[FormInFunction]

You're not kidding ...

View attachment 95610

I threw out my budget spreadsheet and bought the RPF1s that my heart was telling me I needed from the beginning ...

I had RPF1s...lent then to a friend who wrecked his car on them & that was that. FWIW we've been best friends since like 8yrs old so...

 

[frinesi2]

Awww yeah, I'm loving it. Sits a little high in the middle but it's not really latched down. I'll mess with fitment later. Amazingly light (I'll weigh it later too).

I'm about 90% committed to removing the entire soft top mechanism and running hard top or no top until I can be bothered to replacing the soft top. The water catch bags are destroyed and the soft top is well beyond perished - getting the hard top to fit well and not leak seems like a lot less work.

 

[Node]

Do IT!!!

I'm about 90% committed to removing the entire soft top mechanism

So much space for activities!

 

[frinesi2]

Do IT!!!


So much space for activities!

View attachment 95998

My thoughts exactly - although I may keep the doors and find a way to keep the parcel tray and close off the gaps. We'll see.

 

[frinesi2]

@Node did you put the factory seatbelt/hard top bracket and cross brace back in? Looks like I need to grind away two tack welds to separate the folding mechanism.

There's also the spring inside there but I might be able to hammer that pin out.

(ETA - I'm finding some more info from continued research so I think I have an idea of what's needed)

 

[Node]

Yes I removed all excess material. However, looking closely at the pin that the spring pivots on I felt it was somewhat structural as it boxed the section of the support for the seat belt towers. I welded that in pace after removing the spring and pivot arm.

 

[frinesi2]

Well in case anybody goes searching for the phrase "soft top delete", here's some pictures of what you have to modify to do it:

Grind away this tack weld until it's flush with the surrounding surface and you start to see the outline of the underlying thread, then unscrew this pivot:

Then pull this spring clip and pull this spring holder, removing the spring and associated bits:

Then grind away this other tack weld and hammer out this larger pivot pin:

Everything else just unbolts. I'm fairly confident I'll be able to reinstall all of this if I ever decide to have a soft top in the future.

 

[frinesi2]

The hollow flange pin needs to get reinstalled because it provides stiffness for the upper bolt point for the bracket that holds the seatbelt, hard top rear bolt points, and cross brace (by the way - this lateral brace is, like every other part of this car, a lot lighter than I expected when I picked it up the first time).

And yes, I weighed the soft top, window glass, lacerated dry rotten drain bags, and assorted leaves and dirt that I removed from the vehicle. Came in to about 44 lbs. There may be a couple other metal pieces I might not end up needing once I start putting this area of the car back together. We'll see.