Roof Racks Plus

Refinishing the chrome castings - ideas?

I'm debating (in my mind - I'm the only techie in the house) what to do to remove the pits and seal up the finish.

I thought about using the Dremel and smooth it out, then use a clear coat. But then I started looking at those black units. That would look somewhere between sharp, updated, and out-of-place!

They'd need a few hours to clean them up anyway, and I don't want to powder-coat them. The roof glides are stainless and so are the rails and crossbars, so it's just the corner castings that I'd do.

 

I'm gonna do them satin black. After all that work on the paint, the woodgrain moldings and all the other trim, I can't leave them like that. I've used the rack to haul insulation bundles and boxes from our move from Mexico to Winterpeg and never tied anything to those corner pieces. So they should be ok. Now that I know what it takes to remove them, I can always get better ones without the pitting.

 

Done! Painted and installed! From TBird's estimate of 1200 parts left to go, that's 12 down, plus 28 fasteners (not in the 1200), leaving me 1188 to go. The roof fasteners were a bit tricky, but they went in fine. I used silicone to seal them. I had to sneak a 5/16" wrench under the roof sheetmetal to keep the fasteners from turning while tightening the star-headed (Phillips Head) bolts down.

Door windows and regulators are next. I have to install the new window seals, glass runs in the rear door division bars and the door latch/lock hardware. If things go well, I'll get the windshields (front and rear) and quarter side glass in tomorrow, too.

 

I had one casualty! You need a 5/16" open-end wrench underneath to keep the roof nut from spinning. After I did the last one at the back, one finger holding it in place between the metal 'rafter' and the roof, I slipped and the wrench went beyond reach. I tried retrieving it with one of those springy grapple widgets, but it's in there somewhere, ready to rattle whenever I crank the base up on a good jazz piece.

 

Roof Rack Inserts

I would think that most wagons use Nutserts in the roof sheetmetal to hold down the rack supports themselves. I posted some links to various suppliers earlier in this thread, but I found one that's almost completely Automotive. Some of the others were for Aircraft and specialty industries.

http://www.nutty.com/threadrepair.shtml

 

95 Caprice Wagon

I just bought a really clean 95 Caprice SS clone (yeah, I know....) that has factory roof rack guides in place, but the crosspieces are missing. Any ideas? I want something that looks fairly stock and "non-industrial."

Another thing-- the rear has places where a rollup tarp can be placed over the flat cargo area, kinda like a window shade. That's missing too. What is that called and where can I find them?

 

Any pics of the rack?

Are there snaps for the rollup tarp?

If GM doesn't have any stock anymore (worth a check) you could see who repairs tents in your area and see if they have any fastener or rail sources they recommend.