Hardtop - Windnoise and Front Shield Lock/Latch

[mrkwats]

I installed my hardtop spinlocks Friday night, took an an hour and so easy, following the brilliant 'Preparing for and Installing a Boxster Hardtop' DIY article on this site!

Picked up hardtop Saturday and it fitted straight on. After spending quite a bit of time adjusting it, I still have what I think to be too big a gap between the front of the hardtop and the top of the windscreen. When fitting the hardtop (and after much adjustment) I noticed that the front latch has virtually no resistance when enaging it in its locked position. This is unlike my softtop, which has quite a bit resistance and, as a result, pulls the front of the softtop to be flush with the top of the windscreen. Is the hardtop locking/latch lever adjustable? (I've tried many adjustment combinations with the plates at the rear of the hardtop which house the locking spindles, but just cannot close the gap at the front!) Can anyone provide any insight?

Edited December 10, 2007 by mrkwats

[systech]

I installed my hardtop spinlocks Friday night, took an an hour and so easy, following the brilliant 'Preparing for and Installing a Boxster Hardtop' DIY article on this site!

Picked up hardtop Saturday and it fitted straight on. After spending quite a bit of time adjusting it, I still have what I think to be too big a gap between the front of the hardtop and the top of the windscreen. When fitting the hardtop (and after much adjustment) I noticed that the front latch has virtually no resistance when enaging it in its locked position. This is unlike my softtop, which has quite a bit resistance and, as a result, pulls the front of the softtop to be flush with the top of the windscreen. Is the hardtop locking/latch lever adjustable? (I've tried many adjustment combinations with the plates at the rear of the hardtop which house the locking spindles, but just cannot close the gap at the front!) Can anyone provide any insight?

Not as far as I know, but you should be able to adjust the gap between the front of the hardtop and the screen via the two adjustments at the rear of the hartop top under the plastic covers (which cover 5 internal hex bolts each side to independently adjust both the height and lateral position of the top). The spec on the gaps are:

Front gap: 5.5 mm +- 1 mm

Rear gap (between hardtop and clamshell): 5.5 mm +- 3.5 mm

Hope that this helps.

[cossiemetro]

have you got the little shoe type things on the lugs that slot into the windscreen

mine only had one and needed to be ajusted they were pennies could be yours are missing

i posted in the parts/# bit JUST A THOUGHT

here it is

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=16366

Edited December 15, 2007 by cossiemetro

[oldgold]

I bought a used hardtop last weekend. I bought the spin locks and bolts from Suncoast the day afterward and the parts were delivered yesterday. I spent about an hour installing the spinlocks and used the instructions from this site. The top went on smooth and tight with no apparent gaps. It looks like a totally different car.

[rick3000]

My advice would be to loosen all the adjustment screws, then have someone push forward on the top as you latch the front, then tighten all the screws. It took me a few hours total to adjust my hardtop properly, it took about an hour when I got it, then about two hours a few week later once the top had molded to my car a little better. Make sure you have the caps on the front of the hardtop, The best advice I can give you is to have someone push forward with all there weight on the top so you get a tight fit.

[mrkwats]

OK, thanks guys I'll try adjusting (as the hardtop's been on the car for a few weeks almost). I'll also purchase some new plastic wedges too for the front tabs.

I'm still wondering about the lack of resistance on the front latch/lock though. As having already tried many adjustments (using rear adjustment fixings), the latch (when activated) has no resistance. Anyone experienced this, or should I be expecting some resistance, like I do on the softtop front lock?