Reply to "Thread inserts in roof for the deck lid bolts"

Updated: Success comes sometimes to those with infinite patience and OCD. I fashioned a "dubbed tap" out of one of the hinge 8mm bolts and went to work worrying the threads clean on that errant captured nut plate that was spinning free. After about 2 solid hours of coaxing it through using only the friction I could achieve by applying pressure to the bolt and worrying the plate against the roof skin...it finally worked through. Another half hour of simply running it in and out a brazilian times and its so loose that I can now run the deck lid bolt through it in seconds, captured be darned.

So on to alignment. Wow. It took about 1/4" of plate to space the hinges off the inner roof enough to come up to something close to proper alignment between the deck lid and the roof top. And now I can open the deck lid. Yeah! I really wanted that detail to be right..I've read all the horror stories on here about the overload deck lid hinge design and consequences thereof.

Next question..does anyone have a quick eye-to-eye measure on a lift cylinder that I could borrow?