So, I was trying to re-mount my hardtop today, and noticed that my driver's rear bracket appears to be incredibly misaligned (I bought the car with the hardtop already attached, and didn't notice when I removed it). In order to get the screw to line up and actually thread, the forward edge of the bracket has to be angled very far away from the top (1st pic), which causes to hook on the rear to dig in to the body underneath the vehicle-side bracket (2nd pic). Also, I was unable to capture it well in the picture, but the hook does not actually sit in the notch of the vehicle-side bracket; it is moreso wedged in the gap between the bracket and the body.
I decided to go ahead and try unscrewing the captive bolt all the way to try and see just how far off the hole in the clamp is from the nut on the bracket, and saw the following:
As you can see, I am barely able to get clamp aligned properly, even with the room gained from the necked-down portion of the bolt.
I am tempted to try extending the hole in the clamp until I can get it to line up properly, but am worried that it may introduce some play and reduce clamping force. Has anybody else had this issue?
Edit - I forgot to mention: the passenger-side bracket does not have this problem, and is able to be lined-up and threaded without any issues.
I decided to go ahead and try unscrewing the captive bolt all the way to try and see just how far off the hole in the clamp is from the nut on the bracket, and saw the following:
As you can see, I am barely able to get clamp aligned properly, even with the room gained from the necked-down portion of the bolt.
I am tempted to try extending the hole in the clamp until I can get it to line up properly, but am worried that it may introduce some play and reduce clamping force. Has anybody else had this issue?
Edit - I forgot to mention: the passenger-side bracket does not have this problem, and is able to be lined-up and threaded without any issues.