John Y
I know that every vehicle will rust but not sure if a paint finish may have been a better option then for most convertibles. .
I decided to epoxy hand paint the leading side rails first with a fine brush(after paint stripping) ensuring I get into the very hard to reach crevices, then lightly sand and finish with an epoxy spray, rather than powder coat.
On my car the ‘front side assembly’, leading side rails (713368) have fared worse that the ‘rear roof side rail assemblies’ - rust wise. Not sure but maybe due to the vinyl/velcro covering a good portion of the front assembly thus trapping moisture underneath, whereas the rears are larger and the vinyl only covers these part way seeming to let moisture escape.
One bolt had seized (which I missed oiling over the years). I got a bit eager rushing to remove this on the vehicle with the resulting pressure causing a nice bend on the stick as a consequence.. I then took a breath and removed the stick first; it bent back well and I drilled out the seized bolt – no damage.
Unfortunately the previous owner appears to have had a poorly lined up weld repair (in two spots just visible on the photo) on the RH ‘elbow rail link’. Which probably explains why the attached ‘elbow rail assembly’ never sat down too level on the tonneau cover. Not sure if I can get it re welded straight or try and find a replacement? I have learnt to never force anything on this roof.
Aside of the spacers there appears to be four sizes of washer used – from largest to smallest on the photo above.
I have measured washer widths and listing from largest to smallest below-:
probably part no: 623730 is about 3.2mm wide, probably 623729 is about 2.4mm, WP111 about 2.1mm and the smallest washer is probably WP179 at about 0.9mm.
I am logging a measurement of all the bolt sizes as well; part numbers, lengths, size of non threaded shafts etc.
JY