Boxster Hardtop "Ears"

[systech]

Hi from sunny Australia (well not so sunny at the moment in Adelaide at least) !

I have a 2000 Boxster S and have recently purchased a second hand Hardtop which has the small "ears" on the lower edge.

I would be very interested to know:

a) What the hell are they for and

B) when were they introduced/deleted.

Judging by the various hardtops on ebay etc. and their presumed MY, I assumed that they were intriduced on the 1997 model and deleted sometime around 1999 or so BUT there is some evidence that it might be the other way around.

Would appreciate any inputs.

Have attached photo of car - only bought it a few months ago.

Sorry about the multiple posts - I was simply reviewing which photo to attach and somehow 3 postings resulted.

I only clicked the Post button once - honest !

[Tool Pants]

I had thought they were only for model year 1997. I have a 1997 and my factory hardtop has the ears. On the parts list it is listed only for a 1997.

But, we have a local owner with a model year 1998 with the factory option and he also has the ears.

For sure they were gone for model year 1999.

The purpose was to attach the roof transport system (RTS). Then Porsche changed the way the RTS attached and the ears were eliminated.

[Paul Fraser]

Which begs several questions...

Are there two types of RTS system?

What happens if you have a 99 hardtop on a 97 car?

[mikefocke]

It fits.

All 986 hardtops fit all models.

All require spinlocks to be installed in the car.

The top with ears will mount the early roof transport system only and likewise the later only the later RTS.

[Tool Pants]

Porsche issued a TSB on May 18, 1998, that explains the difference between the hardtop versions, and the new style RTS.

The RTS produced from January 1998 no longer included the hardware necessary to mount the RTS directly to the hardtop. Instead, you were to mount the RTS to the car with a hardtop the same way used for a car than only had the soft top. Thus, the reason the "ears" and hardtop hardware/adapter were eliminated.

The last sentence in post #4 is not accurate per the TSB.

[Paul Fraser]

I wonder why they went for a different system for fitting it to the hardtop in the first place, when it also connected to the car. Doesn't really make any sense...