Installed the top today

Looks great even with the top up.

When I put mine up, I first lower the tensioners on both sides, then attach two snaps in the middle of the rear cowl, then sit in a seat and pull the header over the seats, position it on the windshield frame  and attach the three latches at the top of the windshield, then go back and get the rest of the snaps at the rear.

When all the snaps are done across the back, then I pull up the tensioners on both sides to tighten things up.  This process makes it easier to work the latches and snaps.  I never put the side windows in until the top is fully up.

When you want to put it back down, remove and stow the side windows, fully loosen the tensioners, then all the snaps, then the windshield latches and collapse everything into the well.  I have a big padded pouch for the side windows which fits on the package area behind the seats.

I always do this solo.  It takes 3 - 5 minutes to put it up, including installing the side windows, and another 3 - 5 minutes to put it down and stow it.

If it has a few wrinkles after pulling the tensioners up, I wash the car and soak the top, then park it in the sun to shrink it into a better shape.  Re-shrinking once a season for a couple of years helps, too.

@WNGD posted:

Looks great even with the top up.

I'll say. That car is gorgeous, @Butcher Boy.

it really is a beautiful car.

The top was never bolted to the body before, that was the hard part. I put in two nut-serts to bolt the top to the car.  My arms are too thick and short to reach under the car to tighten the nuts. I hope they hold and if not I may get my Granddaughter to get her arm up in there and attach the nuts. I'm going to take Gordon advice and wet the top and bake it in the sun later today. I may leave it up for a week or so and then take if for a spin and see if my nut-sets hold while on the freeway.

Thanks for the comments guys !

All I know is CMC, which used a 5/16" (?) ID inner threaded metal tube, bent into an "L" shape and glassed into the inside of the wheel well.  The bottom of the "L" accepted the top attachment bolts and was maybe 2" long, while the longer part of the "L" got glassed into the body in the wheel well, holding it in place.  The top attach bolts threaded into the short end of the "L".  It was kind of "Rube Goldberg" but it works.

The Nutserts sound like a good idea.   If you run a bolt slightly longer than the nutsert  protruding into the wheel well 1/2" or so, you could spin a locknut on from the back side to lock the bolt to the nutsert.  I wouldn't locktite the bolt for fear of spinning the nutsert out later on if you wanted to remove the top mechanism.  Once the bolt is locked to the nutsert from behind with a little slack to let the bows move, all of the force is lateral so the nutsert should stay in place.  Added insurance would be fender washers on the inside of the wheel well under the locknut to spread out the force on the fiberglass, but I'm not sure whether that's needed.  

Beautiful car.  Congrats.

Looks great!

My CMC has weird roof attachment points - 2 each side.  I posted photo way back and no one had seen it before.  As Gordon said - pipe embedded in the fiberglass shell.

@Gordon Nichols posted:

All I know is CMC, which used a 5/16" (?) ID inner threaded metal tube, bent into an "L" shape and glassed into the inside of the wheel well.  The bottom of the "L" accepted the top attachment bolts and was maybe 2" long, while the longer part of the "L" got glassed into the body in the wheel well, holding it in place.  The top attach bolts threaded into the short end of the "L".  It was kind of "Rube Goldberg" but it works.

The Nutserts sound like a good idea.   If you run a bolt slightly longer than the nutsert  protruding into the wheel well 1/2" or so, you could spin a locknut on from the back side to lock the bolt to the nutsert.  I wouldn't locktite the bolt for fear of spinning the nutsert out later on if you wanted to remove the top mechanism.  Once the bolt is locked to the nutsert from behind with a little slack to let the bows move, all of the force is lateral so the nutsert should stay in place.  Added insurance would be fender washers on the inside of the wheel well under the locknut to spread out the force on the fiberglass, but I'm not sure whether that's needed.  

I like the idea Gordon of adding a large washer and nut to the back side of the stud. It would be added insurance and help the nutserts stay in place. When I ordered the car the top came with it. My idea was to run the top for long trips and the rest of the time go topless with either the soft tonneau or the hard tonneau with the helmet farings. I really have the best of both worlds which is nice. Thanks for the suggestion !

Hopefully the weather for the TdS will cooperate and allow mostly top-down cruising in less than two months.  That said, if you're like me, you'll appreciate the shade on the long trip back and forth.

@Lane Anderson posted:

Hopefully the weather for the TdS will cooperate and allow mostly top-down cruising in less than two months.  That said, if you're like me, you'll appreciate the shade on the long trip back and forth.

Yes Lane, as much as I love driving with the top down, it's nice to have the option.  New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma can be brutally hot and flat. The humidity won't hit until Arkansas and beyond. But I've been that way many times so I know how to deal with it. God willing and the speedster keeps running, I'll see you there.

I'd reported on a minor top tweak a few years ago, but thought I'd share it here. I frequently removed the top bows to attach the tonneau and got tired of finding a wrench to make the change.

Instead I bought a set of 5/16-18 clamping knobs (star shaped) from Amazon. They knobs allow quick removal and installation with just your hands. For me it was a small change that eliminated a regular annoyance.

Good idea Mike !! I was thinking the same thing. That handle knob is what hold my hard tonneau cover in place times 4. Two on the back two on the sides. Time to go shopping !!

@Butcher Boy   BTW, If you don't have those cone-shaped washer stand-offs to keep the bow ends away from the carpet as shown in Mike Pickett's photo, you can use VW valve spring washers.  They're really close in shape.  If you have someone local that does VW engines, just ask if they have a couple extras.

And if you use that spiffy knob that Mike used and worry about it backing out, you could drill a small hole through one of the lobes and use some safety wire or a small spring on it to prevent it from moving.

@Gordon Nichols posted:

@Butcher Boy   BTW, If you don't have those cone-shaped washer stand-offs to keep the bow ends away from the carpet as shown in Mike Pickett's photo, you can use VW valve spring washers.  They're really close in shape.  If you have someone local that does VW engines, just ask if they have a couple extras.

The top that came with the car had the hardware needed to attach it. Those cone shaped washer,{ Valve spring washers,} were part of the hardware. They work great.

I just need to add a fender washer and a nut to the back side and I'm done. Thanks

I'll let those in states that get rain offer pointers on staying dry in the rain (or at least drier).  I only got caught in the rain one time in the 7 years I've owned my speedster.  I wondered if it would have been better if I had just run my full tonneau and no top; letting the wind do its thing.

I got soaked.  It frankly sucked.  It wasn't bad when it was a simple rain on back roads.  However once we entered the freeway it decided to pour rain.  The windshield wipers and rain-x worked great.  I had a waterfall coming in at the header and the water poured in at the back of each side curtain.  It looked as though I had a hose outside pushing the water into the car.

At that point, all the towels I had in the car were pointless.....as I had 2-3" of water on the floors, guessing that's where the bathtub nickname got its start?

Anyway, let these guys assist you.  Us Californians don't have much experience here.

some shots of the experience.....

The DB4 struggled when the weather was sunny, but flourished in the rain.  Go figure.

A 1970 911T, followed by a DB4, a 63 D-Type, and lastly a Daytona.  At this point, my plastic fantastic was on a trailer out of the rain.

"Soggy" Kevin wrote:

"The water poured in at the back of each side curtain."

That was my experience with my original side windows, made the way CMC specified them.  The seal at the rear edge sucked outward from the top material and the top forms a scoop just behind the "glass" that funnels rain water in under pressure.  Rain from the sides of the windshield runs down along the side windows and right into that scoop.

The answer, for me, was to make new windows, but this time I made them a couple of inches longer to get them to seal against that scoop/pocket and keep the rain out.  I have trailered my car through some heavy, extended downpours (2+ hours or more) and afterwards the carpet has stayed dry everywhere.  

I think I mentioned my side curtains in the top installation article up under Resources/Knowledge base above.

I seem to recall folks chatting about water coming in from below the speedster as well (or maybe the firewall).....or am I recalling this incorrectly?

@Butcher Boy take time to research this.  I did a half-baked job trying to seal up my speedster using blue painters tape at the header bow.  I wrapped the top of the widescreen with multiple layers of tape and really pressing the header bow onto the windscreen, hoping that would create a better seal.  Maybe that worked a bit?  I have no control sample to measure from.

All I know, is that once you hit that rain, you'll be wishing you spent more time researching and finding the proper solutions to making your car water tight.

It's no fun driving when you are soaking wet.  I think the only part of me not wet was my head and shoulders.  Every time I hit the brakes, the water on the floor rushed to the pedal cluster soaking my feet.  The water that poured over the header bow either landed on my chest, or dripped down the steering wheel onto my crotch.  

Driving in the rain and getting wet is a rite of passage of ownership & the rear-view mirror is a great place to hand your "soap on a rope" ~

The Places we’ve seen water intrusion:

1. Along the top of the windshield frame.  This is cured with closed cell foam weather strip run in the valley of the windshield header.  Frost King weather strip at Home Depot.  Make sure it is closed cell foam.
2. Along the bottom of the windshield under the windshield bottom bracket (the metal bracket that the bottom rubber gasket fits in).  This doesn’t happen if the assembler ran beads of silicon caulk under the bracket before riveting it down.
3. At the bottom of each windshield corner post.  This is from inadequate sealing between the side window and corner post.  Some cars also have intrusion at the top of the side window where it meets the top of the windshield but, AFAIK, this is very rare.
4. At either windshield wiper drive post from inadequate sealing
5. Along the top of each side window unless the top window pocket has been made smaller (or the window seal has been made larger).  
6. Along the bottom of the side windows unless you have the window middle straps installed at the bottom to hold the window against the top of the door to keep them from bowing outward.
7. At the rear of each side window because they don’t fully seat into the pocket in the top just behind the door.  Making the window longer or the window seal longer there to better fit into the pocket is the cure.
8. At the body to pan seam across the back of the cockpit.  This water is thrown from the tires against the forward part of the rear wheel well.  The cure is lots of silicone caulk or expanding foam along the pan to body seam.  
9. This can also happen along the front body to pan seam and the cure there is the same.

There may be a few more, but these are the biggies.