Replacing the roof skin

I have a 1968 108, and the roof has more hills than a roller coaster. There is a hole in the roof over the engine box, possibly a cutaway for an old Super Scoop. Anywho, I believe the previous owner used a piece of sheet metal and some caulk to cover the hole. Long story short, it leaks and caused some decent rusting of the interior. The local body shop said it would be cheaper and look better to replace the entire rook skin. I'd prefer to just seal up the hole. Money is a little tight right now.

My question is can I use any roof skin, or does it need to be from a like year model?

The roof skin is going to have to be from a 67-70 108 van is you want a whole roof. I put a roof skin on my 64 , wasn't the hardest job just lots of spot welds to drill out. I actually glued my new roof on the sides and welded the rear and around the windshield. Another thing is if you buy a roof make sure you cut the post about 8" down and get all of the side rails. If your has been leaking for a while your top rails are going to be rusted.

I replaced the roof on my van to rid the previous owners poor sunroof installation. I didnt opt to cut down to the pillars as there was no rust issues. You are going to have to do some serious post bracing inside to stop the "Box" that is your body from going egg shaped without a lid. The prior poster is correct; there are 2,000 spot welds to get out/off. Use a liberal amount of seam sealer in the gutters once the new lid is welded in place. Some of the modern body adhesives abilites may surprise you at durability and strength. Good luck.

suicide, did you brace before you removed the skin? I didn't and had no issues, actually the van sat without a roof for months. I did brace the front when I cut from the a pillars to the b pillars to repalce the rotted sections. I glued the roof back on , but welded the windshield and the rear section.

When you get a chance or it's allowed post some pics of your roof and what you need for a patch. This is something similar to what a few of us were talking about recently. Someone might have saved a patch piece for just such an emergency .

Digz I have a whole roof skin all but where it is spot welded to the edges, this is where it was rotted. I also have a half of roof from thedoors back pretty decent. Just to keep in the back of your mind