Beetle Ragtop Mechanism

Three months and counting! That's how long I have 'till the big day - will my Bug make it? I'm sure it will! It has too!
I have a big order on its way from the states with pretty much everything that I need to finish the project so as soon as the Beetle body is back in my hands it will be all systems go!
With that in mind I have made sure that I've got ready everything I can (where cost has been permitting - my big engine my have to wait a while) so I can bolt it on when the time comes.

On the list was 'clean up and assemble ragtop mechanism'.
You may remember reading about the new canvas I bought from BFY Obsolete Parts a while back - the original top had seen better days and I could see daylight through it. In the bin it went!
The mechanism itself was still fully functional but was starting to get eaten away by tin worm in areas. The rear fastening plate kind of just crumbled away in my hands so a new one was ordered. The front plate was also a bit pitted but seeing as these are not readily available, and second hand ones don't come cheap, I decided to spruce it up a bit.
The fastening bolts on the front plate were shot too so I had to take them out, re-countersink the holes and fit some new bolts. I chose to use M4 bolts as they are much thicker than the originals and more likely to last. To make life easier installing them I also welded them in.
Next up I stripped as much pitting as I could away from the front plate, put on some rust killer before painting it in Zinc and then POR15.
It worked pretty well!
Fitting the canvas onto the mechanism wasn't the easiest of jobs as I had to stretch it quite a bit to fit. I got there in the end and now I have a nice new ragtop with a mechanism that should hopefully last a fairly long time.

Bit boring but here is a shot of the new countersunk bolt before being welded in

And here it is on the underside with the nuts on and the canvas in place

The ragtop canvas wasn't easy to fit but it looked great once on the mechanism and all the new bolts fastened up

On the right is the old rear fastening plate - more crumbly than a Cadbury's Flake. The new plate on the left was much better!