Broken Top Bow on 88 Cabriolet

[ystarrev]

So, the other day I get to work, close the top, and... it doesn't close!

Closer investigation reveals:



A fractured passenger side top bow. The dealer is happy to supply the part for $3800, with a 4 week wait from the fatherland.

I disassemble the top:



And extract the offending component:






Turns out that rather than a new piece, TIG welding the broken item is an option:




I reassemble the top, but it still does not work properly...

The locking motors don't lock when the header comes down!

Turns out the LH microswitch is not working because the spring inside has broken so it no longer actuates the microswitch:




Likely this was the cause of the fracture in the first place!

Our host carries the part, but I need the car by the weekend, so I cut a piece of 4-40 threaded rod off a local remote control airplane and drill it into the plastic contact finger of the microswitch. Works like a charm!

Hope this helps someone in a similar quandary!

[porschzilla]

All I can say is that when I ordered my 88 brand new I made sure to get a manual top as I thought about things like this would happen. I still have it.
Glad that you fixed it.
What do you do about the cloth covered rubber window seals? My cloth keeps on tearing from age and the seals are expensive. I am debating on taking off the cloth covering around the windows.

Jack

[ystarrev]

Strangely enough (given that I drive the car year round in Calgary), those seals have lasted just fine and don't leak. And, given that I just took it all apart, they looked like the original seals.

Good thinking on the manual top.

That said, for a 22 year old electromechanical mechanism, its pretty darn robust. I wonder that the bow didn't break because it was not in perfect alignment. I went through the alignment procedure in the maintenance manual, and the top runs much more quietly and smoothly now.