Removing roof rack?

I need to repaint my hood (gotta love that Ford paint!), and I'm tossing around the idea of removing the roof rack and welding the holes shut while the paint gun is out. How many holes are in the roof to hold the rack, and does the headliner need to come out to remove the rack?

-Chris

 

[jimbo74]

the headliner doesnt need to come out, and if i rember correctly its not many holes at all, maybe 4-5 per rail?

 

[DeRocha]

I haven't removed my roof rack, but did remove my headliner while working on the windshield.. Anyway in the pic below you can see the nut kind of things that the rack bolts screw into. I don't know how these nut things are secured/bonded to the roof.. If they are not bonded to the roof then I would think they could begin to move around after you've loosened a bolt. BTW if you did remove the headliner wouldn't it make patching the holes much easier? It should only take 15min to remove the headliner...

 

[MONMIX]

well yes and no.
No, you do not need to remove the headliner to remove the roof rack but YES you do to weld the holes shut.
Dont think for a second that your headliner wont go up in flames once you start welding. I would cut up some old sheet metal and hit it from the back side.
Good luck and remember to WATCH YOUR HEAT. Roof metal is very thin.

 

[rbaker_13]

instead of welding you could use body fill to fill the holes and then fill in all the low spots on the roof thats for aerodynamics or rain or what ever they are for.

 

[MONMIX]

instead of welding you could use body fill to fill the holes and then fill in all the low spots on the roof thats for aerodynamics or rain or what ever they are for.

No, body filler will not be reliable even in the smallest amount.

 

[Mista808]

Do you HAVE to weld the top? Or can I just take my rack off but leave the little pins in?

 

[MONMIX]

If you drill out the rivits on the rubber strips than yes.

If you do like I did and just remove the rails and leave the strips then you will not need to weld a thing. The strips are in the center and can not be seen my most observers.