Up to this point, I had only attached the shortened inner roof panel along the trailing edge. The next few steps were to tie the panel into the rear window frame, and along it's leading edge, and to the C-pillars on each side.
I began by prying the ends of the inner roof panel down to match up with the C-pillar "wings", and held the panels together with Cleco fasteners:
I had the benefit of experience when I made the passenger side C-pillar roof panel, but I had cut the driver's side panel a little too short in this area:
Once I made the little extension for the driver's side, I welded the centre section to the C-Pillar panels. (Don't look too closely at that weld! I suck at welding upside down... the wire just seems to make a blob at the end of the welding tip.)
Next, I worked on completing the unfinished rear window frame so I could tie it to the inner roof panel. It was a simple matter of welding a flat piece to join the left and right side frames:
From the inside, I then needed to extend the rear edge of the roof panel with similar pieces to meet up with the window frame:
I welded these little pieces a little higher up on the window frame so that the headliner's edge can be tucked up there and hidden from the outside view. (This next photo is taken looking straight up at the roof from inside the cabin.):
The last piece of the puzzle was the leading edge of the inner roof panel. I bent up a long narrow section of steel into a Z profile using a box brake. Then I drilled the flanges with holes to rosette weld it in place:
Here's the final interior roof configuration ready for primer:
Since the welder seemed to be working better (I always blame the tool), I decided to attack two other little areas that needed finishing. The first was to create some flanges to mount the package trays in the future. Better to be welding these in now than trying to do so with the engine reinstalled:
And the other area was the quarter window frame. In my haste I forgot to complete the mounting frame on both sides at the bottom of the B-pillars:
With those two tidbits done, I mocked up the fibreglass panels and the windows to admire my accomplishments. Here it is with a stock Fiero roof panel installed since the IFG roof panel and flying buttresses no longer fit (they never really did anyway!):
One thing I noticed was that the top of the rear fender didn't follow the upsweeping line from the door on the driver's side. The fender line rose a little, then flattened out. The red line in this next photo shows approximately how much lower the contour is from where it should be:
The passenger side looks much better, but I'm starting to get an appreciation for the upcoming work in the "body" section. For now though, it's on to a new chassis sub-section. So much still to choose from... what will it be...