986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post

shinsaku · 11-26-2018, 05:23 AM

Thank you for your positive replies. Of course I know it would be nice to repair my boxster to the original form. Nevertheless, I still have several reasons to modify my top to manual operation.

The first reason is, as you suppose, the cost. Both transmissions are broken, and the authorized dealer in Japan said it needs around 4,000USD (400,000JPY) to repair. The transmission is supplied as assembly only; and the price is around 1,500USD per a side. We can find the replacement of fragile plastic gear in the transmission on the market, but we need hydraulic press machine to engage the gear, as shown in figure 21 at
https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/BODY_Convertible_Top_Gear_Replacement/BODY_Convertible_Top_Gear_Replacement.htm
So I decided to tentatively fix the top without buying anything. However, after modifying the top as I posted, I was fully satisfied. Since I do not modify the bodywork, I can repair the top to be motorized in the future.

The second reason is the possibility of the next failure at the other part. As far as I know, the top of the boxster has several major failure modes; breakage of four ball joints, micro-switch at the top-front latch, ablation of mechanical power delivery cables (flexible shafts from the motor to the transmissions), control relay, and the transmission. In my case, the top suddenly failed at midnight, and the top stopped halfway. It was too dark to detatch the ball joints, so I gave up to close (or open) the top and drove the car very slowly to the home. Fortunately my parking space has a roof and interior was safe from rain, but I was really disgusted such adamant powered top. So I would like to avoid such challenge in the future.

The third reason is, to be honest, my perverse mind :-) I like to think and present some kind of tricks or contraption. It is also a great pleasure for me if someone would be made happy to hear my idea. This is just an additional option when you have some trouble on the convertible top of your boxster.

Since I am not a native English speaker, I am afraid of unnatural expressions above. Thank you for reading.

11-26-2018, 05:23 AM	#35
shinsaku Registered User Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Japan Posts: 2	Thank you for your positive replies. Of course I know it would be nice to repair my boxster to the original form. Nevertheless, I still have several reasons to modify my top to manual operation. The first reason is, as you suppose, the cost. Both transmissions are broken, and the authorized dealer in Japan said it needs around 4,000USD (400,000JPY) to repair. The transmission is supplied as assembly only; and the price is around 1,500USD per a side. We can find the replacement of fragile plastic gear in the transmission on the market, but we need hydraulic press machine to engage the gear, as shown in figure 21 at https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/BODY_Convertible_Top_Gear_Replacement/BODY_Convertible_Top_Gear_Replacement.htm So I decided to tentatively fix the top without buying anything. However, after modifying the top as I posted, I was fully satisfied. Since I do not modify the bodywork, I can repair the top to be motorized in the future. The second reason is the possibility of the next failure at the other part. As far as I know, the top of the boxster has several major failure modes; breakage of four ball joints, micro-switch at the top-front latch, ablation of mechanical power delivery cables (flexible shafts from the motor to the transmissions), control relay, and the transmission. In my case, the top suddenly failed at midnight, and the top stopped halfway. It was too dark to detatch the ball joints, so I gave up to close (or open) the top and drove the car very slowly to the home. Fortunately my parking space has a roof and interior was safe from rain, but I was really disgusted such adamant powered top. So I would like to avoid such challenge in the future. The third reason is, to be honest, my perverse mind :-) I like to think and present some kind of tricks or contraption. It is also a great pleasure for me if someone would be made happy to hear my idea. This is just an additional option when you have some trouble on the convertible top of your boxster. Since I am not a native English speaker, I am afraid of unnatural expressions above. Thank you for reading.