Phil , my Series 5 is the same vintage as yours, and as I inspected the components for assembly in '99 , I found several parts with corrosion showing itself under the powder coat. It was obvious that poor prep was to blame and powder coat was applied over the corrosion as my kit was new and straight from the old Skystar factory. Poor quality control back then. I had to remove all the coating, remove the corrosion and epoxy prime . Still looking at flying this year? Bruce N199CL