vjd3

My car's previous owner had a $6500 receipt for replacing the top frame and fabric ... that was more than enough incentive for me to get out of the car for 5 seconds putting it up or down. As Mark said, the power top works perfectly ... until it doesn't.

This is pretty much the same system that's been in the car since 1983 ... when you had to do it by hand and latch the top by hand, too. A couple years later, they figured out a quick and dirty way to make it fully powered without completely re-engineering the whole thing ... and therein lies the problem. My 95 BMW 3 series top was a little expensive German ballet of hydraulics, motors and sensors. The 993 top is just brute force and two microswitches.

FisterD

Yes, we switched to manual mode and all is right with the world again. Even my wife has no trouble putting it up and down. Also, she has become quite adept at installing the boot as well.
That being said, I was and always will be a coupe guy. No denying it, but since we bought the cab my wife and I are freakin' lovin' it!
Top down cruising in the 993 is a blast. I highly recommend it!

Arena993

Consensus: Manual mode.

Mike

abiazis

Fister D what are the model of those wheels? Nice)

FisterD

They are GT3 replica wheels in 18" (low pressure cast). The rears have an offset of ET54 so they fill the fender up very nicely. We get them thru one of our FDM vendors. They are great and at around $1000 a set, very reasonable. I think they look perfect on the cab.

vincer77

I have had my cab for almost 2 years. When I bought the car, PO had it set up for manual. I wanted to be sure that the top worked, so he switched it back but needed to have the cables cut/adjusted. I used it as full power for a little over a year then switched it to manual. I find that manual is a much qucker and easier method as you have to get out of the car anyway to put the bonnet on. In fact, in manual, I only have to get out of the car once (when using power, I always stopped midway when lowering top to make sure that the canvas was folding correctly - #4 in previous post.

When using it as powered, I did find that I would occasionally have to line it up manually so that it would latch.

Other than that, the cab is a fabulous car - if you like convertibles that is. I would have nothing else. The quality of the top is great though mine is usually down. A bit of advise I gleaned from a wise RLr is to put the top up every couple of weeks to stretch the canvas out.

Arena993

I appreciate the kudos Vince. Just trying to help a buddy out. HA!

Mike

abiazis

Fister ........thanks for info on the rims......they look just perfect for the car!

Like those Sumitomos?

Mine have been fine - good traction wet and dry......I am running 17 inch factory stock optional cup rim on mine...

craig001

My 1996 cab has been the most problematic of the three p-cabs I have owned. My 944S2 was great - in fact my wife still asks "why did you get rid of it?" and the 1995 worked fine the last time I tried it (now has a lot of garage dust on it and the battery is pulled). The 96 is just back from the shop and the top now works great - it had stopped mid-rise about a month after it got to Saint Louis. Appearantly the PO had it worked on and the shop in Jacksonville wonked it up. Or that could be my shop's excuse for going over budget. In the receipts the car came with it seems that PCNA replaced the top under warrantly at some point in time as well. I did use it as a manual top after it jammed, but like some others I want it to work as it did originally.

Now to sell some stuff so I can get a windstop

Martin S.

For what its worth, I was chatting with a serious Porsche geek pal the other day. He has had dozens of Porsche cars. He has a 997 rag top. His comment, having owned a 993 and a 997, the pre-996 rag tops kill you with wind noise...the 996 later models with their more streamlined top (when down) and the wind barrier, make the car very drivable for great lengths of time.

CalvinC4S

I agree, Porsche really did a nice job designing the tops for the 996 and up cars.

Sean Hamilton

Porsche, to my eye made a pretty good job at smoothing out and replicating the coupe profile with the cab frame, no ugly ribs poking through like for example late woeful offerings from Nissan and BMW with their Z cabs. To achieve this they mounted a wide solid pressed metal cross bar to the folding arms with a complex mounting bracket(s) assembly to the arms. Oh I wish, I wish they’d screw fixed this assembly instead of pop-riveting. Over time I guess the rivets become ever so slightly loose with the flexing. If you hear an intermittent clunking over bumps up behind your ear odds on it’ll be the assembly bracket movement at the cross bar – folding arms connection. You can also detect it by pressing up and down on the bar from outside. Can’t tighten the pop rivets so to remedy, unzip the liner from the rear window, unclip the head liner from the cross bar and gently squirt WD40 in around and in between the assembly bracket and the main cross bar.

…. And, to preserve those arms, convert to manual mode !!

Andre'

Didn't know there was/is an issue with the convertible top...

After almost 8 years of ownership the only issue I've ever had was the convertible top controller, which was a $40 fix (resoldered).

BSL

Another manual top here. Only problems I have had are a blown fuse when I had the top fabric replaced, and a worn worm gear in one of the top motors (fairly reasonable for a 15 year old car with 100k miles I think).

As many have said, the manual top operation is not an inconvenience since you have to get out of the car to put the boot cover in place. That would be my only complaint on the top of the 993 (and earlier generation cabs)--the need to put a cover over the retracted top to prevent damage to the headliner.

Ice9

I am also a manual top guy. I got tired of driving around looking for flat areas where I could move the roof (I live in San Fran so flat spots are rare).