Saculia

iTrader: (1)

I have been experiencing these hairlines of rust in the corners of the roof and b pillar on both sides. I purchased rust bullet, sanded the rust down to bare metal, and applied the rust bullet. Not long after, the rust is back and the rust bullet has cracked along the same lines.
I have come to the conclusion that my body is cracking due to body flex. The problem seems a bit worse on my passenger side, and also my door is sagging more on that side. I read an article stating that it is crucial to have the doors not sag on these cars, because they act as a support for the unibody and prevent much of the flexing.
I plan on welding a set of subframe connectors and replacing the faulty hinge to correct the sagging problem, and then taking the car apart for complete strip down and repaint. I plan to start on this body project in April. However, I have no idea how to fix the cracks that are already in the corner of the roof and b pillar. What is the best way to do this? Is it possible to weld these little cracks in such a way that it can be easily prepped and repainted without showing the welds?
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated since I am a newbe when it comes to body work. I will take some pictures of the cracks and post them later today so that I can show the cracks.
Thanks a lot in advance.

Saculia

iTrader: (1)

In case somebody is interested, here is a link to the article that I read about the structural integrity of the third gen unibody and how the doors play a role in improving the rigidity:
http://andyz28.com/3rdGen/article/BodyIntegrity.htm

Jeromey Cummins

iTrader: (5)

For a good but cheap fix for the door hinges, go to www.andyz28.com. Used um, love um. As for the the cracks, anything can be welded, ground down, and painted. Is it in a place where you can take the plastic off in the interior and get a look at it from inside the car? If it is a crack, there gonna have to be welded even if you get the frame ties installed. My opinion, frame ties should be on before the fix of course The older camaros used to crack all the time where the top of the quarter panel met the roof. No biggie.

Jeromey Cummins

iTrader: (5)

Duh, already looked at andy's i see. Ha ha, sorry, jumped the gun!

Saculia

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the reply. I can probably take the plastic off and see if there is a crack on the inside. I was planning on putting in the sub frame connectors, fixing some exhaust leaks and welding the corners at the same time. I will still post pics as soon as I get a chance so that people can see the problem.

toomany

For the cracks at the B-pillar. I drill a small hole at the end of the crack, hit it with a small ball pean hammer (I'm talking tiny dent) and fill with weld. After some careful grinding/sanding you can shoot some paint, usually without any bondo if you are good with the grinder.

jj74sd455

id try the weld it theory myself,metal is better than filler for sure

sonjaab

Is your car a hardtop or a t-top model?
If it is indeed a t-top car does it have the C&C tops or the GM factory ones?

Saculia

iTrader: (1)

My car is a hard top. I will ask the shop that is going to install my SFCs to weld the top for me. I will take everything off and prepare the surface. I want to get this thing done right.

Saculia

iTrader: (1)

Here are some pictures of the cracks. They are about 1/2" long. Sorry about the resolution. The only camera I have at my disposal is my cell phone. Is this common or are these cracks pretty bad?

jj74sd455

by looking at those pics id say somebody did some roofwork at one point,looks like a patch job coming apart

HankL69

iTrader: (1)

The cracks in your top look exactly like the ones that were in the corners of my roof when I bought the car. When I had the car re-painted, my body man welded them in and they were gone for about 8 or 10 years . Now they are just starting to show up again. I don't have SFCs yet but they are in the future somewhere. I think the cracks are fairly common with manual transmissions when dreven hard.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

those cracks are common, my 92 has them.

mister_hudson

iTrader: (3)

There is a group purchase going on NOW for the hinge repair kits!

Here's the link: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/grou...ble-upper.html

coconut88888

Those rear roofline cracks are extremely common. That's why the 93 and later Camaro and Firebirds have a different designed roof section in that area. Look a fourth gen Fbody and see the difference in the door glass top rear corner. It's a smoother transition instead of a 90 degree stress point.

John S.

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

They just take a lot of stress in that spot and they crack. The fix is to reinforce the frame (sfc's generally) and then fix the crack through the usual methods and it shouldnt come back. T-Top cars dont usually have this problem because they flex more instead of cracking. The hardtop cars are stiffer than the t-top cars, but that stiffness is because all that torque is literally being put through the roof.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

i think the cracking is more of the result of the shape of the inside corner. Its a really sharp bend, almost a perfect 90 without any radius to the inside of the bend. All the stress is put right on the corner and it starts to tear. If the inside bend had a radius to it, it would probably help

DeathStarr89

iTrader: (1)

So does my '89.

Saculia

iTrader: (1)

Thanks a lot for the replies. I bought my car with the cracks. The previous owner drag raced the car quite a bit. When I got the car I had a ton of work to do to it, including rebuilding the engine because of two bent connecting rods.
I will weld the SFCs, replace the upper hinges (thanks for the group purchase info) and ask at the shop that welds my SFCs to fix the roof. I don't know if they would be able to do that. If not, I will ask a body shop to do it. Then I will strip the car down for a complete repaint.
What kind of prep work do you suppose I should do to make it easier for the shop to do the welds? I plan on removing the headliner and plastics around the area and sanding the area to bare metal. Also what kind of welding is the best for this job, mig, tig, acetylene? I don't know much about welding at all. What do you suppose a welding job like this should cost?
Thanks again for the replies. This has been very helpful.

ls six

It's a good idea to strip the interior before anything else to identify other possable areas that may need attention. My hard top TA has some slight creasing behind the front seats just inboard of the rockers that looks to be related to the stress cracks on the top.

I'm looking for the measurements I need to take to confirm everything is straight before I weld the cracks up, fix the rocker rot near the front and fabricate some re-enforcements.

Saculia

iTrader: (1)

My car has never been in an accident and is rust free and clean underneath. It was an Arizona car until about 4 years ago. Where would you suggest that I look for cracks?

ls six

Well rust is a sneaky thing, I saw a 300 mile TTA with rust along the rockers. Not rot as far as I could see but it just goes to show just how bad the rust proofing is with these cars.

The creases I described didnt come from any accident, they looked to be the result of the chassis flexing under acceleration and from the wheels impacting various road imperfections.

Other than the wheels and tires the thing is bone stock so i doubt it was due to hard track time or even stoplight drags, it's just a good idea to know exactly what your car needs before spending money fixing it.

Best case scenario if there is dammage is the shop you take it to will find it and talk to you about fixing it, worst case is they dont find it and you end up having to fix it down the road after you thought you were free and clear or it derails your plans for the car keeping you from doing what you originaly wanted when you wanted to do it.

hardon85

I realize this is a 3rd gen website but I did have a 4th gen and can shed a little light here. All 4th gen f-bodys (except convertibles obviously) are t-top cars, all they did was weld in a brace between the a and b pillars at the top and glue a piece of plastic on the roof and put in a different headliner. If you don't believe me google adding t-tops to camaro and a ton on websites pop up detailing how to do this it's actually really easy I wish I had done it to mine.