34 replies to this topic

[bert998]

Aren't you supposed to brace the shell before taking the roof panel out?

[Bungle]

what do you mean you have to say to your mini "brace your self this might hurt"

[Tom Booth]

If the guter rails and pillars are there, with the glass in and doors, I should imagine the shell cant actually move that far? So its probably going to be ok

Edited by Tom Booth, 03 December 2007 - 04:24 PM.

[mk3 Cooper S]

Does anyone supply roof corner repair panels for front corners?

[lookieuk]

Whhhhooooo matching sunroof's ya a lukcy bugger to have one you know...lol..

Bright red niceee... i bet that will look wicked once fitted pls post pic's when you do

and the roof was not supporting much at all is just basicly a tin can welding on top.

[Matrix]

Whhhhooooo matching sunroof's ya a lukcy bugger to have one you know...lol..

Bright red niceee... i bet that will look wicked once fitted pls post pic's when you do

and the roof was not supporting much at all is just basicly a tin can welding on top.

I cheated lol

[jack_marshall]

Aren't you supposed to brace the shell before taking the roof panel out?

Dont folks worry way too much!

Cracking work mate, make sure you add up more pictures as you put it on.

Ive wondered how hard it would be to put a new roof skin on a mini...


EDIT- Just realised that mini's without roofskins look so much cooler than a mini soft top thing!!

Edited by jack_marshall, 03 December 2007 - 05:35 PM.

[apbellamy]

I've rescently bought a '78 clubby with a vynal roof and 'some bubbling' underneath. Once I took the vynal off and had a poke, I pretty soon had about half a dozen holes. just like the yellow one above:

[attachment=45024:16102007136.jpg]

I also have a complete roof from a late car that was written off, so I think I will be fitting that and loosing the webasto. Only £30! I was going to cut that up and make repair panels, but I can't be bothered. Going to rent a spot welder to do the reattaching though, my mig would leave a real mess behind!

[cambiker71]

I've read through this post and some of the advice to not brace or support the shell whilst removing the roof is plainly wrong, the shell might not sag in the middle but it will twist very easily, if it's unsupported whilst welding the new roof back on then you could end up with a very big problem as the heat involved will distort the surrounding area, albeit very slightly, on each spot weld adding up to a possibly huge structural/alignment problem. The easiest way would be to use some sort of wooden sleeper type material under the floorpans from front to back including taking the weight of the subframes to spread the weight around the car solidly and not just at the four sprung corners where the wheels are, good luck with the project anyway.

[lookieuk]

mmmmm i didnt brace my roof / car and it seems sound as a pound..ve ever been jumping around inside with
grinder cleaning up the edges...got me a littie worryed now.... ...well we shell see am cleaning the other roof ve got for 25 notes

so we will see plus i couldnt see how the old roof was supporting it much...its waffle thin with not much stength in it

oh and damn good point on welding but i reckon if you weld not to close to the same spot ever so offer like one there and then one on the other end of the car the heat transfer should be no problem

anyway i be posting pic's of the travel with the roof project heheh...

[skye]

how did you bond that carbonfibre roof pannel on?

[Dan]

its waffle thin with not much stength in it

The roof's a compound curve, there's loads of strength in it.

[lookieuk]

What even with the holes and sunroof in it...?...so have ve got summit to worry about now that i didnt brace it?

ERKKKKKKKK

[midridge2]

From my experience of replacing a few mini roof skins over the years in bodyshops etc i have never found the need to brace the shell.
i am not going to start a argument off with other people about bracing the shell but base it on 35+ years repairing minis for a living as a profesional panel beater.
others may feel i am wrong but that is there choice.





this is my opinion and will differ from others.

[panelbeaterpeter]

As above, bracing is not necessary.