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Took 7.5 hours today. Took my time to make sure I was doing it right. Took some extra time to do some cleaning. All in all, very time consuming, but definitely doable for an average DIYer.
Like Brockmeister, ran out of daylight. Worked right into the darkness to get it completed. However, with a flashlight, looks pretty good! Couldn't see any wrinkles. I'll have to check more thoroughly tomorrow morning.
Had a problem with the slides I ordered. I ordered 986.561.669.03 and 986.561.670.03. My receipt even says so. And so does the packaging that both parts came in. However, the parts inside the packaging didn't look the same. Looking at the part numbers on the parts, they both end in 02. This is the older style part. The newer style part is a bit longer (has an extension) and is supposed to help guide the top better. Since my old parts were fine, I just reused them. I'll be returning the incorrect parts later this week.
In saying that, I doubt anyone would ever need those two parts, the slides. Appears 99% of the time, all that one would require in order to replace their top, is the clamping pieces. Since I hear they're very easy to break, I was extra cautious when I was removing mine, and I still broke them both! You may not even need the pins, but since they're cheap, why not. Each clamping piece takes two, so both sides would require four.
I bought one 60 inch roll of 3M moulding tape (I guess it's the same thing as body tape) but that wasn't enough. Went back and bought the 180 inch roll. Plenty.
Also, bought the small tube of 3M weatherstrip adhesive, in black. That was more than enough.
The GAHH top looks very good! I have nothing to compare it to, other than the OEM top, but I feel it's made quite well. The only thing that would need improvement is the eye hook on the bottom of the cables needed to be drilled to a larger diameter. The stock screws didn't fit through it. Also, the new top has tabs on it in the same place as the OEM top where it secures to the same screw that holds the bottom of the cables. The new top's tabs didn't have a hole in them. Don't know if that's just a quality defect but I felt that the holes should have been pre drilled.
Also, when I was thinking through my job, realized I forgot to wrap tape around the top of the cables where they connect to the springs. Any idea what will happen if I don't go back in there and fix it?
Went out for a drive. With the glass window, definitely notice the back view begin smaller, but at this time it doesn't appear to impede rearward visibility much at all. However, as I was installing, noticed how the glass window will affect getting into the engine bay. Maybe next week I'll see how much it interferes.
After I got it all back together and closed the top, it got to about 3-5 inches from completely closed and stopped. Brockmeister and Jakekit, did you guys get a similar gap before the mechanism stopped? Had to pull the top down pretty hard to get it to close. I heard it was going to be tight, but damn!
This job took all day. I really wouldn't want to do it again. But since the local shop wanted $500, and they can't get me in for at least two more weeks, I'm very happy to have done this myself. $500 over 7.5 hours comes out to $66.67/hour.
Really can't wait to see it in the sunlight!
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