I got a Zeintop! ***UPDATE***
 

For those of you who know Pat S. from these forums, he decided to sell his car and I purchased his Zeintop. I then had it painted at Ralph Perez Auto Body in Tampa to match my white car. It was originally Lapis Blue. I absolutely love it! Here are a few pictures:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...8/IMG_0680.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...8/IMG_0681.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...8/IMG_0682.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...8/IMG_0683.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...8/IMG_0684.jpg

Sweet! So how long does it take for you to remove the rear trunk lid and put this on?

I have one on order and wonder how it fits and does it squeaks?

Looks good! I'm glad the paint turned out nice.

Pat

Only about 10-15 minutes, it takes two people though because the top is a little heavy and you want to be careful not to scratch the car. The first install took a couple hours because I had to install the spinlock inserts and wire harness, then there were several adjustments that needed to be made in order to make the body lines fit correctly.

I'm pretty impressed with the quality of the top. It's not quite "Porsche Perfect" but close. My only complaints are that I have a slight wind-noise on the driver's side near the windshield seal, I'm sure some more tweaking can fix this. The headliner needs a little work too because they basically wrap a large sheet of plastic and glue it as an insert in the center. Pat said that it fell down once on him. One day, I'll take it down and find something a little lighter to use up there. I also had to use some 3/4" tall rubber stand off's between the bottom side of the top and the rear clamshell adjusters on the car. This brought the rear of the top up even with the body line of the car, before it was sunk down a tad.

Wind-noise is significantly decreased versus the soft top, however at idle it seems louder because my exhaust isnt quite stock. Visibility is slightly less than out of the convertible top for me because I'm so tall. I lose a few inches of visibility that used to be there in the soft top, but it's not bad at all.

I love the look of your car with that top on it. If you drove by rapidly, I would not know it from a Cayman if I wasn't staring at it to try and spot the differences.

I don't mean this as a criticism, but in your pix it looks like the rear bit (new trunk?) doesn't sit flush with the rear quarter panel "hips." Was it ajar or does it need more adjustment or is it just my imagination?

Looks great! I may end up ordering one soon.

You're right, I noticed that too. I still need to do a few more adjustments to get it right. I just got it back from the paint shop today, so I'm sure I'll be tweaking all weekend to get it right!

Looks great! Now you just need to have all those windows tinted and it will look bad a$@! :)

I think it definitely looks best with these 18" Carrera wheels...

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/8929/dscn0910vp5.jpg

Hmm... I know what I'm saving up next after getting these wheels... :)

I've got a dumb question and please do not be insulted because I think the Zeintop looks great but why would you need this if you live in Florida? I would think there are too many topless days to be messing with the top like that, but what do I know :confused:

In Florida, it rains pretty much every day during the summer months, and seems to come out of nowhere. I rarely drove with the top down because of it. During the winter, it's pretty damn chilly here, so I never got much use out of the convertible.

Actually, today on the way to pick up this top from the paint shop, I got rained on....Heavily! (top down). When I left my house, there wasnt a dark cloud in the sky.

nice!!
 

I just ordered mine last week (from Zeintec South Africa - I presume yours originally came from Zeintec USA?).

Did you get the shims that fit on the spinlocks to adjust the height of it? 3/4" of rubber sounds alot??

When you fitted it, did you fit it as one piece or did you fit the top and then the hatch?

How easy was the wiring loom to fit?

Looks stunning though :cheers:

I did use the shims, they fit with the spinlocks, I also used some 1/4" spacers which Pat made for it. That took care of the middle section. In the rear, there really isn't anything to hold it up other than the convertible top itself. I found that it "sagged" in the back (where the back edge of the clamshell used to sit.

The 3/4" rubber isolators actually fit between the bottom side of the top and the round clamshell adjusters. The bottom edge of the top is rolled over, so it's not raising it 3/4, more like 1/4" to make it fit flush height with the body. With any luck, yours may not need anything like this. I wasnt happy with the fit, so I decided to get creative.

I'm still not quite satisfied with the overall fit, hopefully I can fix this with some more adjustment. On mine, the body line is a little closer on one side than the other. Maybe I'm nit-picking.

I put it on in one piece. A word of advice...put some masking tape along the roofline where the top of the hatch opens during your adjustment stage. If you don't get it right, you can rub the paint right off when you open the hatch. Once you adjust it, and see that it doesnt rub, go ahead and remove the tape.

Also, I'd lay some tape along the back fenders, it's easy to scratch the bottom of the top there when installing because the spinlocks are set at an angle. Better safe than sorry!

Almost forgot, you asked about the wire harness. This was very easy to install. It took me all of 90 seconds to get it done. The most time consuming part of the whole process (other than adjusting everything) is installing the spinlock inserts. Luckily, this only needs to be done once.

I think you'll be very happy with it, I know I am. Be sure to post some pictures!

.....One thing I wanted to ask everyone out there, off topic. Does anyone in the Tampa area have any sort of tool that can turn on my OBC for me? :cheers:

Thanks for the info, will definitely use the masking tape idea. I had been thinking of laying a few layers of tape all around the edges of the wings just to be safe, so doing the roofline makes sense too.

I did see this pic a while ago and thought that that the shutlines between the hatch and the wings looked a little uneven.

http://www.pragmatik.co.uk/Zeintop/IMG_0633.jpg

I managed to get an electronic copy of the fitting instructions and whilst they are detailed for the most part, it was a little bare when it came to fitting and routing the wiring loom. I'm sure it'll be clearer when I get started.

Actually looks pretty nice without it on yours, but I also ordered the Zeinwing. Thought I might as well, as I got a huge discount on the top & wing and it also meant I saved on the shipping.

Just counting down the days 'til mine arrives!! :dance:

Will post some pics for sure. Mine's a silver one. Should look great with my wheels. http://www.digitaljersey.co.uk/Car/dsc00727.jpg

I see what you mean, it's very similar to mine. I'd imagine it can be fixed though. I also noticed in almost every Zeintop picture out there the hatch doesnt look like it sits all the way down as it should. It's something you really have to look close to notice though. I think I can live with it.

I just went out and laid some extra weatherstrip along the front line to work in conjunction with the supplied strip. It looks like it should fix my windnoise, I'll see tomorrow.

Did you know that you can adjust the "pitch" of the windows for inward/outward movement? That apparently fixes with wind issue. There's adjustment bolts underneath the doors. I can scan a copy of the workshop manual page if it would be of use?

I didn't know that, if you could scan it that would be great! I appreciate it.

Can't wait to see yours! I'm considering ordering one for my Arctic Silver '02. Lots of detailed poics please!

I also have one ordered from Zeintec Africa and will be looking out for your post. I am intended to use this top for winter driving here in Calgary, Canada. Will see how this top fare up.

Wow I thought that was a caymen! I dunno if I'd pay 5 grand for one though..

Although if I lived in the south I definately would not need one. Sheesh come live in Ohio where we get snow for like half the year then you won't complain :)

B-E-A-UTIFUL.. nice going man looks great :cheers:

Looks fantastic, just like a Cayman. Completely changes the character of the car. Think I'll spend the money on my turbo, first, though.

You have a pm :cool:

If I needed a new soft top anyway, and didn't love driving topless so much, I'd want to buy one of these. It definitely looks very good. What does it weigh?

It's interesting that I can get more good top-down weather in CT than he gets in FL!!!!!! But I definitely see his point.

Bob

Below answer to your question taken from www.zeintec-usa.com

How much does the Zeintop weigh?

The complete top weighs approx 99 lbs (45 kg), including the glass and insulations/interior lining. Light enough for two people. However, when you take into account the weight reduction with the removal of the rear trunk and soft top lids, the net weight becomes only 65 lbs (29 kg) for the 986 (’97-’04) Boxster.

Too bad it's not available for the 987 yet. :(

I've had a little email conversation with them, and been watching for a while.

Your new top looks great. What an awesome addition to owning a Boxster.

Thank you! It's something I had been fantasizing about for a long time. Pictures really don't do it justice, I highly recommend it to anyone considering a purchase.

Ok, so I'm going to apologize to everyone in advance if I sound pissy, but something just dawned on me and got me a little angry, so I'm going to tell my story. I've had this thing about a month and still no reply (read-on to understand)...

After researching Zeintop for a year, and discussing a purchase from Kari (President of Zeintec USA) several times, an opportunity arose for me to buy one "second hand" which was about 7 months old.

A couple days after purchasing it, I sent Kari some pictures and thanked him for all of his efforts along the way. I let him know that I love it and was going to do my best to get it seen (shows, forums, etc.) in effort to hopefully help some other tops get sold since I wasnt able to directly give him the sale. I only asked a couple simple questions...

1) I noticed in a picture on the webpage that there is a center latch cover. I don't have this part, I also heard mention of fender covers to protect the car during removal and installation, are these available for me to PURCHASE from you?

2) I've been tweaking the adjustments on this top for a couple days and it's almost where it needs to be, I'm still having some trouble getting body lines to match perfectly, any advice?

3) I have a small air leak where the top meets the front of the car near the windshield, any suggestions?



I asked the same questions twice (two separate emails), and only got a short response to the first email which said something to the effect of "I'm sure Pat told you how to adjust it, thanks for your enthusiasm."

I never got any response about the two parts which I thought came with a Zeintop and wanted to purchase since I did not have them.

....Here's where my attitude comes in.....

One would think that with a rather expensive and quite rare thing such as this, a company would want happy customers/promoters out there. I was really "Gung-Ho" about actively promoting the product because I not only believed in it's quality myself, but I was impressed with the "before purchase" personal attention I got.

To not even acknowledge my email is just crappy in my opinion. I wasnt looking for freebies or handouts, I was simply asking if I could buy the things I needed to make it complete, and how to adjust it so it looks it's best. Why would you want one of these on the street for people to see and say "It looks like something aftermarket...doesnt even fit right"

I'm still trying to get it "fitted" properly as we speak. I re-covered the headliner, it now looks great and I think I can fix the air leak with some thicker weatherstrip, but havent done it yet. The hatch still doesnt look right, it sits within the shell about .25" closer to the driver side and the corners (sharp points on the hatch) seem to be a bit higher than the rest of the body. Overall, I still love it and only people as particular as ....ahem...Porsche Owners....would notice :)

I'd love to have the latch cover though, fender covers would be nice too.

...Just thought I'd share my experiences with you all. Cheers :cheers:

top looks beautiful, but for me, the boxster is most enjoyable and beautiful with the top down.

I also live in Tampa, and whenever possible, drive with the top down. If it's too hot, I blast the AC. If it's too cold, I blast the heat. As for the rain, I'll just pull over and put the top up or wait until I get to a red light. Never got too wet.

Eric

Top is nice but...
 

I like your top. The design is very clever and since it mimics the Cayman so accurately it does make the Boxster look sweet. There are two things I do dislike however:

1) The side window treatment just looks silly. I know that it has to accomodate the Boxster side window but the end result is so goofy looking it would drive me nuts.
2) Why put a hardtop that is barely removeable on a convertible as practical as the Boxster. Most people who have regular Boxster HTs leave them on way too often. I imagine that your Zeintop is going to stay on for the life of your car since it requires so much effort to install and align. The joy of a convertible is that it converts quickly and easily from a closed car to an open one. One of the joys of the Boxster is so easy go from closed to open with just a push of a button. Why give that up?

But to each his own. Good luck with your top!

Hmmmmm
 

I might be able to help you here matey, when I get home I'll email you the fitting instructions which tells you how to adjust it to get the shut lines right. Hopefully that'll help/assist.

As for the attitude, I'd email Graeme at Zeintec S.A - the boss!. He's be superb with my order/questions and has been really helpful. As I understand it Zeintec USA are only an authorised distributor and the Zeintec themselves are based in South Africa - I'm sure Graeme will be none to pleased to here of bad /lack of service you've had, hell you may even get a freebie!

Dont want to post his email address here, but I can PM you if you like?

:)

I love the top, congrats on your purchase. I'm sure you'll get the little bugs worked out soon.