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77xcfalcon

Xc drip rail repairs

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Hi all. I am about to tackle the drip rails on my xc. It’s the last of the rust repairs( saved the best till last). I can’t find any repair sections available and the sheet metal guys i have talked to aren’t interested or don’t have the right gear. Does any body know were to get repair sections from or had any luck making them themselves761f8d7637ecbad98698414165fe2cf8.jpg

 

 

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Dont know of any aftermarket companies making them.  Any XA, XB, XC coupe, ute, van or wagon should have similar gutters, you take patches out of.

Never could understand why XC gutters rusted out, before XA or XB. Seen so many bad XC roof rails.

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A lot of manufacturers in the 70s had to cut corners to keep costs down, one of those areas was body protection. That's why many 70s cars, Ford, Holden, Chrysler, Datsun, gained the reputation of being rust-buckets. Also, paint processes were changing rapidly around that time, with the introduction of 2 pack paint and phasing out Duco/enamel style paints.

My XB coupe had rotted out gutters, so I cut the fuckers right off and welded them shut. I was young and stupid and have devalued the car beyond repair but on the plus side, i won't feel too bad about all the other shit i want to do to it.

To answer your question (I'll get there eventually), the gutters are very hard to do right. They're actually part of the roof skin which is rolled into the window frame. All you'd be doing is welding on an extension of the frame and body-sealing it to the skin. The frame is also pinch-welded to the roof frame so cutting that out will be a barrel of fun as well. So short of getting a new roof skin and starting over, it's all cosmetic.

If possible, I'd try and work with what's left there.

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Were the gutters on these models welded from the inside which requires the roof skin to be removed to repair correctly?
Sorry I wasn't quite right in my description. The roof skin folds right under and welds to the inner frame, and the gutter rail has a flange that spot-welds along underneath. Drill out these spot welds and the gutter and outer door frame come out leaving the roof skin and inner frame behind. Instead of trying to describe it in (probably) bad terminology, here's a youtube clip of a Mustang gutter rail repair:

NOTE: he dicks around for a while so fast forward about 7 minutes into it for the actual job.



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Thanks guys, I think if I keep taking it back until it’s clean steal and treating it I should be able to make a sound repair, the only thing I think I might have trouble with is the little lip on the bottom that the mouldings clips to.


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So this is my plan, going to get some angle bent up with the top lip bent over. Then make up a jig so I can stamp the lower lip in, then cut some key ways into the roof Flange and match new new pieces into that, I don’t think I explained it very well, I will probably start a build thread and put some pictures up soon


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Your ears must have been burning DV Falcon, I was thinking of exactly this process today as I’m ready to fit the XD roof skin, that is drilling drip rail and mig it from underneath. Whilst glueing has been suggested, as has spot welding (I have a good spot welder) and maybe I just don’t have enough faith in technology, but given its old metal, I see this method in the video the long term solution. 

 

Nicely done!,

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