Why did the port install these cheap nutserts? Could they not have used S.S. ones??
Following others suggestion I removed the roof rack to ensure it was not rusting out beneath.
Figured I would be fine as this was an Arizona car and has no rust anywhere else; Surprise-
Luckily the rack came off with no problems. Unfortunately around two of the main supports nutserts there was some surface rust.
Once I started scraping it off I popped thru. the sheetmetal!
The tank looks a lot cleaner without the rack so I decided to remove the deflector and found some surface rust.
I sanded off majority of rust and taped off remainder of surface-
If my nutserts were good as new I would have put S.S. set screws in with some teflon paste like this-
Then applied five coats of rust neutralizer over a few days as directed-
To plug the holes I picked up some dorman panel retainers from autozone; #963-005 for nutserts & #963-008 for big hole.
Trimmed the xmas trees down to slide into nutserts plus to length, once fitted I then cut off the top head-
Caps fit perfectly over the nutserts; then fill hole and cap with silicone, insert & clean off excess, tape down to roof until dry.
Really pleased with the result! Can hardly see them from the ground-
Tank looks really clean without the rack/deflector which were breaking its curves-
Auto. car wash confirmed a good leak proof solution until I cough up and get them welded/painted-
Tip: the big ones used for lower deflector hole I curved top half slightly to conform by heating underside of cap with lighter while I pushed it against the wall allowing it to cool-
Following others suggestion I removed the roof rack to ensure it was not rusting out beneath.
Figured I would be fine as this was an Arizona car and has no rust anywhere else; Surprise-
Luckily the rack came off with no problems. Unfortunately around two of the main supports nutserts there was some surface rust.
Once I started scraping it off I popped thru. the sheetmetal!
The tank looks a lot cleaner without the rack so I decided to remove the deflector and found some surface rust.
I sanded off majority of rust and taped off remainder of surface-
If my nutserts were good as new I would have put S.S. set screws in with some teflon paste like this-
Then applied five coats of rust neutralizer over a few days as directed-
To plug the holes I picked up some dorman panel retainers from autozone; #963-005 for nutserts & #963-008 for big hole.
Trimmed the xmas trees down to slide into nutserts plus to length, once fitted I then cut off the top head-
Caps fit perfectly over the nutserts; then fill hole and cap with silicone, insert & clean off excess, tape down to roof until dry.
Really pleased with the result! Can hardly see them from the ground-
Tank looks really clean without the rack/deflector which were breaking its curves-
Auto. car wash confirmed a good leak proof solution until I cough up and get them welded/painted-
Tip: the big ones used for lower deflector hole I curved top half slightly to conform by heating underside of cap with lighter while I pushed it against the wall allowing it to cool-
