I have some pretty bad rust spots under the drip rail above the door [both sides]. it does not go pat the door glass to quarter glass. the metal is rusted into a bunch of places but you can not see any from the top in the drip rail trough. my question is what would be the best way to solve this problem. i havent seen any replacement parts for this area. fixing would not be the problem, i have enough skills for that, just what would be the best way or ways you may have done it. thanks for all the help......Luke

If it were me, I would:
strip out the drip rail caulk
sand or sand blast it w/spot blaster
por15 it
glass it
re-caulk it
paint it

I would strip out the caulk to make sure you get all of it.

69er

69er, the rust is not in the top of the drip rail but under the bottom side were the weather stripping would go for the door glass when the window is up.looks like a same were the roof skin and drip rail would meet.thanks for the advice though.beleave ill have to fab some kind of patch panels and dont know if i should try to but weld or use the glue method.ive used the stuff called fusion once and worked great but not sure about this area.thanks again.....Luke

Luke, I would do what 69er suggested. Reason being if you remove the caulking on top you may find the rust under it too. If not, at least you'll know for sure. There's a metal piece that screws to the area I think your talking about to hold the weather stripping in place up there. Is it there? Sounds like the headliner needs to be gone to access the area also.

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Steve
67 SS 396,4-sp
67 RS 327,4-sp
72 RS 350/350
69 4X4 suburban 350,4-sp
73 3/4 ton 454/400
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I had that problem on my '67. It had a vinyl roof originally and had rusted through on the top and underneath. I carefully cut out the rusted metal areas, but still left the drip rail which was clean. I was able to find a wrecked '67 that I could cut of some clean roof sections. Then I cut the pieces of and fitted them in. Mig weld then bondo. You could also derust with Muriatic acid(careful, this stuff is nasty! don't breath it!) Rinse well and neutralize with Duponts metal prep to stop the corrosive nature of the acid, then POR-15, then spray "Great Stuff" foam insulation, let dry, shape to form, then bondo.

JD

hey guys thanks for the info but not sure if you know were im talking about.headliner is out and no holes on that side.if you are sitting in the seat and lean out and look up you see a sort of seam.looks like a joint that needs caulked.drip rail turns up into roof skin and welded there i beleave.only about a inch wide.the only way i seen to fix it right would be cut the section of the drip rail out and weld new metal to that, looks like it would take about an inch wide and six inches long.then weld new section of drip rail back in, just dont like the way that seam looks.maybe a mistake to cut loose from roof but it is already rusted through.the bottom right v in picture.still think its the roof skin under drip rail.thanks again......Luke

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http://www.camaros.net/forum/frown.gif i have the same problem but i got a feelng that i have more rust and i had to cut a 3 X 5 inch peice out of the sail panel along with the front piller having some rust holes in them. I was thinking tht instead of trying to patch them and to insure i dont have to go back and fix them again some years from now to replace the entire top. Jimmys Bowtie sells the tops for $775 and are said to be rust free and primed ready to install and paint. they cut the roof off at the bottom of the front pillers and the bottom of both sail panels. Anyone replace a complete roof at all. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Mahalo from Hawaii. just hate to thnk of the cost to ship it this way but when you need to oh well http://www.camaros.net/forum/frown.gif

--Jeff 68 RS Ash Gold

hey jeff,thought of that also but i only have one real bad spot.i dont think it would warent replacing whole roof.as far as doing it,its not as hard as it would seem.quarter replacement is harder.done a couple befor but not on any first gen camaros.make sure you measure your openings and weld it back to same deminsions.my first experience in a body shop i helped cut a 86 monte carlo ss in half and cut it at the post and behind the front seat. now that was fun....Luke