New-to-me XJ has rust above hatch hinges!

The rear corners of the roof have pretty bad rust. I've seen drip rail rust before (which this one has a bit of) but never rust at the rear of the roof and top of the hatch opening.

Has anyone addressed this type of rust? Local yards have roof sections they'll cut for me for $100... but this is a complex area.

I did not find a similar issue by searching the forums.

We bought an 84 recently with rust in the passenger rear roof corner. First one I have ever seen too. If it is light rust, small hole I would wire brush it, rust proof with it a rust converting polymer primer, seal it (any holes) with a spray urethane foam in can (insulation foam), then coat the foam with a 25 year silicone latex outdoor window caulk if it is large, then maybe bondo on top and sand if you want it to look nice and smooth. I did that to a 78 in 87 with side panel rust, repainted it and it lasted another 10 years.

Greets: Need more information before the multitude of helpful --XJ'ers can give you really good advice.

Try posting in the "Paint and Bodywork Forum".

A better description might be useful too, i.e., light rust, heavy? Rotted through holes? If the latter is true:

My 2 cents: Pull down headliner material for interior inspection. Clean out all rust, interior, and exterior. With protective clothing, face mask of some sort, gloves, and goggless, prep area with a wet sponge, (or use a simple spray bottle), of OSPHO, an acid that will turn rust oxide into an inert substance. Bondo, sand & paint. If big holes, you can tape them from the inside, so as to prevent gravity from making a bigger mess when filling in the holes with a layer of bondo.

If the area is structurally weak then the section from the junk yard might be just the ticket, requiring some welding, or at the very least some welded patches, etc.

I wonder why you have such a problem. How did it start? Bad batch of steel from the manufacturing process? Etc.

Some pics would be awesome so we know exactly what the issue is - it sounds like a little paint might fix it, but not sure. "Pretty bad rust" in CA means a very different thing from "pretty bad rust" where I come from (where it's synonymous with "well, there's not even anything left to weld a patch to! Send er to the junkyard!")

edit: moved to paint/bodywork, probably a better fit there.

Battery powered sawzall at a pick a part. Cut out a panel from the donor that is bigger than the area you need to replace, then just screw the new panel over the old panel with self tapping sheet metal screws every couple inches. Then with a cutoff wheel, cut around the outside of the screws, through both panels, weld the new panel to the old panel. You are esentially making a perfect sized replacment and cutting a hole to put it into at the same time. In the end, you will end up with a panel to remove from the inside after you unscrew it. It's called a graft and is pretty easy to do. I'm going to do one on my new rig so I'll take some pictures.