I’m currently stripping down my 89 g20 to bare metal thanks to a nice sprinkling of rust from front to rear. The only place there is anything more serious than surface rust the roof, and floors (thanks to the roof). The floor is no big deal (basketball sized hole in between the front seats), from the underside the floorboards are spotless so one I fix the roof I will be good there. The roof has rusted threw in a few places and it appears that someone in the past may have used it as a space to do calisthenics. I don’t think it’s worth saving.
So right now the plan is to (with the help of my fire team of sons) remove the roof panel, and fix the rust that was caused due to the leaky roof. I’ve found a few pretty good looking roofs in my area in the junkyard so I will hopefully grab one of those soon. I realize that this is a tedious task, but i got this van as a project that my boys can learn to wrench/weld on. If anyone has done this in the past and has some pointers, I’m all ears.
What does concern me is future rust. The drip rail that runs around the van roof to create the rust moat is one of the dumbest things I’ve seen. I’ve read the threads on the sealers to put in there, but I really wouldn’t know if it failed until it is too late. I was driving home the other day brainstorming about how to approach the roof, and I saw a pretty fancy work van with some retro graphics and it got me thinking. Has anyone tried having their roof vinyl wrapped as a way to help seal the seam? I figure I would seal the seal the seam the traditional way and they could wrap the roof and have it go in and over the drip rail ending where the bottom of the drip rail meets the wall panel. The vinyl seam could be covered when I replace the seam sealer that was there from the factory. I would also cover the panel above the windshield and the A-pillars. I’m thinking white roof and A-pillars and the rest of the van the factory light blue it came with. What do you guys think?
Last edited by Spsosicmcise; June 17th 2019 10:54 pm. Reason: I put g30 by mistake