Remove Roof on 63 c10 or repair with donor panels

[russellrox]

My 63 c10 is rusted over the windshield under the visor, I bought 2 new panels to do the inside and outside of the roof panel, I also have a donor Roof and windshield posts from another truck. What would be the better option, to chop the roof and put the donor roof on, or use the panels to repair cab? If I was to chop the roof what would be the best procedure to swap it out? If I was to repair with panels, where should the cuts be done to make it work out. Someone has to of done this before and has pics for some advise.

[jonzcustomshop]

I think fastest and easiest would probably be to replace the roof... a bit of body work around the rear panel, but might be easier to do/deal with than replacing the inner and outer panel above the windshield...(maybe this is the time to switch to a big back window, if you want one of those-even less sheet metal to cut and weld)

check out my sub build staring at post 127 on how I did the pillars on it:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=448681&page=6

if you are wanting to just replace the panels I would suggest removing the roof skin first, that will give you tons of access to the area to be worked, you will also be able to see all the rust- if there is a hole the size of a dime, the repair area will probably be 5-10 times the size of the hole-

a couple shots of the inside of the roof on my 60

[russellrox]

where would be the best place to cut one of these cabs to replace the roof? I have a rust hole on the bottom of the dog leg on drivers side, but I can just patch that one with a piece off the donor cab.

[cooperhw]

Not on a 63 but I just cut the roof and back panel off of my 68 C30 I am building. Thought I would share anyhow. I cut the roof off at the front a pillars. real easy spot to bodywork (small area) and since my rockers and cab corners were perfect and rust free I cut the back of the cab off about 8 inches up from the bottom. Most of the back will be covered by the bed other that a small area at the jambs.
Easiest place if your rockers are bad is about a foot away from cab back and straight across under the seat. Very little is seen that way.
Anyhow it took me a day to cut off both roof/cab backs and another day to weld it back up.
Not saying it's the best way, just how I did it.

[russellrox]

I went and cut off the roof of a junker cab that had a great roof today, I cut the cab right at the seam, just about the same level as the gas tank , anyone have any pictures on where the easiest place to chop the cab would be to be able to weld the donor top back on.

[russellrox]

bump

[jonzcustomshop]

right there would be perfect, most of your work will be hidden by the box, and if you are using custom trim , you could hide the weld behind that as well...

on your front posts:

pull the windshield
use a new gasket
cut up your old gasket, and use it as a shim for the windshield;

use the sleeve method on your posts, like I showed in my suburban link, and fit the windshield in the gasket pieces a few times to make sure the opening is right.
unfortunately I did not take a pic of the gasket, or w/s fitting for my suburban post, but I cut about 6 2 inch chunks of gasket -2 bottom, 2 top , 1 on each side, and cut the outside part that holds the windshield in off, that way I could just slide the glass in and out.

[russellrox]

My donor cab roof is cut off just past the filler neck , basically just at the base of the rear window panel where it goes to a single piece of steel not double layered, so I can't cut my cab any lower than the top of the box. nobody has any pics of the rear of the cab and how they did the job. I am just a little unsure how to chop it with the 2nd layer at the back of the cab without removing the whole panel on the inside.

[jonzcustomshop]

if you can get some pics of your new roof I could give better advice.

I have kind have done the same thing when I sectioned my 60: here is a link,
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=280904

as of now I would say leave your doors on and lined up, this will give you a line to follow when putting the cab back together.

maybe cut the door pillar above the door latch, so you don't have issues getting the door latch to line back up.

make sure you have all your measurements done before you cut. I went around my cab and put the lines to measure from, and then just wrote the measurement right there so there would be no confusion.

on the front roof pillar the inner "dogleg" is spot welded on, if you can don't cut it, drill the spots, and leave it as a guide to line up the new roof I did this (n that link I gave you on post #2) on my suburban, and it worked out nice.