So I guess that's far enough to trigger the buzzer for the opening sequence. Anyway, sounds like we've gone as far as we can go. To go any further would only be to satisfy my own curiosity. I wish you luck with the conversion
I finally found the culprit as I was going through the conversion. The fork is not connecting on the passenger side. That being said, I hit a snag on removing the 19mm bolt with the nut that has to be ground down. Any tips?
I'm not sure of the mechanics of the roof. Is that the cause or a symptom? Is the problem not being able to get your spanners on the bolt or is there no room to remove the bolt?
The problem is both. The inward bolt head is incrediblely thin, and the bolt that needs to be ground down is pressed right against the pillar of the car.
Update with pictures: Once hydraulics were disconnected the top still had the same problem. I then discovered on the driver's side the top needed to be down in order to clear room for the 19mm bolt to come out. When working on the passenger side nothing would budge, even with the hydraulics disconnected. I then spent an hour loosening and adjusting different bolts on the frame and eventually I got the bolt loose. Where it got strange is when everything was still stuck in the same place. At this point there is nothing to hold the top in any fixed position, and yet the back half still wouldn't budge. I just needed it in the up position to drive it tomorrow so I closed it, and was able to latch it with a lot of effort. When I looked at the passenger side I saw that the weather stripping did not align. I went to adjust the bolt on the frame which is attached to the fork and suddenly everything snapped into place. When I looked at the bracket where the 19mm bolt is, I noticed this gold color smooth metal piece appear at the end of the bolt, free floating. The metal piece is not visible on the driver's side. It clearly was misaligned or shouldn't be there, and was holding up the operation of the top this entire time. Does anyone know what the piece is, and is it supposed to be there? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login Do you mean this piece? Isn't that where the fork sits when the roof is up?
Th piece with the question mark was jammed awkwardly to the right of where you see it now. However, it's not supposed to be where you see it. Where the fork rest is on the nut that was removed. It is silver in color. Here is the driver's side with the nut removed for comparison. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I had a look at my car and I have no idea what that gold metal piece is. After reading your last message, I thought it might be a collar which sits on the wide nut, but neither side on my car has this piece. So have you removed the gold piece now and will everything work normally in manual mode? It's a pity you didn't find this piece earlier.
I travel a lot for work so I had to leave it alone in order to get the car out before I leave for another week. I try and drive it every 7 days at the least. I looked through schematics and I can only find one part it may be, and it says "bushing". Even then I'm not sure that is the part. There is actually another one on the same bolt but even further to the right. The only idea I have now is that they slide over the bolt and align in the track to ensure that it slides smoothly inside the tracks and doesn't rest on the bolt threads. It must have gotten loose and became misaligned or it simply should not be there at all. Either way I'm finishing the job next weekend, which includes permanently disconnecting the lines and sorting out whatever is needed with this 19mm bolt situation.
Looked again and it appears it is exactly as I thought. It should slide over the bolt to prevent the bolt from grading against the track on its threads. In other news I think the shop who fixed the top used locktite on the primary ram hydraulic line nuts because they won't budge. Two questions. One, will it hurt anything to simply cut the lines? Two, will it hurt the car to sit for one more day with a total of 8 days sitting without driving it?
