gull wrote:Maybe the straps for the rear window frame are installed incorrectly? They're supposed to let the top of the rear window drop forward as you open the top.
I have a lot of pictures I look while taking mine apart, so I could get it rigged properly when I put it back together. If you think it'd help I can post them somewhere for you.
That could be very useful... I'm not ruling anything out, but I was careful putting it back together. The window does drop, but not far enough. (See pictures at this link: http://homepage.mac.com/rorydale/images/roof2.jpg)
I took most of the headliner out yesterday, and it feels like the rear bar is getting stuck somehow with the top of the window frame. I'm wondering if perhaps some of the staples from around the window frame have snagged the straps and aren't letting the frame drop.... What do you think?
Those new pictures show it much farther down than your original ones did...in fact, in the new ones I don't really see the problem. It looks like it's getting down far enough for the downlocks to engage, or at least pretty close. With a new insulating pad it's always a bit stiff at first. Mine folds pretty easily but I have to lean on it a little to get the last inch or so.
That's true, it does go down, and lock into place, but look at the gap behind the back seat. The rear window should fit flat against that parcel shelf area shouldn't it? Right now, there's about an 8" gap, and the boot won't fit over properly and securely fit. Based on what you said before, I'm starting to suspect the straps getting snagged.
Yes the rear window folds flat to the parcel shelf. Sounds as if the straps are routed wrong. Are the hinges on the lower window free?
Briano
Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety. You can lead a user to a link, but you can't make him Click....
I keep looking at that pic, and it looks to me as if your window straps are running over the bar wrong as in you have shortened them.
Here is a pic of mine with the straps.
Briano
Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety. You can lead a user to a link, but you can't make him Click....
They look a bit odd to me, too. Briano's picture shows the straps the same way they are on my car. But I've never looked at my straps while the roof was folded, so maybe it's the way they fold that makes them look different. I'd look very carefully at that area, though. They can be installed in a variety of creative ways but only one of them is right. I ended up doing mine wrong and having to re-do them after a careful examination of the reference pictures I took. Fortunately I caught it before I had the insulating pad in.
Thanks guys, I'll take another look at it this weekend. I'm pretty sure mine is the same as yours... It's good to have some reference pics though. I took a fair few when I took mine apart too. I'll see what I can work out...
Interestingly, I narrowed the original "roof won't go down" problem to the headliner. Ungluing it from the two bars in the roof allowed me to get it locked down, albeit 8" off at the front. Maybe when the window goes down properly, that won't be a problem again...
I ended up doing mine wrong and having to re-do them after a careful examination of the reference pictures I took. Fortunately I caught it before I had the insulating pad in.