Interior cab rust

[kaneerarchery]

I recently purchased a 1966 GMC that has rust on the cab roof interior between the roof and the windshield. The roof is rusted at the drip rails and I am sure that is why the rust started. I mig weld and have replaced patch panels on other vehicles. Repair panels are available for 1960-1963 but i could not find any yet for a 1966. Could I make the repair panel for 60-63 work, does someone know where I could get 1966 cab roof repair patch panels, or should I make my own panels? Will I need to rework my windshield pillars? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

[sclor]

That is a tough place to repair rust in a cab. If you see pictures, the inside of that roof had no rust protection from the factory. Just bare steel. When the seam sealant in the rain gutters fails, water soaks its way through the seam in the rain gutters and causes extensive damage. Best solution is if you can find another cab. Some folks have taken off the outer roof panel so they can get in there to repair and treat the inner panel, but that is a difficult job with a lot of spot welds around the rain gutter to be drilled out. With the new urethane panel adhesives, putting the roof back on isn't too difficult. A few pictures might help to understand what you are up against. I would poke around quite a bit with an ice pick to see how much metal is left.

Hope this is helpful.
Regards,
Steve
New Orleans

[FetchMeAPepsi]

I bought three cans of Kents Interior Rustproofer for my roof after reading about it somewhere. It has an extension tube that makes squirting it on everything in there pretty easy.

http://kent-automotive.com/Kent/Inne...ofer/P60305.lp

[kaneerarchery]

I will try to post some photos of the damage.

[kaneerarchery]

1 photo at a time.

[sclor]

That is what I was afraid of. That is kinda ugly. Usually when that seam lets water in it runs down inside the cab and rots out what is below it as well since the inside of that metal doesn't have any rust protection from the factory. Do you have rust on the rockers, floor, kick panels as well? Usually with what I see, I would recommend swapping in a new cab that is in better shape. GMC cabs use a different dash board than Che*y, so you need a GMC to make the swap smoothly.

Hope that helps. My brother is in the middle of swapping a Che*y cab on his C30 right now for the same reason.
Regards,
Steve
New Orleans

[kaneerarchery]

Interior shot above the windshield.

[kaneerarchery]

The VIN is in the cab how do I replace the cab and have a different VIN.

[kaneerarchery]

I found a rust free GMC cab for 500.00 online but it is in California and I am in North Florida.

[tommyduncan]

Originally Posted by kaneerarchery

I found a rust free GMC cab for 500.00 online but it is in California and I am in North Florida.

give U-ship.com a try (I think that's it.) Might cost too much but you never know.
I started with a 63 Chevy that wasn't as rusty as yours but it did have an ugly sunroof. For a liitle more than I was going to pay for a nice cab and rear fenders I bought a nicer truck. I did get lucky though!