Well - round 2 (or 3) of fitting the roadster top is done. I stood back and looked at the top and realized it seemed to be a bit loose at the top of the curves of the main bows. After thinking about it I realized the radius of the main bow was tighter than the top was sewn, creating some looseness at the top. So, I took it off and opened up the radius of the curve on the main bow which also raised it and inch or so in the middle. After re-installing I found it fits much better. The difference is probably hard to see in photos but it took a good bit of the slack out on the very top and over the sidecurtains. In the end the radius on the main bow was too tight and the radius on the rear bow was too large. I forget if it was 1795 or Cscobra who said earlier that the bows have to be bent to fit the top.
Next I went to work on the sidecurtains to modify them to tuck into the top recess better. I drilled out two pop rivets securing the top piece to the bottom track at the rear. I also drilled out the rivet securing the middle upright at the top so I could remove the sliding pane. I then cut about 3/8 inch off of the upper frame at the rear on the driver side and 1/4 inch off of the passenger side.
This got more involved than I expected because the sliding pane was too tall to fit after trimming the heigth at the back. So I had to grind and sand an amount off the top of the plexiglass to fit and polish the edge. Also the loose flap of vinyl at the rear bottom had to be re-sewn to shorten it to match and re-glued to the aluminum. Then I re-riveted everything back together with black finished pop rivets. They fit much better now.
I took my wife for her first ride and top stayed on up to 50 mph fine - no flapping but it started to get pretty noisy at that speed. It's kind of claustraphobic inside but I'm pretty satisfied now.
If anyone needs any black finished rivets to work on their sidecurtains, let me know and I'll send you a few. I had to order a 250 box from McMasters.
Feb 18, 2015 - Editing to add some lessons-learned after living with my self-installed top for a year.
Tip #1 - placement of lift-a-dot tabs on top. I placed my first tab in the corners at a 45 degree angle because I rationalized it would be getting tension in that direction from the rear bow - not necessary. But, the first tab does need to go as far forward and as far down on the edge of the top. I would run the edge of the tab up under the edge welting on the top to get it as far forward and out as possible. Here is a picture of mine and you can see that I could have installed it closer to the edge if I had installed it straight up and down.
Every fraction of an inch is important when installing the tabs to the rear and you need as much material as possible above this tab to allow the side curtains to fit into the top opening.
Tip #2 - Jack at ERA gave me some tips on installing the tabs which I generally followed - however we didn't get down to mapping where each LAD tab went. The second tab needs to pretty much in the middle of the material strip along the bottom of the top and then each next one move a little further out than the previous one. I think Jack had me move it in a little too much but then each sewn top is probably a little different. And then I didn't step out quite fast enough and as a consequence my top is very tight across the rear snaps and in the corners at the #5 tab from the doors.
At least with my top I should have stepped the #3 and #4 tabs further out and stepped them out quicker with the #5 tab right on the edge of the edge welting.
The consequence of this is that I slightly shorted myself of material to stretch to the middle for the rearmost tabs, as well as a little material for more top heigth which is probably why I had to modify my side curtains a little to fit in the openings.
Here is a sketch of how I wish I had positioned the first 5 LAD tabs on my top. It wouldn't have been much difference but a 1/4 inch here or there might have made things a little easier.
Tip #3 - As covered above don't assume the bows are bent anywhere to proper shape when you start. I spent hours re-shaping mine and they may still not be perfect. My main bow was bent too tight of a radius and for too low of a top height. The top seemed tight because it was being stretched tightly side to side, but the bow didn't seem to fill out the radius in the top well and was a little loose up there. After re-bending the radius to open it up considerably, which also increased it's height and brought the sides in, it fit the top material and filled it out much better. It's important to figure this out before cutting material off the bow joint because it's difficult to get it snapped down. I would lay my bows down on a sheet of newspaper and trace it's outline with a felt marker to have a pattern to monitor where I was while re-bending it. The pattern also helped me to bend the right and left bows to match. Pictures of where I ended up - may not be perfect but OK I think.
Tip #4 - As mentioned earlier, Jack made me aware that the main bow has to be shaped to bend to the front to fit the pleat in the top and also to bring the rear edge of the side openings forward to meet the back edge of the side curtains. Depending on it you bend the bow right above the ferrel, or at the connection for the rear bow, or bend it partly at both will influence how the top fits. I bent my bows partly above the ferrel and partly above the joint with the rear bow. Seems to have worked out OK since the top fits the rear of my sidecurtains pretty well. The ferrel supports for the main bow can be bent without a great effort so it's a good idea to use a level on both sides to see if they are at least bent uniformally. My driver side one needed to be twisted a little forward at the top to match the other side. If you only need a small amount of movement in the main bow to line up with the pleat in the top material, this is one way to get it.
Tip #5 - My side curtains are fit where they are quite a bit inside the windshield frame at the top. They lightly rest against the front windshield bow at the top and I've wrapped some self-adhesive felt around those areas to prevent rattlings and rubbing.
I honestly don't know if they should be this far in or not in ERA's opinion. But, doing so lines the rear up to match the lines of the top real well as shown in this shot with the door slightly open.
And this shot with the door closed.
This probably goes hand in hand with shaping the main bow - if the side curtains are set to where they are not as far inside the windshield at the top as on mine - you may need to bend your main bow to come out to the side a little more, which will probably bring the overall height down a little to compensate. One thing influences another.
Tip #6 - I noticed this winter that my top seems to be pulling the frame center up on the windshield glass. I did not notice this last year and I think I would have. I backed my adjustments down on the main bow which helped a little but the frame is still pulled up a little. I may have stretched the top over the front bow a little too tight when I first taped it down. The material needs to be carefully centered when positioned over the front bow and needs to have the slack pulled out of it but you don't need to really tension it greatly. If it ends up with just a bit of slack that is what the main bow adjusters can take care of.