Anyone run their top manually?

[Repo Man]

My top struts are shot. I've been considering replacing them, but I thought maybe I would just work it manually and save myself the hassle.

Any thoughts from the NICO 'vert posse?

[Eikon]

I've considered the same thing.

The top is heavy to pull up and down since your fighting the hydrolic rams.. But I bet if those were removed, it would be no sweat at all. Plus you'd drop a substantial amount of weight if you lost the rams and pump.

Just depends on how you use the car. A daily driver in a place where you might get rain unexpectedly, or where you want to park and leave the car often.. you'd probably like to have the convenience of a power top. But if the car is a weekend cruiser or a track car.. i'm sure you could deal with putting it up and down manually.

[DirftKing102]

My friends BMW convertable has a manual top. He says its easy but i think it would be a pain in the butt for 240sx's since there top is so much larger then the BMW top's. But that is my opinion.

[94_240sx]

The top is heavy to pull up and down since your fighting the hydrolic rams.

Eiken,Is this after you turn the knob on top pump? I thought turning the knob will release the pressure, so all you need to deal with is actual top weight.

[Eikon]

Eiken,Is this after you turn the knob on top pump? I thought turning the knob will release the pressure, so all you need to deal with is actual top weight.

I can't speak from exp. because I haven't tried it. But my assumption is that even with the valve shut off, you still have to pull up the weight of those large metal rams. That weight is likely a good percentage of the weight of the top frame itself.

[Vb93Vert]

i do, and its a pain in the ***. the guy that owned it before me ****ed it up, so if i tried to use the auto top, it would go on crooked. it also ****ed up one of my quarter panels from going on wrong

[zer013]

my top is manual. my friends removed the pump and everything when we were gutting my car (without me knowing).i like it though cause they car doesnt need power to put the top up/down.it's not hard to move up or down either.

[DeXteR]

i can chime in as i have experience.

when my wife and i bought the white vert, the hydraulic system was removed. i had no trouble putting the top up and down manually. my wife, on the other hand, had some trouble. she could do it by herself, but struggled with it.

now with this "new" vert we have. the automatic top allegedly functioned. i never had a chance to test it though... with all the work that we've been doing to it, i need the top to go up and down. so i switched the hydraulic system to operate manually. it's a lot harder to move the top even with the system turned off. i don't know if it's because of the rams or some pressure in the system, but it's difficult to move the top up and down. i'm hoping that the automatic top will still work once the car is back together and running.

conclusion: if you want to opperate the top automaticly, remove the rams. keep the rams somewhere safe so if you ever decide to go back to the auto-top, you'll have them.

[Vb93Vert]

kinda a noob thing, but the guy told me that my verts top didnt work auto, but someone turned it into the "off" position. so if you think it doesnt work, make sure you check that

[AZhitman]

Reep, my buddy Dan has his set to operate manually, and it's a breeze.

It's a lot faster than manual ops, and unless you're a wuss, it's not hard to lift.

The only hassle is getting out to grab it, then back in to latch it.

I think he's considered attaching a strap to the front header of the top to grab from the front seat.

Then it's just like a triceps pullover machine.

p.s. As we discussed, you're welcome to my top mechanism once I pull it (which should be soon).

[Repo Man]

Well, in the interest of resale value I'll take you up on that Greg. We'll hammer out the details. I would have no problem lifting the top w/o the rams, but I don't want my wife to have to do that if she decided to take the car one day. And, like I said, if I decide to sell the car at some point it makes it more valuable to a potential buyer for the top to work as it should.

Thanks guys!

[AZhitman]

I'll get some pics of the uninstall.

We have the convertible FSM supplement on here, so you should be GTG.

[Repo Man]

Sweet.

[vertbish]

I have also been looking into this as well, my top is getting worse and worse.

I have to go to the passenger side and lay on the damn top hoping my whole 115lbs can get it down and hope it latches down the first time, other wise I have to bounce on it a little bit and everyone gives me WIERD looks. Its getting to be a real PITA.