1965 manually opening convertible top

[coachmckinney34]

Is this possible? I've had the car two weeks and it was working fine when I got it. Most of my car was redone within the last couple years, including the top. Within a day of receiving the top got stuck in the up position and the button to put it back down was dead. I figured out it was the two relays right behind the rear driver seat, replaced those and it worked fine. Then a day ladder when I went to push the button again, the button kind of sparked on me, and now now I'm down again. Its not the relays this time, they are intact.

Anyone have any thoughts here? Obviously its electrical. I just also want to find a way to manually open this thing when they are down?

 

[Critterpainer]

Do you have the Shop manual? Does the top mechanism have the original relays or the updated control board? There is no easy way to erect the convertible top if the top is fully down. I have done it 20 years ago but it is a pain and I don't recall all the steps.

 

[BigClay]

Is this possible? I've had the car two weeks and it was working fine when I got it. Most of my car was redone within the last couple years, including the top. Within a day of receiving the top got stuck in the up position and the button to put it back down was dead. I figured out it was the two relays right behind the rear driver seat, replaced those and it worked fine. Then a day ladder when I went to push the button again, the button kind of sparked on me, and now now I'm down again. Its not the relays this time, they are intact.

Anyone have any thoughts here? Obviously its electrical. I just also want to find a way to manually open this thing when they are down?

As the gentleman above states, consult a factory top manual, or the general service manual convertible section.
The top can be manually operated in an emergency (but it’s not something you want to do all the time.) The deck lift cylinders have to be un-bolted from the trunk floor. (Four 5/16” bolts (1/2” head) just under the back bumper, a few inches away from the license plate on each side).
Then there are the two locking mechanisms that have to be un-bolted on the back side of each rear wheel well. (They might be 9/16” or 5/8”.. not sure).
That will loosen the deck lid for manual lifting or closing. (It’s heavy, get help).
Once the deck lid is propped open, you can “pull the pins” on the hydraulic cylinders that operate the soft top. When they are disconnected, with help you can retract or erect the convertible top. It’s not easy, and it’s not fast.

 

[coachmckinney34]

Thank you. I learned through lots of youtube and such that you can actually "hotwire" the relays that are behind the rear drivers side seat. I had replaced these within the past couple of weeks, so that wasn't the problem. I've also learned that having a "bypass" button system is handy for this issue. Several guys have videos out about these "bypass" systems and I actually bought one from a guy in Floriday, got it in the mail. It was through that that I learned you can energize the individual relays with a butter knife or screwdriver, causing the individual relays to energize. It was by doing this I got the screw pins to unlock, and then from there somehow, it started workign through the regular button. I read a million threads about it and saw that a common issue was the deck being in a "bind" and I'm suspecting mine was in a bind. Anyways, many thankts for the responses here. I did find somewhere these manual steps to "unbolting the deck cylinders and such. I actually crawled under the car and quickly felt that to be very daunting of a task (just locating them seemed tough"

Cool community here in which you can throw an issue like this out there.


Thanks