- Thread starter
- #26
DogWhistle
Supporting VIP
- 1,030
- 586
- Sep 13, 2012
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St. Paul,
Minnesota
Top Replacement & Linkage Repair
In addition to cooking the paint, the sun had also cooked the top, so it was time to replace it, and replace the link arms that were badly bent. We ordered the link arms off the web and replaced them.
It would have been pretty straight forward, but the plastic bushings on bow #3 were missing. We found plastic bushings at the hardware store, along with longer bolts. Cutting the bushings at 45* made them match the arch of the bow almost perfectly.
The new link arms worked well for 3 months, and then the braided cable pulled out of its retainer eyelet. It was apparent that this was going to happen repeatedly, so we substituted a soft link chain that won't be separating. The chain is enclosed in clear plastic tubing to keep it from kinking or rubbing on any of the webbing pads:
We've never replaced a convertible top before, nor know anyone who has, so we found a how-to video on YT and ordered the full dvd, which showed the whole process step-by-step. After watching the video, we were convinced it was possible without special tools, so we ordered the top from the interwebs (TOL). Here are the pictures of the process.
The old top:
The whole procedure took six man-hours, between two people. The toughest part is accessing the 4th bow, which is housed under the trunk deck. The secret is to loosen the 4th bow bolts, and then it can be moved up to sit on the trunk lid.
Removing the old roof:
Positioning the new roof:
The roof turned out great! One secret is to fasten the leading edge before the top is closed completely for the first time. This keeps it nice and tight. In fact, the first close took two people to make it happen. We let it stretch out overnight and by the next day it opened and closed just fine.
We're not anxious to do it again, but I wouldn't hesitate to install one again, if the need arose.
Update: We wanted to make the manual roof button more easily accessible, so we made this modification.
In addition to cooking the paint, the sun had also cooked the top, so it was time to replace it, and replace the link arms that were badly bent. We ordered the link arms off the web and replaced them.
It would have been pretty straight forward, but the plastic bushings on bow #3 were missing. We found plastic bushings at the hardware store, along with longer bolts. Cutting the bushings at 45* made them match the arch of the bow almost perfectly.
The new link arms worked well for 3 months, and then the braided cable pulled out of its retainer eyelet. It was apparent that this was going to happen repeatedly, so we substituted a soft link chain that won't be separating. The chain is enclosed in clear plastic tubing to keep it from kinking or rubbing on any of the webbing pads:
We've never replaced a convertible top before, nor know anyone who has, so we found a how-to video on YT and ordered the full dvd, which showed the whole process step-by-step. After watching the video, we were convinced it was possible without special tools, so we ordered the top from the interwebs (TOL). Here are the pictures of the process.
The old top:
The whole procedure took six man-hours, between two people. The toughest part is accessing the 4th bow, which is housed under the trunk deck. The secret is to loosen the 4th bow bolts, and then it can be moved up to sit on the trunk lid.
Removing the old roof:
Positioning the new roof:
The roof turned out great! One secret is to fasten the leading edge before the top is closed completely for the first time. This keeps it nice and tight. In fact, the first close took two people to make it happen. We let it stretch out overnight and by the next day it opened and closed just fine.
We're not anxious to do it again, but I wouldn't hesitate to install one again, if the need arose.
Update: We wanted to make the manual roof button more easily accessible, so we made this modification.
Last edited: