drip rail rust - The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

Ranchhand · 05-23-2009, 10:41 PM

I have a blazer but I'm asking this question for a bud of mine......he has been looking for a 67-72 short bed truck to restore for a while now and found one for a real good price but it has some bad rust around the roof drip rail. Is there any replacement parts for the cab top or is he stuck making some or finding another cab if he buys it? Really sucks because the rest of the truck is in real good shape and there are not many short boxes around here for sale. He is wanting to do it right with whatever he buys.....no bondoin' rust holes. Fix it or wait on another??

msgross · 05-23-2009, 10:49 PM

buy it cheap and find another cab... or swap roofs like I did, not for the common joe I might say though...

search for "project flip that truck or else" and you'll see our roof swap.

Ranchhand · 05-23-2009, 11:00 PM

Thanks, I'll find it and take a look at it

AzDon · 05-23-2009, 11:05 PM

Okay, I just fixed a hole in the front corner of my burb roof, and my methodology will make restorers cringe, but I looked at it as a design flaw that is a problem and needs modification....
The problem is that the bottom of the raingutter is the recieveing flange for the perimeter of the roof skin. The roof skin is placed in the gutter on top of a bead of some kind of factory adhesive/sealer, squeezed and spot-welded. Water and dirt from the roof skin puddle in the gutters for years, eventually rusting the edges of the metal as this sealer/filler is drying out and cracking over those same years.
In my way of thinking, that seam should never have been placed in the bottom of a puddle.
My solution was to first, cut away the rotted piece and clean all rust out of the bottom of the gutter. I then fabbed a replacement piece and welded it in and filled the gutter bottom with weld. I then used a marine epoxy filler that is waterproof, called Marine-Tex and filled and smoothed the gutter completely so that it is really no longer a gutter in this area. I intend to fill all the gutters in this fashion to pre-empt any future leaks before I paint. The gutters will no longer be gutters, but will instead be epoxy cups on top of the roof skin flange spotwelds and a place where water keeps running off the vehicle!

WARLOCK CUSTOMS · 05-24-2009, 04:11 PM

any way to just remove the gutter completely? for smoothing purposes(don't have rust through yet)

msgross · 05-24-2009, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WARLOCK CUSTOMS

any way to just remove the gutter completely? for smoothing purposes(don't have rust through yet)

been done before, Copperhead did it and there's a few others that have. I think there was even a 68 cab for sale already shaved...

05-23-2009, 10:41 PM	#1
Ranchhand Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Location: Pearsall, TX Posts: 9	drip rail rust I have a blazer but I'm asking this question for a bud of mine......he has been looking for a 67-72 short bed truck to restore for a while now and found one for a real good price but it has some bad rust around the roof drip rail. Is there any replacement parts for the cab top or is he stuck making some or finding another cab if he buys it? Really sucks because the rest of the truck is in real good shape and there are not many short boxes around here for sale. He is wanting to do it right with whatever he buys.....no bondoin' rust holes. Fix it or wait on another??

05-23-2009, 10:49 PM	#2
msgross Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Central PA Posts: 12,201	Re: drip rail rust buy it cheap and find another cab... or swap roofs like I did, not for the common joe I might say though... search for "project flip that truck or else" and you'll see our roof swap. __________________ The Garage: 1968 K-10 SWB - "Project Money Pit" 1996 Z-71 - "huntin rig" 1969 C-10 LWB (SOLD) "Project flip that truck or else" 1993 Passport, F@rd 1-ton (SOLD)"Project Cousin Eddie" My Garage Build "The 1,000 footer" Last edited by msgross; 05-23-2009 at 10:49 PM.

05-23-2009, 11:00 PM	#3
Ranchhand Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Location: Pearsall, TX Posts: 9	Re: drip rail rust Thanks, I'll find it and take a look at it

05-23-2009, 11:05 PM	#4
AzDon Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Lake Havasu,AZ Posts: 202	Re: drip rail rust Okay, I just fixed a hole in the front corner of my burb roof, and my methodology will make restorers cringe, but I looked at it as a design flaw that is a problem and needs modification.... The problem is that the bottom of the raingutter is the recieveing flange for the perimeter of the roof skin. The roof skin is placed in the gutter on top of a bead of some kind of factory adhesive/sealer, squeezed and spot-welded. Water and dirt from the roof skin puddle in the gutters for years, eventually rusting the edges of the metal as this sealer/filler is drying out and cracking over those same years. In my way of thinking, that seam should never have been placed in the bottom of a puddle. My solution was to first, cut away the rotted piece and clean all rust out of the bottom of the gutter. I then fabbed a replacement piece and welded it in and filled the gutter bottom with weld. I then used a marine epoxy filler that is waterproof, called Marine-Tex and filled and smoothed the gutter completely so that it is really no longer a gutter in this area. I intend to fill all the gutters in this fashion to pre-empt any future leaks before I paint. The gutters will no longer be gutters, but will instead be epoxy cups on top of the roof skin flange spotwelds and a place where water keeps running off the vehicle!

05-24-2009, 04:11 PM	#5
WARLOCK CUSTOMS Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: henderson,tenn Posts: 25	Re: drip rail rust any way to just remove the gutter completely? for smoothing purposes(don't have rust through yet)



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