My new hardtop is already pissing me off... Help please!
 

Ok, so long story short, someone slashed the top on my turbo car a few weeks ago. I've been using tape to cover the slashes since then.

Anyway, I got a line on an OEM hardtop in my area. Picked it up today for the paltry sum of $600 bucks (the color is even right) I threw it on my white car and headed home to install it on the black one.

Here's where the problem arises.... The white car HAS the frankenstein bolts, the black car does not. Should be an easy swap out right? NOPE! There seems to be no access to get them in, not to mention the studs from the white car won't come out for placement in the black car. I've cut down 2 screwdrivers trying to get in that shitty little hole they give you for access.

I also dropped a bolt in there and broke 2 or 3 clips for the trunk liner.

Any tips or tricks to getting this done? Should I hire a tiny asian man who's hands fit? Should I hack the hole bigger? Smash he car with a hammer?

Say the hell with it and sell me the top.

Don't think of me as a sinful opportunist. Think of me as a very concerned fellow enthusiast.


What can't you get out? You unscrew the F-bolts from the top, and the plate comes out after that, right?

Usually the frankenstein bolt comes off and you have to reverse/double nut (no comments) the stud to get it to back out. Just be careful and put a towel on your car when using that method.
The other method is a vice grip on the studs, back them out, then use a tap and die to straighten the threads.

Oh, I just remembered. The studs are loc-tited or something. Heat them up (soldering iron?) and you can unscrew them fairly easily.

It's not so much getting the old studs out that's causing me the issues, it's getting studs into the car that doesn't have them that's making me raving mad!

I must be missing something. How do you break clips to the trunk liner when installing hartop hardware?
They should unscrew from the top of the car and go back in the opposite way they came out. You should not need access to the trunk to install them.

would be nice if it worked that way! I think that the studs are stuck, and need to be double nutted for removal. I believe I was going about this the wrong damn way from the start!

Hopefully I'll get a chance to mess with it tomorrow

the studs are the same size as turbo studs, m8x1.25 i believe. just pick some up from somewhere near by and screw the frankens on to that. Still not sure why you can't get them into the new car....

I pulled the frankenstein bolts off a 90 and put them on my 01 and it wasn't too bad. Just need a big fat phillips.