miamisam

So, my "new" 2001 Quattro roadster's top would go down fine, but only up halfway. After a month, it quit going up at all.
It was a royal pain to manually lift it, because I was fighting against the hydraulics.

Being a cheap... um... person of questionable birth, I didn't want to spring $850 for a pump and another couple hundred for new hydraulic struts.
So I ordered a pair of gas-charged manual struts for $200.
Finally got them installed. Works pretty good!

Procedure:
1. Buy two 6mm bolts at the hardware store. Preferably something you can wrap a socket around. (Mine had 10mm heads).
2. Take the panels off behind the seats.
3. Put the top up.
4. Pop the old hydraulic struts off at the bottom stud first. Then pop them off the top stud. If they don't pop easily, use a tiny screwdriver to pull the spring clip back at the strut's end. With the spring clip pulled out a bit, the strut easily comes off.
5. With a bucket ready, cut the hydraulic lines that feed the struts. Catch the fluid, then use some small screws to plug the ends of the lines.
6. Feed the lines back into the trunk cavity, pull the struts out and dispose of properly. Find the power connector to the hydraulic pump and disconnect it.
7. Remove the top studs using a 14mm socket. Save the washers.
8. Look closely at the old stud holes. An inch below them on the same plate are 2 smaller pre-threaded holes.
9. Take your new 6mm bolts and thread them into the smaller holes a few turns. It's a lot easier to prepare the thread alignment now than when you have struts and washers dangling off the bolts.
10. Get the new left and right struts ready. Part # ...55 is left, 56 is right. The strut's inner shaft will attach to the bottom stud, the top has a swivel mechanism with a hole in it. The strut will swivel to the rear of the hole.
11. Take the new bolts, add the washers saved from step 7, and feed them through the hole in the swivel mechanism. Attach the assembly to the small hole you pre-threaded in step 9.
12. Tighten. Then look behind the top frame bar and see if your new bolt is sticking out past the hole. If so, it will bind on the adjoining bar and jam when your top goes up/down.
If the bolt is too long, take it out and hacksaw it to size. (I had to do this).
13. Add a drop of blue Loctite in the hole. Reattach the top strut assembly snug, but don't overtighten or you might strip the threads. The Loctite should help hold it in.
14. Attach the bottom strut shaft to the stud where the old hydraulic strut once attached.
15. Test the top movement. No jams? Repeat strut installation on the other side.
If you're really adventuresome, you can remove the hydraulic pump and the remainder of its hoses. I cut back the hoses and wrapped them so they wouldn't rattle, but haven't figured out how to get that pump out without some serious disassembly.

Anyway, below is a picture of the new left-side strut swivel mount. Looks funny, but the new manual struts are an inch too short and need the swivel to make the full travel. Note the hole above where the old hydraulic stud was mounted.




View from the left seat, looking back. Old stud removed on top, new bolt and swivel assembly mounted below.

Enjoy! -Phil (...Sam was our cat).

iflywoe

when mine stops working this will be my fix, thanks for sharing

iflywoe

where did you get them from?

miamisam

Here's the left one:
8N7871555B - GASFILSTRU - ES#456344

And the right:
8N7871556B - GASFILSTRU - ES#456345

ECS does a really good job of hiding these puppies on the website, but they're available.
Couldn't find them anywhere else besides the dealership.

Been a couple of weeks now, and I don't miss that electric top at all.
Got the old hydraulics pulled out through the trunk.
While I was in there, I made little sloping roofs of layered duct tape over the exposed Bose amp and cabin computer. That oughta keep the rain out.