Convertible Top Problems

[Jpeterson]

Dear Forum members, I have a 99 Boxster. When I bought it the black large round pushrods were missing so the top could be opened and closed by manually opening the clamshell. Also one of the cast aluminum Brackets that the large round pushrods attaches to was broken near the top where it attaches to the clamshell. I took it to a Porsche Dealer and got the typical "my motors are bad and I need to replace both of them, etc for about a total of $1500.00. The "Top Specialist" said the motors cant be fixed and even if I could I could never get the top to work as it takes years of experience to do it. I bought a Bentley Manual and followed the directions. At first everything worked ok but I was surprised to learn that you had to keep pushing on the open or close button until you hear the motor "grind down" and the dash light finally goes out. Well something started to go wrond and so far I have broken 4 of the cast arms. I have re-timed the motors, straightened the motor mount bolts, checked the micro switches, removed the Control Module and tapped it and cleaned the contacts, taken the clamshell off and watched the top open and close and it appears to be ok but with the clamshell on if I open the top or close it and keep holding on the button while waiting for the dash light to go out - all of a sudden I hear a very loud "popping noise" and sure enough another arm has broken. My questions are: what actually makes the dash light go out. It does not appear to me to be a micro switch as I have tried them in every combination I can think of and that doesnt work. My second questions is - are the large round push rods supposed to expand as I have tried to put them in a vise and pull on them as hard as I can and they wont move apart at all - is there a way to make them less "strong" or take them apart or anything. I also wanted to mention that I am a very meticulous mechanic and am very precise when I measure or take something apart - I have about 45 years of experience in doing things others say are impossible such as welding the "pot aluminum" arms together instead of paying Porsche about $60.00 apiece for them. Doeas anyone think it might be the actual control module and do they go bad very often. In my experience they dont. Also is there some sort of electronics inside the control module that can sense when the Motor "grinds down"? Thank you for any and all help and I really appreciate it. Jerry Peterson