Hello, I have a 94 civic hatch with some rust that is starting to eat through the roof skin where the spoiler meets the roof. So I was wondering if it is possible to just replace the skin or does it need to be cut and new metal welded in?

 

Pretty sure you can order a new roof from Honda and replace it. You just need to take out the front windshield and drill out all the spot welds, but you have to know what your doing or you can cause more damage.

 

i know how to remove spot welds, and my buddy is a welder. I just wasnt sure if it was possible or easier to replace the skin or just cut and weld new metal on

 

if you get the skin, which I doubt Honda has anymore, you can use the 3M body panel adhesive system, it's stronger then the metal itself, and you won't warp the panel, it's used OEM today for non structural panels

 

ok, ill have to look into that. im just trying to see what easier to do, my buddy says he can cut and weld in a new piece or we can replace. but idk what would be better

 

before this stuff came out, I would say weld, but the stuff is amazingly strong, it's really hard to weld a roof panel as the metal will want to warp, this gives you a lot of work time for adjustments etc, before it sets, or you can cure it fast with a heat gun, it's used by a lot of body shops today for roof skins, door panels ,and other non structural panels

 

that sounds good, im going to look into it. I talked to him about it today and he said the same about it wanting to warp

 

you'll need the product and their specific applicator gun, you might get lucky and score a gun on ebay, that someone has used a couple of times, the manual gun isn't horribly expensive though, your best bet is to find a car at the yard with a non rusted roof, and just cut the entire thing off, part of the pillars etc, take it home, then remove the remnants of the pillars etc, in a more controlled environment, I'm not sure on the civic but my old accord, they use adhesive to attach the roof to the body where the roof beams go across, you may need a little welding around the pillars, not sure but the adhesive will eliminate most of it, just follow the directions, it won't rust where the adhesive meets the steel, as it has anti corrosive compounds in it

 

I'm going to use some of this myself to back up holes I want to fill on my firewall, it's as strong as spot welding the backing panels, but without the heat,sparks and fire risk, if I had the car stripped to a bare shell, it would be no big deal to tack weld, but it's impractical in the situation I'm in at the moment

 

do you know if all manufactures have approved this as a way to replace all or most panels? i always thought you can only use the panel bond adhesive method if its okay'd by the manufactures for replacing panels on particular vehicles.

 

it's approved for most non structural panels, on these older cars it didn't even exist when they were made, i like doing things old school but sometimes a product comes out that just makes it easier to do the job, on anything that is considered structural of course you should still weld

 

Im on an island, there is no junk yard here, so its going to have to be shipped over unless i find someone whos junking a car and will let me cut it up

 

unless you really really want to spend as much as the cars worth on a panel you can tig patch panels on. Less chances of warping the panel and much much cheaper and just as strong. Do you live in HI? Getting things shipped are crazy expensive.