new glass window soft top
 

just installed a new soft top from gahh on my 986 with the upgraded glass window instead of plastic, and when i went to open the hood to access the engine i found a proble, as the glass is obviuosly not able to fold like plastic, so the access to the engine is very restricted.
anyone experienced the same problem? is there another way you should open the new hood?

Yes, the glass top restricts opening the top to the service position. Get a bungee cord and plastic coated hanger that goes on the top of a door and use it to hold the top up so you can work in the engine bay.

yeah thats what i thought about doing. do you attatc one end of the bungee cord to the back of the soft top and the other on the windscreen latch?

I don't know if GAHH does this, but Robbins supplies a strap to the owner for pulling up more on the rear of the top to maximize the amount of room one has to access the engine bay.

Personally, I never ended up diving into the engine bay before the top got replaced, so I've only ever been in there with the glass top lifting as much as it can. I've never used that strap, as I don't feel I needed it for what I was doing at the time. It does get in the way a bit, but I can only see it really being a problem when you have to get in near the firewall.

I just hook it over the front edge of the top.

Do you like the top?

love my top. so many compliments on it too. glad i made the switch.

I like the top very much, and don't find the smaller glass to be that much of a problem...it's certainly not a problem with the top down. ;)

Some people complain about the visible lines on the defogger of the GAHH top glass, but I don't find them very visible at all on the Robbins top glass, and the material is much nicer than what was on the car orignally (granted, anything new would be nicer than the 14 year old top that was on the car). I changed mine out of necessity because a tear developed in the vinyl window.

I love my top too. Blacked out my windows and it looks even better. Looks like part of the black top. Cant beat the new top. I did the install with my wife (a true bonding moment) and she always tells her friends that we installed the top (like it was fun). It was a pain in the butt but after 2 years it still looks new.

Which one is best, the GAHH or Robbins or other?? I called a guy here in Atlanta that comes to you and replaces the top wherever your car is. He likes another brand best, but I've forgotten which one. It's about the same price as the GAHH. I want the glass window top but have heard about this issue with opening before. Sounds like it's not that big a deal though.

I'd say the two are pretty comparable depending on what you're willing to spend. There are some differences, such as Robbins using these small elastic straps as a means of keeping the canvas from falling out of the channel when it's closing (a known problem with the old 986 tops that can still happen even with these straps in place, just something to watch out for), and the GAHH top having more highly visible lines for the defogger on the glass.

I'm pretty sure they both offer a top of the line version of the top made to block out a lot of wind and road noise that the regular tops do not, which is especially good for owners of the cars that were made before headliners were being installed from the factory.

Honestly, either brand's offerings are going to be better than what's already on your car if it's more than a few years old or wasn't maintained properly during its lifetime.

As for this guy who will come out to install the top for you, just make sure he doesn't do a rush job that leaves you with creases, wrinkles, or sagging points in the material. That material needs to be pulled nice and taut over the frame so that when it does stretch naturally from use as it breaks in it doesn't sag.

When moving from a plastic-windowed roof to the new one with the glass window, do you replace the frame as well?

if you get the aftermarket top, no. (unless your frame is messed up) the top canvas uses your existing frame.

2004
This is the factory top with a glass window in the extreme service position. The clamshell guides have been dicconnected to give me alittle more access to the engine bay. The angle of the window is what it is, I can't get it into the vertical any more than shown.
To work in the engine bay you are pretty much orientating yourself 45degrees to the car body, from back to front. To gain more engine access I could remove the top completely, then where do I store the top.

2004
This is the factory top with a glass window in the extreme service position. The clamshell guides have been dicconnected to give me alittle more access to the engine bay. The angle of the window is what it is, I can't get it into the vertical any more than shown.
To work in the engine bay you are pretty much orientating yourself 45degrees to the car body, from back to front. To gain more engine access I could remove the top completely, then where do I store the top.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1379076072.jpg