Step 6. Spot welds. I needed 3 of these little cutters from harbor freight. They were only $5. Way better than drilling out the hardened spot welds.
https://www.harborfreight.com/38-in-...ter-63657.html It is located in the welding section.
You will want to center punch the location of each spot weld to better locate your cutter. Move slow and make sure you are “cutting chips”. If you overspeed your drill, you will burn up your cutter.
There are two methods on doing this step.
Method 1: drill entirely through both the roof panel and roof frame (as shown in video). This was the way I decided to go. You can drill through entirely in 1 pass or just drill through the roof panel and come back after removal to drill the rest of the spot weld out. If you do this method, you will need to epoxy ALL THE WAY AROUND EACH HOLE to prevent water ingress.
Method 2: use the spot weld cutter to cut through the roof panel only, then once roof panel is removed, grind the spot welds down flush to the roof structure. This doesn’t leave any holes, but makes a lot more grinding dust. If you decide this method, cover the entire car to make sure you don’t get iron contaminants in your paint. This method will also give you more surface area for a bond line of the adhesive. But I am not convinced it is any stronger than method 1.
You will get epoxy squeezeout around the holes which aids in mechanical retention of the roof.
Use a screwdriver, trim tool, or prybar to separate the roof panel from the roof frame. The only thing you will have to fight is the bondo from the factory install. Use a razor blade in the drip trays to cut the bondo. Unclip the antennae harness if you haven’t already, remove roof and set aside.
