Yesterday I tried to describe the stay I fabricated that attaches to the header bar of the soft top or inside front lip of the hardtop and runs through the scuttle just forward of the rear view mirror. It allows me to exert a strong downward pull on either top giving a good weather seal against the top of the windshield frame.
I have attached two picture of the stay, the first in its "deployed" position with the stay projecting through the scuttle. Not shown is the thumbscrew that attaches to the stay's bottom end under the scuttle and behind the dashboard which, when tightened, pulls the top down against the windshield. The second pic simply shows the stay pulled out of the hole.
I purchased the 1/8" diameter 1 x 19 stainless wire and the upper forked and lower stud terminals at a West Marine store. The parts are in the rigging department and the terminals may easily be swedged onto the wire using a die and vise supplied for use at the store. Once I had the correct measurement for the wire's length, allowing for the depth of the blind holes in the terminals, it took but about 15 minutes to make up the piece.
If the stay looks somewhat obtrusive in the pictures it is not in real life. As I said in yesterday's post several cars--MB 190 SL's, Porsche 356's and some Miatas used solid rods to keep the windshield frame from distorting and the look is the same here.