is there any locking mechanism that can be used instead of the stock one to replace the manually locking soft top? I hate the fact that you cant just press a button and unlock the latch before putting the top down. I mean, if the top can go down eletronically, why cant it unlock electronically?
any help would be appreciated.

 

I had a 91 Infiniti M30 Conv. It had an auto locking/unlocking convertible top. ASC is the company that did the conversion for Infiniti before being sold originally. They also did the 3000GT Spyder conversion. I'd check with them, if anyone can do it, they can. Just don't expect it to be cheap.

 

I have the design idea in my head how to do the locking/unlocking mechanism.

Let me give it a go by trying to describe it.

On the soft top where the current latch is, instead of the latch, there would be a hinged, billet aluminum, "cube". The cube should be bored in the center (facing the leading edge of the roof top). The bored center should be conical and threaded. The hinge should be on the back end of the box and levered to close, allowing the cube to open up to 45 degrees.

On the window frame, where the current catches sit, there would be a motorized conical "screw". This screw should have a thread pitch to match the pitch of the thread in the "box" on the softtop.

When softtop is raised into position, the open faced box should hit the "screw"...the "screw" makes contact with the lever, and levers the bottom of the open "box" to close. As the "screw" start to spin, the threads catch, and pull the top into a locked position.

On openening, the "screws" spin to loosen the lock. As the top mechanism is engineered, the top will be pulled back. When the top is pulled back off of the "screws", the bottom of the box opens.

Did any of this make sense?

 

My Infiniti used a screw style. It's been done. Usually the motorized part is on the windshield frame and the top just had bolts.

 

this would be nice

 

A little more explanation on how the screw levers the box to open and close. The botton half of the box should have a lip on it that extends into the bored center. As the screw spins drawing the box/top closer, the screw makes contact with the lip to force the bottom of the box upward into the "screw". As the "screw" thread deeper into the box and against the lip, the lip is pushed with more force and locking the box and screw together.

 

In my opinion I think that the current version is great. It takes so little time to latch and unlatch the roof. An auto lock/unlock would probally just extend the time it takes to put the roof up or down.

 

Why bother with this when you're just going to remove the soft top anyway and turn your S2000 into a four seater?

4 seater S2000

 

Will the auto latches rattle ??

 

It does take longer, and while the system works well new, the long term reliability is definately a problem.