sund

Hello,

I'm prepping my car to go and pick up a hardtop this weekend that is about 3.5 hours away. I was looking at the install manual about bending the corner gusset on both sides. Does anyone have a pic of how much needs to be bent? Do I just use a center punch on the end and just hammer until it won't go anymore? It would be nice to finish this step before going up so I can avoid bringing those tools up.

Thanks,

shivers

Grab and punch and hammer and go to town. There's another S shaped piece of metal behind the part you have to bend. The metal you're bending will eventually conture to the other part. That's all you need to do really.

xviper

Like Michael Jackson said, "BEAT IT!" You'll know when to stop when the piece that fits on top will clear the metal and sit flush.

esoteric

Mine didn't take much... I barely beat it...
It all depends on the car. I also took my soft top out, so where you have to beat is where the bracket for the top and motors is bolted to also, so that may have contributed to less beating on my end.

sund

Thanks for the replies. I don't have the top piece that bolts onto it yet. I just wanted to work on it before I go up to do the swap to save some time. It's 3.5 hours to and 3.5 hours back, so it will be a long day not including the install.

mad-dog-one

I didn't need to take a hammer to my 05 and my HT fits perfectly.

littlerocket777

I didn't take the beat it method, I actually ground down the metal with a rotary tool and then painted over the bare metal to prevent rusting. But this is what I did because I didn't know about this before. There are actually 4 bolts that holds the side catcher down. 2 bolts (1 big and 1 small) actually bolt up fine without bending anything. Since I didn't have my tools, I just drove home and it was fine. But that's me, you might not like that.

Side note. If the person you're buying from has the same color interior, I'd suggest swapping the driver's side panel that has that rubber cap. It's hard taking the defroster plug out of there. But if you simply must keep your panel, you have to first seperate the the hard plastic plug out of the rubber from the top by pulling it out. Then you can squeeze the rubber and push it down out the bottom. The manual doesn't tell you that.

Side note II. You have to remove the outer brush guards as the side catcher won't fit with them there. 2 philips screws each.

Side note III. After you've fully installed your top and it rattles like a mofo, you can do this. Take black electrical tape and wrap the front hooks of the top to give it some padding. My rattling stopped after that.

Good luck.

dhayner

Rather than a center punch, I used a wooden dowel to minimize paint damage.

NYCS2

Bring the hammer and center punch, it took me 2 min to shape it. I also had a long trip to P/U the H/T not including the install (NYC- Philly).

sund

Thanks again for the tips. I did the hammer method last night and it appears to be shaped really well against the back. I also painted it to prevent rust.