Re: Brain Dead Day

So, I was having one of those brian dead days where everything you
do takes 2-3 times as long to do because something always screwed up!!!
It was a nice warm day so I decided to put the top down. The brain dead
thing is I forgot I had the roof rack on the car, so after a snap or two
(something breaking) I realized what was going on. I have a one touch
top, so what stopped it was the roof rack. I then pressed the up position
and the roof went up and I was able to close the lock. There was a snap
or two when going up too. I then took the RTS (roof transport system) off
and tried to put the top down. The clam shell comes up OK, but the top
doesn't move. So the question is, what do you think I broke? The cables,
transmission, etc? How much do you think the dumb move will cost to fix?
Hope I can get some help fixing. I'm going to go and beat myself up some
more as I just hate doing something stupid that's going to cost me a pretty
penny. By the way I have a 2001S and the one touch top was a mod.

No need to beat yourself up...from what you describe (i.e., the clamshell still functions up and down, but the canvas part does not move) it sounds like you have caused the plastic ball cups to break apart, nothing more.

Porsche only sells the plastic ball cups attached as a part of a complete front pushrod assembly (about $85 each), but there is a guy in the Netherlands who has had the ball cups duplicated. If you want his info, PM me. Someone else sometimes also sells them on ebay.

They are easy to replace. Just make sure that you don't unscrew the remnants of the plastic ball cup that remains on the threaded part of the front pushrod before you mark its position. It's important to keep the overall length of the pushrod the same as it was so that the leading edge of your top lines up evenly with the top of the windshield frame.

Regards, Maurice.

I hope something like that is all that happened. What
I need to know is what I need to go look at to see what
may be broken. Pictures would be a big help. I have the
shop manual so I'll pull them out and take a look at the
top mechanism hardware to get a better idea of what to
inspect. I'll open the clamshell and take a look around
tomorrow.

Take a look at the Part II PDF at this link: [sites.google.com]

Specifically take a look at the photos at page 19 and page 31 to help you understand what you are looking for. Your plastic ball cups are probably white (not red as in the earlier Boxsters).

Regards, Maurice.

It's an easy fix 15 min. and your done, just be sure to count the number of turns when you unscrew the old ball or mark the arm so that you don't need to adjust the arm length.

And Maurice is right, you can get the ball cup for $38 from the Netherlands guy named Mr Brink on Ebay.

here's the link

[motors.shop.ebay.com]

I opened the clam shell and found the driver's side plastic cup end
had broken. The passenger's side was not. The nut on the metal
ball had come loose at some time and both pieces were sitting down
below where it should have been mounted. Don' know if this means I was
on one actuator arm for a while or not. Anyway, I put the ball back into position
and tightened the nut on. The plastic cup pieces were red by the way, and I ordered
the new ones from the ebay guy. The top seems to be OK, that is it
opens and closes manually without any problems, so hopefully that
is the only thing I broke. I won't know for sure till I get the new parts and
try them, but looks like I might be able to recover for under $50. I'm
syked as I was invisioning the worst. That is I broke alot of stuff and
it's going to cost a trip to the dealer and a large stack of cash. Thanks
for your help guys. I'll mark and count the turns when I take the red
end pieces off to insure I put the new ones on the right amount.

You are on the right track. The canvas part of the top can operate with only one pushrod connected, but the side that is not connected will lag behind or lurch forward (depending on which part of the cycle it's in) while closing and opening, respectively.

The plastic ball cups are designed to break before any other parts as the "other parts" are made of unobtainium and cost an obscene amount to replace.

If your top is moving freely manually then you should be okay. You may have to fine tune the overall length of the pushrods, but that's about it.

Regards, Maurice.