Boxster Project 71 : Convertible Top Repair

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

Anyone got any questions on Project 71 - Convertible Top Repair for your 986 Boxster, 987 Boxster, Cayman, Carrera 996, or Carrera 997?

Here's a back link to the original article: Pelican Technical Article: 71-BODY-Convertible_Top_Repair

-Wayne

HEB986 · HEB986's Garage

Hi Wayne,
1998 Boxster 38,000 miles:
My convertible top mechanism just broke this past Saturday, the left went up about 6 inches and the right hardly moved. The left of the rear lid for the top storage went up about 12", the right about 6" causing a twist in the lid. I was able to get it back to within a half inch. Funny, I was at a Porsche Club Tech Session at the time where this very issue was discussed. We got the top back to the closed position and now I need to fix it. Great article, by the way.
I figure I need to replace the right transmission, at least. The other parts appear to look OK. I thought I would upgrade both left and right transmissions to the newer version. Other than the spacer bolts are there any other original parts that need to be changed when upgrading to the newer improved version? Is the original motor to transmission cable OK? What about the big "washer" (or "friction plate") that is shown over the transmission (didn't see it on your parts list) does it come with the new transmission? I want to make sure I get all the right parts before I tackle this.
Thanks!

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

Hi there. I believe that if you wish to upgrade the transmission, then all you need are the longer spacer bolts. Everything else should be the same. Check the cables to the motor, as they tend to get a bit frazzled. Also, check the plastic ball cup joints at the end of the rods. It may indeed be the transmission, but those are expensive, so make sure everything else is cool first.

Hope this helps,

Wayne

HEB986 · HEB986's Garage

Thanks for the quick response Wayne, what about the friction plate, does it come with the new transmission or do you have it available separately?

I'll pull everything apart and give the components a good check. The ball cup joints should be good since we had to pry them off to get the top down. I was lucky enough to see that something was wrong and stopped before too much damage could be done.

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

Friction plate. Hmm, I'm not sure what you mean by that? On the PET diagrams, there is a big "washer" the size of the transmission listed - neither of my cars had that installed, at least as I can recall, and see in my photos...

-Wayne

Stratcat2 · 06-02-2010, 06:07 PM

I need some ideas on how to fix an inoperative ;97 Boxter convertable top. I bought a nice '97 with a top which had been used with manual operation. I wanted to repair to the normal electronic operation so I attempted to fix.

The previous owner had disconnected the clamshell pushrods.

The top motor is operational, but the top would not go up or down.

I removed both the driver and passenger transmission and both had the same problem. It appears that both had been subject to excessive vibration and the access cover was loose on both sides. Consequently, neither was operational. I removed the access cover to confirm than no teeth were missing from the drive mechanism or the drive gear. Both looked OK, so I reassembled using Red Permatex to avoid future vibration problems.

Following that, I realligned both transmissions using the casting allignment points. I reconnected the drive cables to the top motor. I double checked to insure that both ball joints were at 195 mm from the clamshell gasket. I reconnected all the other top components, crossed my fingers and attempted to lower the top.

The top worked correctly for one or two cycles. Then when lowering the top, I heard a loud bang. The plastic ball joint on the right snapped off. No problem, I replaced the ball joint and thought all would be good.

I reassembled, then attempted to lower the top. The top went down as expected with no unusual noises. However at the end of the cycle of putting the top top down, there was another loud bang.

Here is what I found. The drivers side fulcrum lever was bent severely. This appears to be a cast iron lever so the pressure to bend this lever must be considerable.

I also looked to see if the fulcrum levels were still in alignment. The were not. They were out of phase by 180 degreess. After disconnecting all connection levers, I found the drivers side fulcrum level still had resistance. The passenger's side was free- wheeling. I ran the top motor and was able to reconnect the passinger side trnsmission.

At this point, I don't know what to check.

My thought is actually there might be some sort of electical problem.

I believe the microswitch on the windshield is OK since when the emergency brake is on and I release the top latch, the windows go down 3 inches or so.

When I put the top down further, the top declines, however, the top down light does not go off on the dash.

I though the problem might be the clamshell switch. However, I checked that lever electonically and it works normally.

I am wondering if perhaps, the nature of the mechanical problems might be related to the microswitches. I can fix the mechanical connections, but the top down light does not go out. Perhaps I am creating my own problems by pressing the top down switch until the dash light goes out, which never happens. When the electronics don't cut the current, the mechanicals get bent.

At this point, I don't know what else to check. Any ideas?

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

Sorry for not responding earlier, I just saw your question here right now.

Convertible problems can be a bear to diagnose. On my wife's Boxster, Jared and I went back and forth for a long time trying to figure out what the issues were. What had happened is that we had installed one of those SmarTop controllers in the car, and one day I went to lower the roof and the front latch got caught. The controller kept on lowering the roof, and *BANG*, the same thing happened as happened with your car. It turned out that we ended up replacing both arms, both transmissions, and both boomerang devices, as they were bent and/or damaged, but with some of the parts we couldn't exactly tell that they were bent.

-Wayne

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

Someone on another thread mentioned that their roof was stuck in the down position, and wanted to know how to get it back up in an emergency. This information is printed in the owner's manual, but just in case you don't have one, here it is again:

-Wayne