fitting new slave cylinders for convertible top

[marton]

I am trying to replace the 2 hydraulic slave cylinders that open and close my 93 convertible top. How do you get in there? There are 2 short rods that fit into blind holes in the plastic top of each cylinder. One rod is mounted on a plate that unbolts to give me room to put the cylinder in place but how do you get in there? I considered taking the metal side off the frame. There are 4 bolts on one side and three on the other - but there are 3 rivets holding it to the floor of the car and it does not look too easy to replace the rivets?

Also I need to slide the central push rod in the cylinder up and down to locate the top of it correctly with the hole in the top mechanism to insert the fixing bolt but it does not want to move. I don't want to force it - I assumed that if I slackened the 2 bolts that block the holes for the hydraulic pipe then the rod would move easily!?

Any ideas?

Thanks Marton