Geez, been over a month already..........

BUT, its not like I'm working on it everyday. At this point, I've got about 7 hours into it.

I didn't buy the shrinking disc (yet) but I did buy the finest body working tool set Harbor Freight has to offer (re: the only one). I'm REAL close now. I'm not expecting perfection, but I want to use as little bondo as possible. The way it sits now, I should be able to get the window back in, but before I do that, I want to try to minimize the high and low spots on the roof. I may just try to slowly work with heating/cooling the areas.

This:



To this:



It's not as rough as it looks, my sanding didn't get off all five layers of paint. I made the window plug to not only close the back window, but to monitor the curve of the opening as I work the roof. I know if I used the actual glass I'd either drop it, or drop something on it.

Hopefully one more weekend.

Fwiw shrinking discs only take out high spots if you do end up buying one.

Be careful with heating anything. Heat is good, but uncontrolled heat like from a torch can make things way worse. A hair dryer or heat gun likely won't get the metal hot enough to do anything you want it to do.

I carefully used some heat today trying to get out a couple of oil can spots and ended up chasing one all over the back of the roof. Its still there but not as bad as it was.

Lacking a real cut off wheel, I bought some cutting discs for my Dremel to cut the inner structure. That was a waste of time and money......"Ziii *SNAP*Ziiiii*SNAP" Honestly, I was worried that with a real cutter, I'd end up going thru the outer roof too, so I did the best I could with it in place.

Doesn't look too bad out in the sun......





But, get it inside under a shop light..........



I've got it to where I can put the window back in, so I may do final shaping with

I bought larger thicker wheels for my Dremel at Carlisle some years ago - they work great on sheet metal. Just have to let the dremel cool down now and then

I wasn't aware there were thicker discs available. I'll have to look online.

These wheels are fiber-reinforced. Much more durable than the plain ones, but still not what you'd call heavy-duty.

Hmmmm....if that's the only difference, then that's what I was using. They didn't seem noticeably thicker than the regular ones.The disc wasn't shattering, it was breaking around the mounting point. The mounting screw isn't long enough to use washers to reinforce the disc.

Wonder if I have the wrong bit?

Lookin' good, John.



Tim

Yeah, that's coming along nicely!

I use reinforced 1.5" wheels that are 1/16" thick. They work great, just have to let the wheel do the cutting.