"Spyder" style top for 986?

[The Radium King]

i've been thinking like you recently - delete the roof, etc., and fabricate a panel that incorporates both speed humps and clamshell (and perhaps rear trunk lid) into one piece (like the boxster proto or the new spyder) - it would work great with a zeintop; check my other posts for more thoughts on that.

for the lightweight roof, you probably want to avoid drilling a bunch of tenax fasteners into your car (this is the method used for the official porsche tonneau cover). so, i would start by going to a camping supply place and fabricating a tent pole that starts in the spinlock in each side, travels up at the same width as the windows, and then across just above the roll bar.

salvage the front bar that comes with the stock roof (the one with the front latch, etc, in it) and use this as the front mounting point. the new canvas roof would then travel back from this and over the pole (velcro fastened to the pole).

how you deal with the rear window would depend on what you've done with the back panel. if you've gone the speed hump/spyder route, then the rear window would be vertical and you would need to have fasteners at the bottom of the speed hump. this seal should probably be waterproof, so perhaps a permanent attachment here; erecting the roof would require opening the rear panel and unrolling the roof and front bar. like on the spyder, you would need two canvas 'buttresses' that extend back on each side to provide tension, as well as an attachment point on your rear panel for them; some stainless fittings and fastex fasteners and you are there.

if you've decided to just retain your rear clamshell, then your rear window would be similar to that on the stock roof, but the tension and waterproof requirements noted above would still apply.

you also have to deal with the side windows. it'd be tough to follow the curved profile of the window, so i would take the approach used on the spyder and just take a straight descending profile from front to back. some fastex fasteners where this interfaces with the tent pole for tension. remember that you can raise/lower your window from the outside with your key.