bought the hardtop for the "Z"

[zee42]

Well.....I went and did it,went to the dealer today and bought the hardtop for the "Z"...they will have it in and installed by next thursday afternoon.
always wanted it for the winter months. Total cost with labor and parts 3338.83. brand new already painted.will post pics as soon as I get it back.
only thing is now I have to find a place to store it in the summer

 

[WLH]

Looking fwd to the pics...

 

[rosierobins]

Well.....I went and did it,went to the dealer today and bought the hardtop for the "Z"...they will have it in and installed by next thursday afternoon.
always wanted it for the winter months. Total cost with labor and parts 3338.83. brand new already painted.will post pics as soon as I get it back.
only thing is now I have to find a place to store it in the summer

Why do you want it "installed" isn't it supposed to be something that you can take on and off occasionally? Or is it more like it needs to be made ready to accept the hard top?

Rosie

 

[zee42]

Well there are a few things that need to be done so it will accept it. The hardtop has a glass rear window with a window defroster so they will have to get it wired for that and a few other details so it will just pop on and off.only talking about 2 hours labor to install the prep kit

 

[Rick Hunter]

Here's the million dollar question: Are you gonna stripe it?

 

[zee42]

You bet Then the stripe will go from front to back...already have the stripe sitting here waiting

 

[JackB1]

Well there are a few things that need to be done so it will accept it. The hardtop has a glass rear window with a window defroster so they will have to get it wired for that and a few other details so it will just pop on and off.only talking about 2 hours labor to install the prep kit

The "Hardtop Prep" from the factory looks like this -

I didn't have this so I had to buy the parts and have it installed.

It says in the BMW manual 2 hours labor. This has been a "grey" area with dealers having different deffinitions of what this labor charge includes. Some say it is only for attaching Hardtop to the car and charge more for labor to install prep kit.

Since you are buying new top from dealer, make sure he also check for adjustment for air seapage and rear window defroster operation.

In reality, it takes my wife and I less than five minutes to put Hardtop on car and turn three latches.

Let me know if I can help. Enjoy!

Best!
Jack

 

[muppet]

Looking forward to stripey pics 8)

 

[Aebous]

Oh hell yea, I didn't even realize my used baby had this. I was wondering what that was for. Now I guess I need to get a hardtop for the winter....but where in the heck will I put one?

 

[20ducks]

...
only thing is now I have to find a place to store it in the summer

go here, then scroll down for all sorts of hoist and storage products for your hardtop

 

[AlanL]

...
only thing is now I have to find a place to store it in the summer

go here, then scroll down for all sorts of hoist and storage products for your hardtop

Buy the cheap version of the hoist and then get a cheap ceiling winch from Northern Tools or Harbor Freight - and type of hoist will do the job once you have the hard top cradle in hand. This system is actually made by a small firm named IMC and they farm out the resulting product to a number of places like the one ducks cited:

IMC hoists

I had one of their cradles for a hardtop on my old Honda S2000 and used a Northern Tools ceiling hoist I bought for $79.00. Worked great and let me remove and install the top as a one man task. The upright storage rack is also a nice item to have and comes with a cover to keep it clean and protected from scratches while in storage.

 

[zee42]

Thanks guys Got the stand and cover,and northern has a store about 20 mins from her so I will pay them a visit also.Both of you have been a great help

 

[AlanL]

Did you order one of these?

That's the one item from the hoist shopping list that makes the rest of this possible. You can use any flavor of hoist the connect to the ring at the top of the harness. I did try using the pulley they show in this photo, but only once or twice before the ceiling winch was ordered.