[copol78]

My roof brace has a 3/4 inch gap between it and the roof panel. Makes the roof panel weak and flimsey. How was this assembled from the factory? What is the repair? Thanks Team Camaro

[JohnZ]

The roof bows were welded to the side roof rails in Body Framing, and the roof skin was loaded and welded in place last.

[copol78]

Thanks John, My car has the roof bowes in place and welded fine on the roof rails. The issue is from over the years of people sitting on the roof (at drive in theatres) the roof bowes no longer support the roof. (You can slide your finger between the brace and the bottom side of the roof panel.) Looking closely at the roof line above the contact area of the bow I see adhesive residue. Just trying to figure out how to replace the roof support that was there orginally.

[6781camaro]

If you could wedge something inbetween the roof and the braces like Dynamat or sound deadener that's self-stick, that would decrease some of the space. Otherwise you may have to either remove or cut out portions of those braces and bend them while they are out, then reinstall them. Just a thought.

[Sauron67MM]

Apply collision repair techniques before you go hacking anything apart. Put a piece of
1/8" ply or similar backing between it and the roof skin. Jack up the brace until it stresses the roof skin. Hammer the brace along it's length to distribute the pressure on it. Doing so makes the metal hold its position. This technique is applicable for all panel working. You can't just pull or jack a panel without relieving the stress on adjacent metal. Common sense dictates not smashing the roof skin while doing so.

[6781camaro]

Before you go jacking and hammering, maybe you should just wait to hear from the more experienced members. I am sure you will get some good suggestions that will help the situation. Again, just a thought.

[Sauron67MM]

Originally Posted by 6781camaro

Before you go jacking and hammering, maybe you should just wait to hear from the more experienced members. I am sure you will get some good suggestions that will help the situation. Again, just a thought.

I don't think you realize how easy it is to make a piece of metal hold a position. You know I've been doing this for years and bodywork is pretty much common sense. All repairs are exercised with a degree of restaint applicable to the repair required. Analyze, execute and watch the process carefully.
Jacking to a point of distortion, destruction and beating to a pulp was never mentioned and it should not even be given any thought. Volunteer services on a frame machine with multiple towers pulling to repair totaled cars for a month and knowledge will be gained.

[jcapps]

My roof as with many camaros seems to oil can regardless of the roof braces. A method I learned a long time ago was to take a piece of 18g sheetmetal, drill 1/4 holes on a one inch square grid.

I then skim a small layer of bondo onto the underside of the roof and press this sheetmetal into place. I place a piece of 3/4 plywood under it with a piece of corrugated cardboard between the metal and plywood. I then exert "pressure" with a few 2 x 4s propped on the floor boards. When bondo is dry no more oil canning. I then skim a coat and sand for a neat appearance.

Did this yesterday on the pass side and will do the drivers side next week when I get to it. I am doing a total of 4 panels, both sides front and rear.

[SOA-Nova]

The inner roof beam in my 74 Nova was bent down some probably from someone sitting on the roof and I tried pushing it back up but noticed it was kinked. What I had to do was drill out the spot welds between it and the outer inner roof structure to get it out and I was then able to more easily straighten it.
Thinking ahead on mine I trial fitted it and had a gap between the topside of the inner brace and the underside of the roof. Since I did not see what it looked like before I'm thinking it had a gap originally. On mine I wanted to give the beam more support in case someone else ever decided to get onto the roof and was able to add in some extra steel to the inner support.
I took a piece of 1" wide x 3/16" thick steel stock and bent it in a vise to match the curvature of the topside of the original roof beam and then after placing some tack welds on it I trial fitted it to make sure I could still get it back in and then took it back out to weld it more solidly to the roof beam. I then cleaned off the underside of the roof skin as it had some cardboard type material stuck to it and then primed and topcoated the metal. I then did the same to my modified inner roof beam. Next I put it back into the car and plug welded it back to the outer roof structure using the holes I made drilling out the original spot welds.
After all of theis I then took some liquid nail and filled the top gap between my new added steel and the underside of the roof and after a few days, painted over the caulk joint.
The roof now does not tin can and sounds a lot more solid. I did a similiar mod on my 73 maybe 10 years ago and it is holding up just fine.

Jim

[6781camaro]

Originally Posted by SOA-Nova

The inner roof beam in my 74 Nova was bent down some probably from someone sitting on the roof and I tried pushing it back up but noticed it was kinked. What I had to do was drill out the spot welds between it and the outer inner roof structure to get it out and I was then able to more easily straighten it.
Thinking ahead on mine I trial fitted it and had a gap between the topside of the inner brace and the underside of the roof. Since I did not see what it looked like before I'm thinking it had a gap originally. On mine I wanted to give the beam more support in case someone else ever decided to get onto the roof and was able to add in some extra steel to the inner support.
I took a piece of 1" wide x 3/16" thick steel stock and bent it in a vise to match the curvature of the topside of the original roof beam and then after placing some tack welds on it I trial fitted it to make sure I could still get it back in and then took it back out to weld it more solidly to the roof beam. I then cleaned off the underside of the roof skin as it had some cardboard type material stuck to it and then primed and topcoated the metal. I then did the same to my modified inner roof beam. Next I put it back into the car and plug welded it back to the outer roof structure using the holes I made drilling out the original spot welds.
After all of theis I then took some liquid nail and filled the top gap between my new added steel and the underside of the roof and after a few days, painted over the caulk joint.
The roof now does not tin can and sounds a lot more solid. I did a similiar mod on my 73 maybe 10 years ago and it is holding up just fine.

Jim

Excellent fix! That's exactly what I was thinking in my first post here. If you can remove the main roof brace by drilling it out and working with it outside of the car where you'll have more room, it will be that much easier to do.

[Satatic]

How about that expanding foam they use between skins now a days?

[Denvervet]

I used Fusor 123EZ seam sealer between brace and roof in a few places to help hold it up. Maybe a little pricey to use for this but had some extra and is nice and solid.