Top Replacement Page 2
12 OK the top is OFF, about 2-3 hours later than you started and you have the whole process fresh in your mind. For installation, you have to make sure you have that double sided adhesive tape (3M Automotive)., The 3M part number for the correct double sided tape is "06384". Automotive Acrylic Plus Attachment Tape, Black, 1/2 in x 5 yds. You should be able to get it from any auto paint store.
…and some denatured alcohol (Home Depot) to clean the areas to which you plan to apply the new tape.Clean and pull off all the old double sided tape from the front edge of the frame, the sides on the aluminum parts, the back edge and anywhere else that the installer may have put it. I suspect that some people put more on since fitting the new top is no picnic.It takes a lot checking and rechecking for evenness and position.
13 Take the OLD top now and compare it to the new on to make sure it is almost the same if not perfectly the same. I am sure that Porsche made changes along the way. Also assure that the new one has the new cables sewn into the channels on both sides of the new canvas.
14 NOW, reverse the process for installation. Remember the very first thing to do is to slide the #3 channel flap into that flap. Next, I reassembled the clamping rail and slider assemblies on either side. Remember to match the flaps on the new top to the appropriate slots on the clamping rail and sliders and slide them in. With the flaps slid in place, you can assemble the two parts of the clamping rail and slider and gently position them back into their original locations. You will have to tuck parts of the top between the body of the car and the B Pillar like the way they originally were fit. Put the top attached to the clamping rail and slider back into position (assembled) and line up the bottom of them with the cable screw hole and the black plastic pin positions and reinsert the pins to hold them together in place.
15 Lower the top 75% making sure that the clamping rail and slider assemblies don’t move and attach the lower end of the top cable through a tab in the top at that location (you may need to punch a hole in the tab as I did), the lock washer, the cable eye into the hole and tighten them.
16 I now went around back again. Raise the top to the “service position” again (12-18 inches open). Start with inserting the rear tab into the channel and holding it in place with the “wedge shaped” plastic strip.I found that using a silicon spray on the strips helped enormously getting them into place and flush. I would spray the whole strip before inserting. Now the top canvas rear is attached to the rear cross bar. Push back in, with silicon spray the “flat weather strip” from the rear of the top. Next, the double sided tape in reverse. Apply to a cleaned surface (denatured alcohol worked well), the double sided tape in the channel for the trunk weather stripping.SMOOTH the trailing edge of the canvas top into that channel keeping in mind that it must be SMOOTH if you are to fit the final weather stripping into that channel. If you got the right adhesive and cleaned before applying, it will stay in place when smoothed onto the adhesive. Siliconize the rear trunk weather stripping and push it into place.
SMOOTHING the canvas top into the channel (slot #3), and making sure that the canvas flap is FULLY INSERTED into the slot and that the fat weather strip is FULLY INSERTED on top of the canvas into that slot is crucial for insuring against wrinkles on the sides of the canvas top behind the driver and passenger windows, as well as helping reduce the possibility of wrinkles on the forward top surface of the canvas top. The best way to check that this is done correctly is to make sure that the seam in the canvas top at the trailing edge of the canvas top is snug up against the forward edge of the fat weather strip after the weather strip has been fully inserted. The seam should be against the "rolled" surface of the fat weather strip.
The seam referred to can be seen where the pinky in the photo touches the rear of the canvas, and runs all the way from the left to the right of the rearmost frame rail.
This photo shows the correct installation of the seam against the "rolled" edge of the fat weather strip.
17 Now reinstall the top to the middle support frame that you disassembled in step 7. Slide the plastic cover around the piping, locate the plastic cover over the metal frame, and then press the metal clip (the one that you may have rust-proofed) back into place.
The two arrows show the black metal clip (before rust-proofing) after it is pressed into position.
Re-attach the two canvas strips running back to front with the two T20 star screws as they were when you removed them.
18 Now for the side aluminum panels.Attach the forward edge of the cable to the spring on each aluminum panel like when you removed them and wrap the old shrink that you slit with electrical tape.The assembly should now lie nicely on the top (flat to the top).If it does not you either have the passenger at the driver side or you put it backwards.It will lay flat with the front edge even with the front top frame cross bar.
19 Here is where it gets artsy.Pull the canvas top as even and tight to the front as you can.Smooth the top as much as you can.If it is not even, you won’t be adhering it evenly and it will result in wrinkles on the final top assembly.
20 Apply more of the double sided adhesive where it was on the two aluminum panels.You can approximate location on the canvas by laying it over the aluminum and marking the back side of the canvas with a marker.
The canvas will wrap around the aluminum as it was when you took it off.It will fit in the channel along side of the aluminum.You can determine if the aluminum is placed correctly since the prior holes in the aluminum sheets should line up with the holes in the frame from the under side.This step takes patience and some fooling with it to get it right. Do both sides and the top should be smooth across.Refasten the aluminum panels with the canvas covering with the Philips screws from the under side.Try to get it right or you will be backing out of the procedure and doing it again if you don’t like the wrinkles.
Along with insuring that the seam is against the fat weather strip and that the fat weather strip is fully inserted, the following is the other crucial part to insure that there are no wrinkles along the top surface of the canvas top. You must insure that you have glued (with the double sided adhesive tape) the part of the canvas top edges that has the four holes so that the edge of the canvas top is perfectly aligned with the outside angled edge of the aluminum plates (see the arrows in the above photo), and that the aluminum plates (once they are re-attached to the canvas top) are pulled forward and flattened as much as possible so that the four holes in the aluminum plates are directly over the four holes in the forward side parts of the convertible frame that will accept the four Phillips screws. This pulling forward takes quite a bit of effort, but is crucial to minimize wrinkles over the aluminum plates.
A good way to line up the canvas top properly onto the aluminum shoulder plates is to insert (from the underside of the frame) a pointed tool (like an awl with a handle) into say the second of the four holes in the frame (where the four Phillips screws are going to go back in, then angle the tool (the part that protrudes through the frame) towards the rear and then, after sliding the second hole in the aluminum plate's short right angled side onto the point of the tool, use the handle of the tool as a lever as you push the handle towards the rear. That will give you enough leverage to be able to stretch the (canvas-covered) aluminum plate forward so that you can insert either screw number one, three or four. Once you have the first one in, use the same method to line up the holes, although, of course you will not need nearly as much force on the remaining holes.
A final note on the aluminum plates. Some of the newer aluminum plates (those that come pre-installed in the FACTORY replacement top or if you have to buy new plates because you bent the old ones) may come with a different method for attaching them where the four Phillips screws are located. The old aluminum plates attach with "speed nuts".
Showing four speed nuts that have been rust-proofed with POR-15.
These are loosely held in place with small strips of (duct?) tape locating the speed nuts under the four holes in the aluminum plates. The newer ones may instead have an additional double thickness of aluminum plate adhered to the angled edge of the aluminum plates and the four holes that exist there will have to be threaded with a tap to accept new Phillips screws. I purchased eight stainless steel screws at Ace Hardware, along with a tap (size 10-24NC) and a matching drill bit (Size #25).
Here are the old black Phillips screws, the new stainless steel ones with the matching tap and drill bit.
21 Front edge attachment next. More cleaning and more adhesive along the front edge.The front edge will have a leather or cardboard strip to help you line it up parallel and tight. The adhesive will hold it in place but I also used a couple plastic spring wood clamps to pinch it in place so I can walk around and make sure it was even and straight. To line this part of the front edge correctly, make sure that the leather or cardboard strip lays in between the two slight metal ridges that run from left to right, and that it lines up snug against the rearmost of the two ridges when you are gluing/clamping that part of the canvas top.
The arrows show the area under which the two ridges are and the clamps used to hold the canvas against the double sided adhesive tape. Note that the front weather strip gasket has been temporarily attached at the right and left corners with one screw in each corner.
You will see how the corners tuck in but remember that these are covered by a weather strip anyway.
22 I now backed off the top to a comfortable openness so I could get retaining rail and weather strip back on. With the front edge adhered, screw in the corners of the front weather strip with the two T20 screws.Screw in the side weather strip holders. Siliconize the side weather strip extensions of the front weather strip and push them into the holders on either side.
23 Now you only have the front retaining rail left.With the weather strip in front in place, hold up the retaining rail and line up the holes.I used those clamps here to hold the assembly while I re-fastened the front retaining rail.
24 Everyone says the new top will be tight. To help at this point, I moved the car out into the California sun to heat it up. After about a half hour, I went around back and reattached the two cables on either side of the engine compartment. I then backed off the top about half way and then closed it until the light on the dash went off. That was close enough to catch the closing hook in the center of the inside of the car and swing the latch shut. I left the car in the sun for the rest of the afternoon and then open and closed it a few times to assure my satisfaction. I reassembled the console and the wind stops and voila, I was exhausted.
I hope this helps. There is some art in this. When I was young, I worked in a tailor shop so I am good at spotting one leg being longer than the other. That helped with this but doing it myself saved about $1500. I can live with a little wrinkle. If not, you have to loosen up things from the first steps again up to where you see the wrinkles, likely on the sides, and smooth it out. Good luck.
Mike adds: Thanks to Fred, Maurice and Chris and those who went before them who all ultimately made this web page possible. All I did was host and format it with google's crude web page creation applet.
There is some special information on installing a Robbins Glass Window Top here.
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