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Boxster 97 (2.5) Tale of roof woe

Hi all,
Here's how a lovely weekend ended ...

Went to a local beach with the family on such a beautifully sunny day and took the Porsche, Roof had been down for the past few days ...

Got to the car park and saw that it was pay and display. Bought ticket and went to raise the roof (didn't want anyone taking the ticket)
All fine with the roof then noticed a labouring sound followed by a god almighty bang!!. Looked around to see the roof fin at a strange angle and the actual roof itself had fallen back to it's rest position.

Closer inspection showed a broken bracket (left hand side looking from the rear to the front) looks like the main rear beam of the roof itself ( sort of cast with two horizontal holes along the length. Part of the ends where the holes exists has sheared off completely !!.

Managed to lower the rear cover back down and travelled home for further investigation.

At home partially raised the cover and managed to undo the ball joint on either side to gain access only to be greeted by not only a broken bracket but a sheared boomerang shaped connection to the rotational arm on the left hand side ( again looking at the left from the rear)

So a few phone calls later and the car is booked in, probable cause is a failed cable (to motor) connection, not such a big job, however the boomerang bracket and the roof beam bracket sounds expensive (sharp intake of breath from the service guy on the phone)

So here's my question.... Are these parts available?? if so does anyone know at what price and the best place to get them...

Thanks guys for your help

Regards

Steve. :ah:

Boxster 97 (2.5) Tale of roof woe

Thanks for the site Keith, that's great.

Good news is i found the parts required very easily
Bad news is :

1 x Folding top lever @ $308
G98656134500

1 x Main folding top frame @ $2,262 !!
G9865610370170C (there are three versions so not sure which one but the price is the same)

So plan of attack is look locally within the country (uk) second hand replacement if not look at semi automatic conversion !! (Gutted) but hey that's the way it goes.

Thanks again for your help mate

Roof woe update:

Managed to source the parts i need for the car, came up with a result....!!

A guy on E-bay was selling his cd tray
after a few questions turns out he's race prep'ed a 3.2 boxster S and after a bit of haggling provided me with the entire roof with frame, boomerag shaped bracket and linkage as well as two door cards (with speaker enclosure) Center pod (cd/tape/ glasses holder) complete for £275 all in. i would hate to think of how much the guy has saved me.

Car booked in on manday to have roof fitted and a full service.

"happy days"

Steve

It always pays to shop first. Glad it's up again. I know it hardly rains in the UK but the bird droppings are a killer. :cheers:

Quote:

Originally Posted by stiggerq

Steve:

I don't know if you are into DIY, or if you have someplace to do the work, but if you are up for it, I can talk you through the entire process of replacing your complete top and frame assembly, and replacing your broken V-lever and pushrods.

If the repair shop's estimate for that work is high, even if you can't do it all yourself, if you have a friend that's handy we can do it... Then you can buy some goodies for your Boxster! :dance:

Regards, Maurice.

Roof fitted.......

Hi guys, quick update

Last weekend I chose to replace the roof myself. having the spare with me inspired a little confidents.. Took about 2 hours. Worst bit was aligning the gear boxes either side, chose to strip them down and overhaul with new grease etc. Set them at mid point ( the gear is only approx 200 degrees in size) All fitted back together. The broken cable was easy enough to fix as there is plenty of spare at the end. took the silver crimped collet off and used a set of pipe cutters to remove about 25-30 mm of the black sheath. As the square drive is continuous inside I then had enough fresh material to fit back into the drive (once the collet was replaced). Setting up the drive equally was not too bad as long as you use a battery drill on the end of the square drive to locate each boomerang bracket and linkage. Job done. Also removed the wallet when rebuilding the back section as this was IMO rubbish. Much prefer the carpet look.

Next booked it in for a service instead of roof install and as it was a major ( Doh only had it two months, should have checked !!) £600 pounds later and an additional £600 for a set on Continental tyres. So we are skint but up and running !!!
Glad I did the install my self and sourced that parts as I think I have saved A LOT of money.

Love the car but boy has it cost me !!

Next project lower control arms requires replacement!! Ho-Hum.....

Thanks for all your help and advice !! :cheers:

Steve:

Way to go! :cheers:

Sounds like your DIY saved you a boat load of $$, certainly enough to pay for those new shoes for your baby!

Regards, Maurice.

If you are clever enough to repair your roof, you will have no problems in servicing your Boxster yourself and save even more money.
Honestly, even the major service is relatively easy - just buy yourself a copy of the Bentley Service Manual, 4 x jackstands and a hydraulic jack and you are ready to go. Everything (apart from the air / cabin filters and power steering fluid) is accessable from below and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to maintain these cars.......

Excellent advice Steve,

As it hadn't been done for a while i thought i'd stick with the professionals on this one. There's still a few things that i have to do...

Two front control arms
Replace the MAF sonsor
change the door cards for ones with speakers in and change the colour to black along with the rest of the interior.

brake lines need changing and the rear discs and pads need changing too !!

Air con A/C has a leak in the system apparently....

so it's turned into a bit of a project now........

So in few weeks in anyone has any problems with their car then feel free to ask as i may have already done it.......

Steve.