Boxster Project: Auto-To-Manual Conversion

 When the handbrake’s micro-switch died a few years ago, we ran a bypass of the relay because we knew the root cause of the top’s malfunction. Now, the problem is occasional, and we just didn’t want to chance the problem randomly showing up, especially when it’s about to rain!

For peace of mind, we decided to convert the process of raising/lowering the roof to a fully manual one.

Directions and Tools

As close as you can get to the “You put a lime in de coconut” way of doing things without using an actual coconut.

After reading the directions, we know there are just two steps in the auto-to-manual conversion DIY:

• Free the lid, and
• Free the top

This DIY doesn’t require any special tools, just a really big flat-head screwdriver or the prying tool in the Porsche tool set. We used the prying tool for both steps, because it was longer and offered better leverage.

Yup and yup.

Free The Lid

The directions suggested prying the black-tipped links (red arrow) off the motor drive on each side. We tried but were unable to pry it loose from the mechanism, even after using some force. Not wanting to damage the body panel, we started looking for another option (blue arrow).

“If not this, then that.”

The other end of the cartridge is held in place by a locking spring clip (blue arrow). Prying off the locking clip is a LOT easier than freeing the ball end (red arrow).

Choose your end.

Depending on the position of the lid (up, down), access to the locking clip may require reaching toward the rear. The clip will pop off or break off. Once off, the linkage can be disengaged from the lid arm. In any event, the ones we removed don’t appear to be reusable.

“If it’s broke, you don’t need to fix it” (in this case only).

Once both sides are done, the cover can be lifted by hand at any time, regardless of whether the top is up or down.

We did that. By hand.

Free the Top 

The second step of this DIY went a lot quicker than the first. The red-tipped ball joint is made of plastic and was easily pried off using the Porsche tool.

Easy peasy, with a hint of lemon squeezey.

Freeing both joints took just a couple of minutes. We took care not to damage the plastic, even though we have no plans to restore the function. Just a DIY habit of not unnecessarily “breaking” anything if we don’t have to.

Hanging around – just in case.

All Freed…DIY Done

With both the lid and top disconnected from the drive mechanism, the conversion to manual operation is complete!

The sequence of putting the top down manually is:

• Raise the rear lid

We multitasked and checked for spiders also.

• Lift until the lid is locked and standing upright

“Hey, hi! We goin’ somewhere? We should go somewhere – I’m ready.

• Unlatch the top, lift, push toward the rear, and lower into position 

A trice is all it takes to put the lid down.

• Lower the lid to cover the top…done.

Bingo-bongo, done! (Yes, in a trice.)

The total time for lowering the top manually is about 7 seconds, which is about 5 seconds faster than pushing the button, but the key benefit is zero chance of failure!

It goes up, it goes down, smoothly, and whenever I want it to.

Also, we noted that there is no “top not engaged” warning light on the dash. We are not exactly sure it had anything to do with it, but the sensors and switches may be all properly set because we disconnected the lid and the top when both were fully lowered.

And no sensor lights on the dash – a bonus!

FinalThoughts

While the DIY is reversible, we don’t expect to ever go back to, nor do we think we will miss, the automatic mode. The big reason is that manual operation has completely freed us from the stress of wondering if the operation would unexpectedly malfunction.