Re: Disassembly of convertible top

Posted by ewrecks On 2020/1/20 19:56:11

This post is so old I nearly forgot the disaster that prompted it. Leeedy was correct that the fracture of the convertible frame was from overloading and not design defect. The overloading was due to a very simple problem. There are two brass fittings on the top lifting cylinders. There is nothing in the manual that shows which way they should face when installed and there were no cylinders on the car to provide guidance. I installed the cylinders with the top fittings pointed toward the rear. Big mistake. When the top was lowered the fitting on the passenger side contacted the wheel well. This interference on one side led to the twisting that led to the break in the frame.
I located a replacement for the frame section and when I realized how difficult the replacement would be I opted to build a reinforcement brace which I secured with screws and epoxy PC7.
I figured it would work or I would end up having to remove the top and replace the piece.
Suffice it to say that brace worked fine. With the cylinders turned 180 degrees the interference problem was eliminated and the top goes up and down fine.
The top remains down most of the time and is raised only rarely to stretch the top material and let the sun work out the wrinkles.
It was a stupid mistake that caused the problem but there is so little data on so many things about these cars that sometimes we have to learn by trial and error.
The car is running well now and if the weather cooperates as it did in 2019 the car will be out more frequently to allow people to see a Caribbean on the road. Too few people have any idea that such a car ever existed.