Thodge
Senior Member
I need some advice from someone with knowledge of how the front roof header, roof side rails, and associated brackets are assembled on 30-31 coupes. My car was the victim of a 40 year old amateur restoration and I know that some parts are missing and the remaining parts are broken or detached. Driving over bumps you can hear the top wood slamming against the header because the “L” brackets that attach the wood over the door opening to the windshield frame are broken. I’d like to at least do a temporary fix on those brackets so the car can be driven a bit and given a good shakedown. Am I correct in assuming that the door header brackets are bolted through the side wood but I should be able to access the bolts once the headliner is out?
Eventually, I’ll need to repair the exterior parts of the front portion of the roof and that’s where it gets really ugly. The trim band that covers the mounting screws for the visor is absent and it looks like that entire area in front of the vinyl was filled up with body filler. So now that the brackets are broken and the roof is bouncing around, it’s all cracked and falling apart. Total mess. Were the sheet metal for the roof sides and the front panel under the visor just screwed together in the channel under the visor trim? It’s all been cobbled together so badly that I can’t even make sense of where one piece ends and another begins? If you look closely at the photo you’ll see what I mean. Is the restoration guide the best resource to go by as far as the way things are put together here or is there another source I should be looking to get as well?
Eventually, I’ll need to repair the exterior parts of the front portion of the roof and that’s where it gets really ugly. The trim band that covers the mounting screws for the visor is absent and it looks like that entire area in front of the vinyl was filled up with body filler. So now that the brackets are broken and the roof is bouncing around, it’s all cracked and falling apart. Total mess. Were the sheet metal for the roof sides and the front panel under the visor just screwed together in the channel under the visor trim? It’s all been cobbled together so badly that I can’t even make sense of where one piece ends and another begins? If you look closely at the photo you’ll see what I mean. Is the restoration guide the best resource to go by as far as the way things are put together here or is there another source I should be looking to get as well?
