Freya

Thanks, JJJMCD. When the roller motors give up the ghost, that will be my next approach. Manually opening/closing the top is the way to go, imho.

Frederick Adler

My cabriolet top on my 964 is manual up and down without a motor in the back. BUT, it seems the dash switch to unlock or lock is "HIT OR MISS" and sometimes it takes multiple attempts especially to get it to lock. Is the switch going bad? I sprayed it with electronic switch cleaner CRC. OR is there some contact I must make at the top of the windshield or clean to make sure the switch activates the lock down mechanism. Thanks.

darylbowden

So are you saying you have a manual top but the locks are still the electronic ones that were originally in the car? if so, long term, I would switch to the targa manual locks. The likely culprit if I understand what you're asking are the little microswitches in the motors which lock the top electronically. I don't know if they are repairable but I know those motors are expensive, even used (last time I checked they were over 300 a piece) so you might just wanna do the targa manual lock conversion now anyhow if you're gonna be spending money.

Frederick Adler

Thanks for the comment. You are right. It is a couple motors that lock the front edge of the top to the top of the windshield. There are two microswitches for contact. I have to try something though, I admit it. I found one YouTube that talks about the ignition must be in position 2, not 1, 3 or 4. The car cannot be running. The emergency brake must be pulled for the switch to engage. I will see if that is true of it I need to swing a dead cat over my head by the light of the full moon also. I don't know how hard it would be to convert to Targa locks. The ones have on my 912 Targa Soft top would not work without machining the windshield top rail. Fred

darylbowden

Ahh yes, the car cannot be running - in a car where the top motors still work, it won't lift at all - in your case, it won't trigger those locking motors either as well I imagine.

As for the manual locking, I believe some others have used the components from a 1988 (or any 3.2 Carrera cabriolet) to do the locking or like I said the 964 Targa. Neither should need any machining, it's definitely different from the early targa locking mechanism. The problem nowadays would probably be finding the targa parts. They are the rarest of the 964 models and once upon a time there were dismantlers that sold entire kits to do the conversion for a reasonable price, but I suspect those days are long gone.