Quote:
Originally Posted by rock88hard
I don't see how anyone can peacefully convert their top to manual if the top is up.... Well I'm learnin my Porsche a lesson or 3. Yesterday was stage 1 of my full on assault. You see, the manual suggests I use the bar from the included kit to remove the pin. The pins weren't playing nice, so I used it for more than that.....
I snapped, broke, and cracked plenty of pieces to get there. It took 3 hours. I got all the pins out of everything and all the available bars are free moving, but the top still won't go down! Here is a pic from before my phone died, about an hour into it.
I can't see the hydraulic bars from the cab, they are tucked under the clamshell. So today I have to figure out a way to break or snap those MF'ers off. I just hope the Speedster Humps don't require something that I snapped or will snap/cut. Wish me luck, or give me advise before I tear this freakin thing off Hulk style! |
The reason the top will still not go down is because the two sets of pushrods are still connected. Even if you "tear this freakin thing off Hulk style", the clamshell will not move as long as the black "hydraulic" pushrods are connected.
It is definitely possible to get the top down manually when you start out with a top that is stuck in the closed position.
You have to get access to the pushrods and their connections. To do that, you first have to reach through the roll bar hoops and unhook the vinyl apron from its two hooks by grabbing the hard vinyl bar edge of the vinyl apron and rotating the bottom edge down and towards you. That will unhook it from the clips that are on the left and right side of the rear firewall of the convertible top well.
Once you get that vinyl apron out of the way, you can reach the black hydraulic pushrods and the V-levers. You will also be able to reach the front pushrods and can easily disconnect those by unscrewing the 10mm bolt with fat washer that holds the two metal pieces of the front pushrod together. That will give you a free-moving canvas top.
The black hydraulic pushrods are a little more difficult because they are exerting a great amount of pressure on pulling and holding the clamshell down tight. If you can't pop off the black "hydraulic" pushrods from their respective steel balls on the V-lever, you can get the same result by popping off the little metal clip from the body-colored clamshell support arms.
The support arms are part #15. That little metal clip is #12 on the diagram supplied by Silentfrosty. Once you pop off that little metal clip, you can push the black "hydraulic" pushrod out of the hole in the support arm.
If you have no patience, you can easily get a 19mm socket onto the factory-loctited bolt that holds the V-levers onto the transmissions. That will release both sets of pushrods and will allow the top to move manually part of the way. Once you can move it part of the way, all of the tension will be released and you can pry off the pushrods.
In the unlikely event that you still have the cosmetic thin black plastic covers on the body-colored support arms, you can rotate them off to get access to that #12 clip. The cosmetic covers are part #34.
Regards, Maurice.
Natalie
Hybrid Mode
