Well, the bad news is I broke the Surebonder tool. While my ability to break the tool handle stokes my fragile male ego, ultimately, I concede that this is an indication of poor manufacturing as I am sure I am not the hand wrestling champion in my weight class.
The good news is that I was able to replace the two original brass parts on the roof latch with the threaded inserts. I went for a test drive with the top up and magically, most of my "dash" and wind noises have been greatly reduced. I am really quite amazed at how much one screw made a difference. I don't know if this fixes my intermittent problem with my top operation but I'll just have to wait and see.
Some things I learned while doing this:
1. Cover the interior of your car with a tarp. Brass filings will be everywhere to mar your finish and possibly cause electrical problems in an already flaky grounded Boxster. Have your Shop Vac handy.
2. The broken brass nut was a pain to remove. It had broken into three large pieces which wouldn't fit through the hole. I was able to remove them by wedging the hole so a piece wouldn't move and using a small drill bit in a thin area to break the piece into smaller pieces.
3. The screw I used is 1/4 x 20 x 1, black finish, flat head, socket cap, allen instead of torx. It's not the original metric part but it's pretty close. I guess technically my Boxster is now a renegade hybrid since I used english measure parts.
4. It's not a bad idea to do the preventative maintenance by removing the good brass captive nuts. I had an easier time with the good one because the drill didn't walk. The trick I used was to use progressively larger drill bits. I started with a 1/4" bit, 3/8" and lastly the recommended 25/64". I used needle nose pliers to clean up as best as possible.
5. Use masking tape to mark depth as MNBoxster (Jim) recommends.
6. Wear safety glasses.
7. I used my 18V battery powered drill.
I will return my broken Surebonder tool tomorrow and get a replacement. I might pick up an extra since my experience to date shows that the tool is only good for two inserts.
Hybrid Mode
