You can adjust the rear of the soft top...

I think the top on my 03 has started to sag. I wonder if it's only in my imagination though, since I don't have any other cars to compare with. In these pics, it looks to me like the canvas just below the window has started to slip, causing the window to hang a little closer to vertical than I remember it doing in the past. Can anyone have a look at a late 986 to compare for me? Is the rear window supposed to be more "tight"?

[www.tapir.caltech.edu]
[www.tapir.caltech.edu]

Maybe there's adjustable hardware at the bottom rear of the frame.

... right where the cable snaps into on the bottom end.
The ball is mounted on a screw. There's a hex head visible right next to the ball on each side.
IRRC turn it CCW to tighten.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

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"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

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Hi, everyone. Back on the board.

Check to see if the two-sided tape at the base of the top, where it meets the tonneau has come undone. I redid mine with automotive quality two-sided tape. The general purpose tape was not strong enough.

The PPBB archives had photos of the tape attachment area.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2010 12:48AM by EdSac. (view changes)

Did you check your tension cables at the rear/underside of the top? They look like what's below, and are at both sides at the rear...the cables that you must undo when you put the top in the service position to get at the engine. They pull the back of the top down when you close your top. If these snap, as one of mine did, the back of your top will not pull all the way down as what's in your pic. Looks like both of yours are disconnected.


Pedro is right that you can adjust the tension on those cables, but your top looks so off that it looks like those cables simply snapped. Here is how my 03 top looks when closed, and both cables in good shape. Just bring the old broken cable in to your dealer parts dept., and they will get you a replacement. Mine carried them in stock because they told me they see these snap all the time. Or, order by the part number on the sticker in my pic shown above. Btw, credit to this answer to Maurice, who showed me all of this.


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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/2010 05:00AM by boxtaboy. (view changes)

I'm sure it's not the cables though. They were the first thing I checked, and they were in good shape. I don't think more tension on them would help either.

I had what looks like a similar situation earlier this year. Fabric actually pulled loose. Not too bad a fix if this is the case. Here's a post with pictures from PPBB of the repair.

[www.ppbb.com]

See my other pastime at www.gothamcityracing.net

If the fabric has not pulled away from one of the three gaskets that hold the base of the canvas into the rear main bow (hard to tell from that first photo), then Pedro's solution will tighten it up again. If not, John's fix will do it.

Pedro is also correct that turning the 14mm protruding hex head in a CCW direction will increase the pulling force of the tension ropes on the rear main bow and, that will in turn make the lower part of the canvas more taut.

Here is a photo of the location of that hex head adjusting bolt for the passenger side. Turning it counterclockwise has the effect of lowering the steel ball which is behind the pressed-on metal ball cup at the bottom end of the tension rope. (Disregard the broken V-lever, etc., in this photo).



Regards, Maurice.

Thanks to you and Pedro. I wish I'd have known about that years ago. I snapped two of those cables on my previous car (02) and giving them some slack would have been great.