E350 Donor roof panel questions...

[tiorio]

Well, looks like I'll be starting a build...ok more like a repair and build... thread in the next week or two. I picked up a 2000 15-pass 7.3L E350 with roof rust issues, about 15 silver-dollar sized holes in the flats. The rest of the vehicle is rust free, like removing running boards and other undercarriage stuff that had been on there for 16 years with hand-tools type of rust free. Replacing the whole roof is overkill, what I'd like to find is some donor panels to cut patches for the more complex areas (the front and rear of the roof 'channels' mostly). The image shows an example section, the black duct tape is covering the most damaged areas and holes



Question is about compatibility. What year range e350 should I be looking at? And assuming I'm using just the front and rear 2' or so, I'm assuming I can get 'close enough' without having to find an EXT specifically. Honestly it's to save me hammer and dolly time, especially since that will require a second person to be inside while I'm hammering!

Any insight is appreciated!

t

 

[Corneilius]

92-2015 E Series should all have the same roof, can you just cut replacement slugs from a sheet of light guage steel? Might be easier than cutting 15 pieces from another van.

 

[tiorio]

Honestly I'm mostly looking for the 'ends' of the channels in the roof at the front and back. The holes that extend into the channels as well, but I can grab those from almost any section of a donor roof. Since I'll be patterning and cutting sheet metal anyway if it saves me 30mins of bending and fitting per hole I stand to save a pretty good handful of hours for a trip to a junkyard with a sawzall

Thanks for the info, very helpful and means I should be able to find a couple donor sections fairly easily!

t

 

[Bbasso]

Have you tried naval jelly to evaluate the depth of the rust first? It might not be as bad as you think, try the naval jelly it will remove all the rust and give you a very clear picture of what the damage actually is.

 

[Bikersmurf]

You might be able to get the metal you need from a shop that does pop-top/high-top installs. Their scrap bin must be full of roofs.

 

[tiorio]

Have you tried naval jelly to evaluate the depth of the rust first? It might not be as bad as you think, try the naval jelly it will remove all the rust and give you a very clear picture of what the damage actually is.

Well unfortunately I can push my finger through the rust and end up touching the headliner on at least 10 of them. The damage is pretty...er...significant

You might be able to get the metal you need from a shop that does pop-top/high-top installs. Their scrap bin must be full of roofs.

Good idea, gonna hit the phones tomorrow!

t