frisbee91

Yesterday I found that the clamshell on my '99 996 cabriolet top wouldn't close properly. After a quick investigation, I found that one of the hinge arms was completely broken! Not sure how this happened, but it looks like a stress point on the arm where it gets thinner, so it just may be fatigue.




A bit of searching yielded this DIY on Renntech, so I guess it's common enough. Problem is, you can't buy just the arm, you need to buy the whole mechanism for $200+.

My thought is to repair or fabricate a new arm. It's a relatively simple part. So I removed the lower part of the broken arm easily, but I can't seem to figure out how to remove the upper part. (see photo)




The upper portion of the arm pivots around a large spool-shaped "pin" that engages the latch when the clamshell closes. I can't see how to remove the pin to free the arm. Is the spool pin threaded onto a stud, or is the whole business welded in place??? Any thoughts on how to remove this? Any help would be appreciated!

Marks951

I think the rear window regulator has to removed to install that part, that is the hard part of the job.

frisbee91

I took some more pictures in hopes of figuring out how this pin is attached. The broken piece I wish to remove is shown in the bottom two pictures below.

Any more thoughts???

heliflyer

No personal experience of this but looking at the photos I would say you cannot remove that pin without grinding off the flange. Looks like a pressed item to me.
You could get that pin out like that but would never be able to re use it.

jwar

Here an an option...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/99-05-996-PO...#ht_2338wt_945

You could negotiate with him and try to ship with greyhound to get the price down.

SSST

I like DIY as much as the next guy, but... In this case $200 is a cheap price to pay for not screwing up your car. Just my .02.

jwar

I missed the part about the hinge coming off as a larger assembly. Yea just spend the money. 200 is nothing for a fix like this. It would take hours to fix the hinge and if it broke, you could bend some expensive parts.

Quadcammer

really, you want to get all macguyver over a $200 part?

frisbee91

Hey all,
Thanks for the feedback. Wanting to replace the arm was as much about doing an easy fix as it was about the money. If the arm came off easily, it would be simple to replace. It's just a piece of flat stock.

Replacing the entire assembly is a bit more complicated, since you have to remove the clamshell and all the associated mechanism. But, if the upper part of the arm requires major MacGuyvering, it's probably not worth it.

robrichtx

It's not about getting Macguyver over the repair itself, it's about understanding the car, the mechanism, and how it works. The driver who understands how and WHY his car works a certain way is generallly a better driver than the guy who simply takes his car to the shop as an instinctual response.

A lot of us have plenty of money to pay someone to fix our problems. A lot of us have to do it ourselves. I personally respect the guy who thinks before instinctively reaching for his pocketbook

Rob

frisbee91

UPDATE 4-27-12:
So I went ahead and purchased a new hinge arm assembly and installed it this week. After installation, I found that the LATCH hook is not moving when the clamshell is closed. this latch holds the clamshell down when the clamshell is fully closed.



I read a few threads about the hydraulic fluid level causing problems. I found that it was a bit low, so I got some new fluid and topped it up. The latch hook STILL does not engage on the repaired left side!

On further investigation, it seems that the latch engages via a pushrod when the hydraulic cylinder for the clamshell reaches its fully retracted stroke. The latch pushrod is connected properly, but the cylinder is not reaching its full retracted point. I can't figure out what's causing this.




Before I start replacing more parts, does anyone have any idea what the problem is? Can one of the cabrio-top-mechanism experts chime it?

Getting really frustrated with this...





UPDATE 4-30-2012. The clamshell movement actuators are NOT hydraulic. I took the system apart this weekend, and the clamshell is actuated mechanically by a double-rack and pinon gearing system. I'll post an update below once I get some more info.

Dharn55

Just a guess but maybe the recalibration of the top controls how far the cylinder retracts.

By the way there is someone on eBay that is selling the parts from a 2001 cab including the hinges, etc. I tried to find your post the other day to let you know.

If it is not calibration it sounds like it might be a problem with the cylinder. You could try a used one from the seller on eBay, although I am not sure how his prices compare to new parts from Sunset or another dealer.

fpb111

I Have not had to work on my top yet. So just brainstorming here.
What controls the cylinder stop, micro switch activation? Maybe the switch timing is set to stop the hydraulics to soon, preventing the cylinder from fully retracting?

Is that cylinder a little slower than the other. Is the rod adjustable? Is it the same length as the right side? Did it get bent when the arm broke? If the cylinder is not connected will it retract all of the way?

SSST

Possibly some air in the hydraulic system on that side? Again just guessing.

Nikedog

Mine broke also and I bought the hinge assembly. I considered DIY until I saw from the Renntech DIY the posssibilty this might be a two person job to make alignments AND I needed to remove out of the way what the author calls the motor drive.
Took into a indy shop. Mine is 99 and now I have one blue and one black hinge like you.
Did you try unclipping the push rod to see if the drive fully retracts without any tension? Does the pushrod move at all? Is it catching on anything due to misalignment?