting very expensive.
I have a few repairs to make on the sunroof structure before I tackle installing the roof skin and shaping the sunroof opening…
ANOTHER UPDATE: I was lucky enough to score the correct dark blue moon crater Scott Drake sunroof headliner off ebay for only $100! They aren’t being made anymore as the material is becoming scarce. I was afraid I would have to have one made from material bought from SMS Fabrics, but I found this one while searching for other blue interior parts.
All I need now is to find the blue leather seat covers…
UPDATE 11/06/2024: well, I did it. I was able to reskin my roof and properly form the sunroof opening. Between making a customer fixture and some old school hammering and dollying, I was able to form an opening that was pretty much like the original.
I document the fixture making process and repair on my website here:
Another thing I had to tackle was the overhead console bracket made by ASC. The original bracket was in terrible shape. Luckily it was made out of folded sheet metal. I was able to replicate it by copying the design into SolidWorks and sent the part file off to a fab shop to laser cut and bend up a new one. It came out amazingly well. I have spare or I can send the part file to anyone who could use one.
Absolutely amazing. To be able to replicate a 50 year old ( originally ) hand drawn on paper, transferred to a hand-formed model and finally die stamped in a press, to a state-of-the-art computer ‘corrected’ image and laser cut and formed is fabulous ! Kudos to you.
