VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Body - Sheet Metal, Paint & Wood Roof paint- '34 Master

How close to the nailing holes does one finish the roof panels? In other words, does the insert fit within that slight depression?

Pat,

I plan on painting the metal right up to the wood on my 34 sedan. Not sure if that is how it was done at the factory, but it would give me some room to play with when installing the roof cover. Looking forward to seeing your car painted.

Einar

Yes all the metal surrounding the top opening should be painted right up to the metal, you definately do not want bare metal , as it will start to rust due to moisture getting under the roof material and the metal surround.

Just think about it !! Your making holes in the canvas top with nails to hold the canvas down. Each of those nails is puncturing thru the material allowing water to seep thru that puncture and down the nail into the wood promoting wood rot, again. Water will find the tinyest opening and go thru it.

Its the one major design flaw of the 1933--35 chevrolets

mike lynch

So now I'm facing three alternatives;
1-Cleanup, reuse the nailing strips from the sport sedan with some modifications
2-Bend, drill,countersink and screw the aluminum strips I obtained from FS.
3- Use the Hidem that was supplied with the kit. If I do this, do I screw it down or mail it?

The hidem, when i got it from lebraron bonney, a complete kit contained the 2 sets of tacks, one the hard blue ones and other silver coloured ones. There was nothing in the instructions to say which tack was used with which material, the stayfast insert cloth or the hidem.

Instead I used the aluminum strips that was already on the top previously and had drilled them and countersunk the screw heads into the aluminum. I think i used #4 or #6 screws. I taped off the cloth insert right up too the metal on both sides . I used a silcon caulking and put a bead on the metal and using a helper lowered it into position, from there i installed all the screws. It leaked in left rear corner, took it off and did it again and still leaks. The sitting water might be getting up and under the plastic aluminum rail covering , running into the top channel where the screw heads are then leaking past the heads and down the threads ?

So i would suggest you use the hidem first as my method is not 100% satisfactory. You just cannot make that many holes in the fabric and not expect leakage.

mike lynch

What i think might be the best solution to the nails punching holes thru the stay fast topping allowing water to follow the nails to the wood framing.

I tried 2 sided emblem sticking tape but when trying to put screwd thru it just grabbed the screw threads and torn it.
Whats really needed is like what is used on roofs for the first 3 feet to stop water and ice dams.

The rubberised material allows the nails to be driven thru it and to grab onto the nails and seal the opening. I would place a strip of this onto the metal area, then attach the cloth for the top and nail it down. This would be ideal for re-using your nail & metal factory strips.

One of the problems i can see would be nailing the material down on top of the rubber, as you have to pull the material and nail it in a specific method as specified by lebarron bonney. The problem I see , is how to keep the material from sticking too the rubberised material while your moving the top cloth material around to align it.

Never having handled the rubberised roofing ice and water shield i am unsure how sticky it is and how easily or not it would be to move the cloth and nail it.

I taped off my painted roof with masking tape and marked each slot area where the nails will go and each slot where the metal strips would go , using different colour markers. I did a whole series of pictures 2-3 years ago on how i was doing it. They are stored on one of many CDR i did.

mike lynch

Thanks Mike, I was wondering how I'd find those nailing slots once the material is on them Now I know. I think I'll go with the Hidem with a small bead of sealer inside before closing the Hidem, then one along each side.

Pat, take your time and lay it all out carefully with coloured pens so that you know exactly where all the slots are.

Once you have pulled and nailed the cloth insert into position and trimmed the cloth to fit. Position the hidem to cover the outside edge, then using TAILORS CHALK, or bar of soap sharpened to a knife edge, mark the inside edge of the hidem and masking tape it fully all around the inside mark. Fill in the center cloth with newpaper and tape, don't want any of that silicon getting onto the cloth insert.!!!!!

You should try your silicon onto a short piece of extra hidem and the cloth insert material and nail it onto a piece of wood. Wait a day ( 24 hours ) and see if the silicon sticks to the cloth and hidem. My brand on first try did not !!!

Personally I feel that the nails should go thru the silcon , **under the hidem***. Why, because the water can get under the hidem and follow the nails down into the wood.

I was not happy with my results and my next attempt will be to mask off inside cloth and very carefully with a small tip cut, fill the edge between my aluminum molding and cloth insert. If i can get some of that roofing ice and water shield i will take the top off and do it again.......3rd time !
GOOD LUCK
mike

Mike what about the white padding? Does it get glued, nailed or just lays thare under the fabric?

The instructions just said to cut it to size and lay it on the under ,black cloth that got stapled or tacked down.

I think you would not want to staple or nail the fluffy white stuff as it would possibly cause visual irregularities to the surface of the top black stay fast topping .

It was real fun yanking on that stuff and trying to get it to fit properly side to side and front to back. Lebaron B said how to do it and i followed their printed directions.

mike

There is a good rubber double sided sticky tape ..About half inch...The tape can be punched with a awl and is almost self sealing to water. Works well on old wiring ..may work on roof..O'Reillys Auto

I tried to use the 3M double sided tape under the aluminum metal attaching strip ( which holds the plastic covering ) and it did not want to stick to the top stay fast material.

Trying to drill holes thru it to put small screws to hold down the aluminum strip , the tape grabbed onto the drill and wanted to twist it up. I guess using an awl to pre punch the holes a lot smaller than screw would be way to go.

Preferrably a hole punch very sharp and quite small would be the correct method , so hopefully the tape can still grab onto the screws, sealing out the water.

mike lynch