Thats it, I'm cursed!!!!

So I'm heading into work today and at about 30mph my top flies off and the drivers side latch lands in my lap. I pull over and see a nice big chip in my deck lid.

Hey, good news!!! The belt hasn't come off yet! Yeah!!!!!

Aw crap, Mickey! Maybe the universe just can't abide for something to be so perfect. Now you don't have to worry about that first chip anymore.

Yeah, that sounds pretty weak to me, too.

God! That 2 bits of bad news on here today. Me thinks I'll fore go the ride I wuz gonna take. The other day whilst pulling into Pep Boyz, someone blowing out of a parking space nearly took off Blackie's front end. Sheesh!

~WB

Not too terrible.

That chip is an easy fix, just be careful flowing the paint into it.

As for your top . . . it looked like an old black diaper anyway. You totally had to give it and the frame (and now the latching mechanism) a once over regardless.

First Gerd, and now you...I'm afraid to go take a leak...

Had that happen to me in an old Corvette, except I was going well over the speed limit at the time. Sounded like someone fired a shotgun off from the passenger seat, immediately followed by a loud jet stream of wind entering the cockpit. Totally disorientating, but the car still drives OK. I was all alone in the car. Scared the crap out of me! Turned out a hinge pin broke in one latch. Repaired it with a nail and continued on for several hundred more miles. Ya gotta kep an eye out for those road gargoyles, they're out there lookin' for ya.

I agree with FP on this one.

The only thing about your car I don't like, Mickey, is the top. It looks like an umbrella humping an erector set... Way, way, way not any where near good enough for your car. Like putting a handlebar moustache and armpit hair on the Mona Lisa.

angela

I've had one of my top latches come loose a couple of times, but it has sort of a built-in safety mechanism, and it's never separated from the windshield. Maybe you should get one of Carey's tops after all.

Lane,
It wasn't the latch coming undone, it clean tore out of the header bow. I didn't want to get into the reason why I was looking into tops but I'll just say that someone else put my top down the other day and damage was done. Apparently it was forced in ways it should haven't been as well, resulting in cracks in the header bow now.
It's nothing that can't be fixed/repaired so I'll repair it. I'm sure it wasn't done intentionally.
That said, I'll wait til Carlisle to see if I can find a match. Anyone willing to take their top off??!! :o

And Angela, I just so happen to HAVE a copy of the Mona Lisa with arm pit hair and a mustach. I think it brings a certain dignity to the piece. Something Da Vinci obviously overlooked in the original.

I was planning on a new top this winter anyway. I've never liked to vinyl ones. The Stafast is soooo much better looking. It was good enough to keep the chill off and the leaves out though, not anymore.

Come on, Mickey!
It's a "race car", right?
Rub some dirt on it and walk it off...;)

HEY MICKEY
YOUR CAR IS GORGEOUS TOP UP OR TOP DOWN

Oops. Cerebral flatulence on my part. What're you gonna do between now and Carlisle when it rains?

Get wet I guess.

Nah, I'll see what I can do about a patch job on the top. I have my tonneau to cover it up at night until I figure out what to do.

technical note: Carey does do it right -- his clasps are the right thing. Trouble is, Carey CNC machines his from billet stock and they are expensive. Those terrible pressed metal (dare I say Chinese?) thingies are really crap. I had one let go at speed and fortunately the other one held, else I would have been looking for my top by the side of the road. I rode home w/ one hand holding the top down and one hand on the wheel and the other hand for shifting -?- In the rain. Dripping profusely. No fun. I have spent some time trying to figure how to adapt my header bow to Carey's design -- and also trying to figure out how to print enough money to pay for them.

You would probably have to swap out the latch parts on the windshield frame as well - possibly the frame itself.

Glad it is recognized that the problem was not with the latch---it was with the bow.

This is another reason to add a third latch--a center one. Not only does a third latch in combination with the right rubber stop leaks at the bow, it might provide aditional holding power for the bow.

Mickey--what caused your bow to turn loose of that latch? It looks sorta rotten in your pix.---Jack

Looks like your bow is all resin where the bolts go in. I'd grind it out with a Demel and fill back with fiberglass cloth layered with resin. Might want to do both sides. Could add a piece of stainless steel too.

I pulled the top off yesterday and I'll be going at it tomorrow. Wolfgang is correct about it being filled with resin. I'm going to deconstruct it, clean it up and then do all that was mentioned (fiberglass cloth on both sides with a SS plate) to make sure it's plenty strong. I would also like to add a third latch, probably when I do the new top. Anyone got one they wanna sell?

Man, that header bow is a POS! It seems to be just a thin shell filled with resin and then patched here and there with glass cloth. I've got some work to do on this one. At least it's "pre formed" to fit my wind sheild, so I got that goin for me.

Mickey-

Are you sure you don't want to just get the whole set-up from Vintage?

Mickey, Sh*t can the thing and invest in a new VS bow & ask KIrk to add the third latch. ~Alan

Listen to Alan--that's the ticket! ---Jack

Absolutely. Don't throw good money after bad. You need a new top anyway, right?

First things first - Will a Vintage top fit my car? As Alan said "a 1/2" can make a world of difference." Will the header bow fit the contour of my wind sheild frame? I figure for a new header bow, clips and a top shipped I'm looking at somewhere in the $600 range.
Yes, I'm going to get a new top but if I can get this one working until I KNOW a vintage top will fit I think it's worth the effort because it won't cost anything to fix it.

On a side note - I was looking through the CMC manual at the top assembly and I'm not so sure I have an old IM. I may have an old CMC. The items shown in the manual look strikingly similar to the items on my car. The only indicator that my car was/is an old IM were the deck lid hinges and a few other similarities. Not that it's all that important to me what it is I'm just mentioning it so I can get some input on what top set up will actually fit.

To spend $600 or so I just want to make sure I'm not going to have issues.

I'll bet a donut it'll fit. I'd buy the whole schmere.

Give Kirk Duncan a call and ask him. I'm sure he has dealt with this before and got feedback on how his top fit.

As long as you are at it think about a Beck top. Nice looking scissors mechanics and a real good looking top. Cary Hines at Beck can advise you.

I believe it's important to have a workable top especially on road trips. I always have my top up on road trips as it's quieter and you avoid the wind noise and buffeting.

Good luck Mickey---you are due for some after the traumas you are having lately my friend.----Jack

The rear grill looks like a CMC Hibachi one. My CMC windshiedl has 2 bent lips for top catches to latch to. If you install a third latch do you use a different kind or do you bend a lip?

You bend a third lip. Takes about a minute. I've done five of them now on different cars - piece of cake.

gn

On mine I did noy bend a center lip --I just clipped the latch under the windshield frame and in short time it made the lip itself! I then adjusted the latch to tighten as necessary.

I did use Gordon's instructions on here for adding the third latch. I wouldn't have tackled the job without the confidence the article gave me.---Jack

Yup, that's me....

Mr. Confidence

"Con Man" for short........

gn

I went to do my first layer of epoxy fill on the deck lid today and I noticed 8-9 spider cracks that ripple away from the main impact area. That SUCKS! I'll have to do some serious work to it this winter and have the whole lid repainted.

Against everyone suggestions, I did the repair on my header bow. It's pretty damn solid however I reattached the latches and they are wickedly ascew. I can get the driver side one to latch but the passenger side won't. I can get it to hook but when I push to latch it it unhooks. You know how it has to kinda "drop and pull" to lock in, that's when it unhooks. Is there an installation trick to these?

I have every intention of getting a new top, but I need one to get me through until I get it. By the way, does Kirk send the top with the latches already attached? Because I figure I'll end up with the same issue if I have to install them.

Yes the latches are already fit to the VS bow

I ordered my new top from VS yesterday. Anything I should be aware of with regard to the install? I also ordered the bow, does it come already attached to the top? What's the proper procedure for the install?

Bow Latches:
They scare me. I was afraid that a center latch would be too much pull on the windshield assy.
I did install a center latch however. I made a little stainless sheet metal latch hook that's mounted on the center windshield support rod (without it touching the windshied frame). That way when it's latched, it doesn't pull on the windshield or frame. It pulls on the rod which has its base attached to the dash.

Can you tell I'm a little Hinkey when it comes to breaking windshields? (after using up 3 of them trying to assemble mine in an ever so slightly twisted windshield frame)

Someday, if I'm still around and playing with Speedsters, I'll have the top mounted like the original Speedsters or Beck or Intermechanica does. That's the right way to do 'em.
Greg

Mickey:

Everything you need to know about installing your top is over on Speedstershop in an article I wrote when I installed mine, complete with step-by-step pictures. Go take a look. I bought a VS top and fitted it to a CMC, converting the top bows in the process from "Highbow" to "Lowbow" ('cuz I'm a Lowbow kind of guy).

http://speedstershop.com/viewtopic.php?t=381

Can't remember if it talks about adding the center latch or not, but I did that a year or more after installing the top. That was a piece of cake and really makes a big difference in keeping the header seated on the frame at 70+mph for days at a time.

Gordon

Los Lobow

Mickey---did you ask that a center latch be put on your new Vintage top? Now's the time to have that done because it's a LOT easier to start with it than to add it later!--Jack

Greg,

Tell us more about your center latch hook. How about a picture and details?

One reason I have avoided a center latch is that it would not be in the middle.

Mount it 1.5" to the right of the mirror rod.