Is this gap between the top and the curtain normal? Going above 60mph starts to balloon the top and pull away from the curtain. I tried playing with the tension levers with no solution. Is this a "feature"?
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Whoa, mine wasn't that bad. Both Jack Crosby and Lane Anderson (others?) have had pretty good success weather-proofing their Speedsters. You need to do that or you and the interior of your car are going to get wet in a rain storm.
Well I don't ever plan on taking her out in the rain. It only rains 57 days a year here. But surprises do happen. She has been caught in some rain with the tonneau on. I came back to a bit of a puddle, but she was dry inside.
This shot was from this weekend when I was just driving nearly an hour on the highway in 45°F weather and figured I might enjoy the trip more with the top on. The trip was worth it, but the top made me nervous.
Hoss. He lives in sunny California: it never rains here.
Ryan. Why are you driving with your top up?
Ryan. Try opening your heater vents. That might reduce the air pressure inside by releasing it through the vents, especially if you don't have heat exchangers.
Hard to get an explanation about why that gap is allowed to be there. Lane has created some spectacular plexi window units that keep his Beck dry and toasty. I tried and saw that I lacked the skill to do as Lane did. My fix was to add a few inches to the perimeter of the windows so that they fit snugly into the slot where they're designed to go. I'll attach a picture.
Along with this fix, if you don't already one, a third bow-to-windshield latch placed at the center works wonders. The CMC manual shows the bow with the center latch. Improved bow rubber is a plus.
If your car is a Vintage brand, Kirk will supply matching canvas made of the same window material--be sure to also get enough piping or edging for your job. An upholstery shop cut and sewed the new edges using a cardboard template I supplied.
Good luck with your car.
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Thanks Troy. I'm pretty sure they were open. At least driver's side. As I said, it was 40°F. Even these Chicago bones can get chilled.
Ryan: I've covered this in "How to install a convertible top" up in the Knowledge Section, but here's the Reader's digest version:
I found that you have to run another set of stitching about 1" in from the roof edge AND a snap tab attached to the roof material, just behind the rear top of the door and snapped to the rear flap snap, to pull the top material in closer to the window for a better seal. Here’s a photo of the stitching:
http://i49.photobucket.com/alb...6/9NewStitchLine.jpg
New Stitch Line: If you look closely at the line parallel to the top material line in picture one, there is a light, white line where we sewed another stitch line, about 1” closer to the edge of the top material. THAT tightened up the sealing flap and made it really seal tight against the side window gasket. At the bottom of the window at the rear where the stitching ends, we ran a couple of horizontal stitch lines to strengthen that area as we'll be pulling in on it with the flap to seal the bottom, rear of the side window.
That, alone, makes the rear of the window really seal against the back of the flap and prevents an air “pocket” at the back of the window, which could gulp air into the cockpit. This one snap on each side pulls everything together really nicely.
I'll also be pulling the top material off so Kathy can sew the window flap closer to the edge of the top material to tighten up the (window) top and rear edge interface. That way, the "glass" gasket will fit up against the flap and not have to tuck up into the "pocket" between the flap and the top (which, IMHO, ain't the way it's designed to work).
I did the new flap stitch along the top line (worked like a charm) and use the snap at the rear of the door to pull the top material inward, although I used the flap material as the "tab" and it worked out pretty well (all it takes is a small stitch line to make it "pull")
http://i49.photobucket.com/alb...6/10RearFlapSnap.jpg
We couldn't get the sewing machine foot as close to the header as I would have liked to make a stitch line along the header near the front upper door corner, but I used a snap location on the header instead of the windshield frame and it works very well - even Velcro in that corner might work – anything not to have to put a snap into the windshield frame!!
Just inserting the linked photos above into the forum for reference. Still working through your notes, @Gordon Nichols.
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Ryan, Kathy and I put the top up last week during our stay in Cambria, the local weatherman had predicted overnight rain, he was right and having the top up allowed our real Porsche cover (a gift from a Porshephile friend) to keep our not-real Speedster dry.
We left the top up and side windows in on the drive home, it was chilly last Wednesday morning. Something I noticed was that when closing the door, you want the front of the side "windows" inside the windshield frame, that accomplishes two things: first, it stops a lot of air from blowing into the car between the frame and window and secondly, it helps hold the top of the canvas window frame tighter to the canvas valance/part of the top.
Trust me, regardless of modifications (barring a hard-top), you're going to get wet in the rain, ask me how I know...
Will
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x2 What Will Hesch said. When you close the door with side-curtains, keep the leading edge of the side curtain inside the windshield.
For better fitment of the side curtain into the convertible top, a few SOCers have sewn an additional 1.5" - 2" of stay-fast material (canvas material your top & curtains are made of) onto the top edge of each side curtain.
Hope this helps! 
Ryan: After reading Jim's post, I should add that I have NO canvas or anything else surrounding my side windows - just the Plexiglass with a rubber gasket glued onto the front and bottom edges, so mine might stay a bit stiffer at the top, I dunno.
I can say, tho, that the side windows stay put in the smaller top pocket when I pass a tractor-trailer at 80 or so and I never saw them popping out when the car was being trailered (usually at 70 or so).
There's a whole bunch more info on the how-to article up in Resources, all of it gleaned from the wisdom of Dr. Clock, Jack Crosby (the "Iron Butt and dry feet" guy) and me.
Ryan in NorCal posted:
Ryan, that line jumped out at me.
There's really not a lot to 'play with' in the tension levers. They're basically either 'on' or 'off'. There's a lot of other stuff you can monkey with to affect how the top fits, but that usually involves cutting, stitching, bending, and more permanent modifications.
You probably already know this, but just to be sure, the top needs to be fully fastened and buttoned down front and back with the tension levers fully OFF. Only then do you flip the levers to the 'tensioned' position. You should feel the whole top snug up quite a bit when you tension the levers.
If the top is loose enough to 'balloon up' once you start moving, then something's probably not right.
I think your car's a VS, right? Do you know if VS did the build or if someone else installed the top? Some VS's have been built up from kits by both skilled, professional shops and by shade tree dudes.
...shade tree dudes...this site is full of great new terms! Thanks Mitch, afternoon made!
And Robert, only a cop could pull that look off! Warm-probably, scary-absolutely!
Will
Very helpful @Sacto Mitch. I'll go check. Anyone have a pic of what the top bow tensioner should look like in "on" and "off" positions?
Yes, it's a VS, built by Kirk for @Theron.
Ryan, Look at the photo you posted showing the back inside snap. You can see the bows kind of in that photo. Push the tensioner up so it touches the back of the rear bow when the top is on. This will tighten the top and might help the gap you are getting.
One more thing. Remember that this is canvas. If you need to shrink it, get it really wet (I would use warm water) and let it dry, in place, with the tensioner in the down position (un-tensioned). This will allow the canvas to shrink just enough for when you put tension on, it will be a tight fit. Just like the Levi Shrink to Fit jeans.....
Ryan's picture show the tension lever in the taught position.
Yeah. I had no idea. For other sophomores:
ON:
OFF:
What I thought was "tight-er":
I look forward to reporting how easy a fix this was.
Thankfully I haven't driven with the top up much.
(That said, @BADSPD - Stephen, how do you recommend soaking the top without disassembly? Sounds like a hassle. Though I may throw my tonneau in the water for a bit.)
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Ryan, Hope that fixes the top.
When I would shrink mine, I would take a bath towel and soak it in water and lay it on the top. After letting it soak into the canvas, I would then pour some more water on it to really get it wet.
If you do the tonneau, make sure that you snap it on the car for drying or it will over shrink. I use to sell insurance and had a few dry cleaners that had to buy boat covers after they would wash them and not have them on the boat to dry, over shrinkage....
Ha, just read this thread and thought before I got to the last post "He doesn't know about the tensioner"
Glad it worked out.
-=theron
It's very common that 2nd owners are not informed about the tensioners or, if they were told about them, they forgot about it in all the excitement of buying their new toy.
Traffic has prevented me from fully testing, but so far so good. Though I may still use the shrink tip on my top and full tonneau for a bit tighter fit. If only a bit.'
Thanks for your help
I did the window curtain mode with the extra fabric and piping I got from Kirk. I also did the frame bypass for the heater pipes. In 30F I am now warm and dry after about 20 minutes of warm up driving. The noise of course from the engine is considerable when you bypass the frame, but the airflow is huge and much warmer. Adding a center clip to a VS on the center top rail would be ideal. Anyone that has done this mod, please post some pics.
Ryan in NorCal posted:
Is this gap between the top and the curtain normal? Going above 60mph starts to balloon the top and pull away from the curtain. I tried playing with the tension levers with no solution. Is this a "feature"?
In terms of wind/rain protection, my car appear to be pretty well sealed at the roofline. I'm more concerned about the gaps where the bottom/front of the curtain meets the bottom of the windshield frame - as in Ryan's pic above. Anyone have any suggestions for that?
It is an undocumented feature 
no just kidding.
From the pict it does seem that the air coming in from the frontal area is loading the top with air and making it bulge I wonder if another clip somewhere might help? I have to differ to those with side curtains I have roll up windows.
Majorkahuna--you can see the center top windshield latch on the CMC build manual which is here in the knowledge section of the resources section.
That center latch is exactly like the ones at the left side & the right side except it's in the middle of the bow.
I had to peel the canvas top material off the bow in order to make the cut in the bow to fit and attach the new center latch---but the center latch goes onto the bow just like the left and right ones.
This was a good time to pull the top material tighter too, which I did. Just make sure you don't remove too much top material before re-gluing the fabric to the bow---this is important because I almost messed this up by removing too much top material as I pulled it tighter and cut off the excess material. As I remember I had to countersink the screws or whatever I used to attach the latch so it would be flush with the bow----same as the left and right latches.
To reglue the canvas top material to the bow I used the 3-M spray glue in the green can. But rather than spray it, I sprayed the glue into a small container and painted it on with a brush to make a neater job with no glue overspray. Also get 8-10 cheap plastic spring clamps from Lowes or Home Depot to hold that canvas in place while it dries.
Last--on my bow, I found that the rubber seal was actually under the canvas top material ad felt it should have been over the canvas so I re did it that way using a better seal piece I found at www.bobdrake.com.
If you are experiencing rain intrusion where the bow attaches to the windshield this will fix it.
I'm pretty sure no one has to go through such a fix with a Miata but who wants a Miata?? This fix is a little madness for a tremendous amount of pleasure that a Miata cannot match.
I hope this is helpful to you.
This might help, too....Especially if you want to install an off-center latch:
https://www.speedsterowners.com...-it-im-cursed?page=1
Gordon, your site: http://speedstershop.com/viewtopic.php?t=381 is no longer active. I'm trying to install a canvas top and frame I bought from Rafael in Mexico, and I think your instructions will help. Rafael did send me some photos, so I think I have it figured out.
Thanks,
Vlad
Vlad: Yup, I finally closed the Speedstershop when the new member requests from Russia and China got to over 200 per day and I didn't have an automated way to deal with them.
The Top Install thread still exists on here (one of the first I transferred over) and you can read it here:
OK, thank you!
I have the center lock down device that screwed into the top and attaches to the center support. My top no long leaks any water whatsoever nor do my windows. Pretty close to a convertible D. No if I only had the gas heater.
Someone (Kahuna?) came up with that center hold-down device after I added a regular center latch to mine. Alan Merklin made a couple of them, too, and I remember them being really simple, easy to use and....... They work! Don't know if the old Vintage Speedsters was selling them or not - there wasn't much to it.
Can someone (Kahuna?) come up with photos of those so we might be able to duplicate them?
I got mime for Kirk. My car is in storage in NV so it will be a while before I can get a picture. I am sure there is an image on the site somewhere. Ryan has one, but I do not know if he has installed it. Ryan can you post a shot of the latch? Very simple and ingenious device. Check with Greg at Vintage Motorcars, he might have one.
Here's what Kirk shipped with my VS (in 2013).
Crude Simple, but it works. The threaded knob is 1/4" x 20. There's some kind of fitment on the top bow that the knob threads into, but I'm too lazy to peel back the tonneau and dig into it to find it, so use your imagination. The hook loops onto the top of the mirror rod.
Later Edit:
OK, I was less lazy two years ago when this came up. Here's what the fitment on the top bow looks like:
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This conversation from over a year ago might be helpful - it's really similar to what Mitch posted -
Thanks Mitch..... that is the device. It works perfectly. No air leaks and no water.
The problem is the top bow header , it is made out of a rubber material and will warp over time. I used 1 of these from one of the "parts suppliers" (wont name any names) and i ended up throwing it in the trash . We make these out of Fiberglass and fit each on per car so you wont need the extra center latch to help keep its shape. I can supply you a new one that you can install yourself for about $220.
Greg
I have a top? Oh, that's that black think behind the seat 