Anyone have a problem with their targa top bowing? The PO put a big ol' piece of foam between the targa bar and top to keep it sealed. I'm just trying to understand WTF happened to bow the top so much.

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the top on my 71' is kinda like that. Sometimes it is better. I think I made it happen when I painted the inside with rattle can to clean it up but not sure because it had a bad seal at the same time.

I would also like to hear how many others are out there.

Jim

Until this thread, i didn't even know my targa top looks like that. Im right there with you, no idea how it happened, but the gap is there!!!

I've read through the topic list and can't really find a solution. I have installed a new rear seal from 914rubber but have a gap in the center or the top. The seals are sitting nice on the sails just not on the center of the pad (gap). Solutions??

Warm it up and flatten it out? Maybe experiment on an old top?

Top is plenty warm. Was 80 deg. a couple of weeks ago here and still had the problem.

The foam pushing on the latches could make it bow like that. All you need are several heat cycles to make a permanent bend. Like said above, lay it flat in the sun (or heat). If you put plywood to protect it, you could add weight on top to speed up the process.

If you take a little more arch out of the top, it will seal better with the new gasket... After a few heat cycles.

Right but maybe the black top, a black interior with the windows up in the sun X 40 years heated it up a couple times more than normal and caused the bow. Maybe warm up enough to actually set a new (normal) bend when it cools.

It is hard to imagine latching the top on the car with something under the center to make it retain a bend like that?
I wonder if it was in storage up-side-down with something heavy on it?
Maybe the latches were set too close together, this would make the top hit the out side of the taper, squeezing it with no place to go but up?
I would think, your best bet is to take it off, put something heavy on the back 4"and do the heat cycle thing. That may take days or weeks of hot days?
Check the latches, if they are overly close together, you may want to adjust them with a bias to hit the inside of the taper first.
Good luck.

There are 2 different tops. The rear latch rubber bumper is different size. Don't know if that would cause bad figment though.