<<Has anyone ever adapted other top latches to the Roadster? It seems
that the Roadster lashes for the late cars are suceptible to breaking,
and perhaps another latch might work better. Any one try this particular
mod?>>
Linda, didn't see anyone respond to this, so here's my take, worth less
than the price of admission.
Having struggled with making mine operative after my initial purchase, I
checked this out both in junkyards and in parking lots, and from messing
with making mine workable.
The limitation of the roadster latches is the small size of the
attachment screws, and attachment screw area in both parts. (windshield
frame and front bow) Making either part oversized in order to
accommodate another latch (most are 1/4-3/8" bolts, versus the roadster
#10(??) screw) would be pretty involved and would leave a large
projection to bang into when getting in/out with the top down and/or
brain yourself on in an accident with the top up/down.
What I have found is that if there is a lot of pressure on the latch,
there is something wrong. The one time I tried to force closure using
clamp pressure and keeping them clamped with my velcro loops, it popped
partway open on the freeway 15 minutes later. (DOH!)
I found that adjusting it to minimal pressure was as simple (in my case)
as tightening down the clamps so they were happy and snug with the top
frame swing hoop (above the back window) unsnapped and swung so that it
wasn't touching the top. Then swing it into position. Each time you
put up the top do it the same, latch it, then swing the hoop into
position. If this is confusing, let me know and I'll send you pictures.
Fergus O, 69 2000 (top is trashed but windows are perfect, now what do I
do) HB,CA
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