I have a 2011 G37 Sport / Convertible and my convertible top got stuck partially open at a drive-thru. I went as far as buying pair of plyers at store while there to try the battery disconnect / wait ... but ended up limping car home at 1 or 2 MPH (fortunately was a mile or two from home and had a network of parking lots and side roads to do this safely). When I got home I was able to do more research and ultimately used duct tape to hold up the passenger side flap and put the top back up. I know there are some great videos, places to order the gear replacement, etc - so just wanting to fill in a couple gaps:

(1) My understanding is the repair needs to be done with the convertible top down. When that gear is stripped - what is the procedure to get the top down? Once down - is there a way to get completely back up w/o the repair (just seeing what my backout options are). I work from home and we have extra car teenagers use - so typically I can keep garaged.
(2) Once top is down, and I get complete with the first step (fasterers removed, torx screws removed, and motor out) - Is the car driveable w/o risk of damage with the motor out (i never done any type of repair that requires removal of rivets, etc .. so just want to see if I have piece of mind of still being able to use the car with top down in this condition. Speeds would be 40 MPH or less if I need to drive somewhere.
(3) Once the motor is out - is it fully separated from the car - meaning I can do the more intese part of the repair in better working area away from leaning over inside a car?
(4) Anyone in St Louis area ever do the gear replacement repair (looking to see if local resource that would help with proper pay, etc if I get stuck, etc) - feel free to PM me if you're in the area and would be willing to help with comepensation for time, etc.

Sorry if stupid or obvious questions ... I did the full suspension on an 87 300ZX turbo one time, including all 4 corners, all bushings, etc. I only had hand tools , torque wrench, breaker bar (and a lot of WD-40 / Liquid Wrench) ... but with a lot of family and work commitments at the time .. car sat in garage for 6 weeks.

Thanks for help on any of these!

 

The top does not have to be down. I did the whole thing on both sides with the top fully up. Either way, the important thing is that you don't do it with the (unbroken) flapper gear not in the fully open or closed position.
Driving with the flapper gear removed should be fine as long as you don't attempt to open or close the roof.
Good luck.

 

Let me ask this - obviously I can't automatically open or close top in the broken condition. Is there an easy procedure (whether 5 minutes or an hour) to move it from one to the other without doing more damage before I repair? Given my needs I would rather have the top down prior to moving forward with this project (garaged, work from home, have driven many times at <40 degrees F with top down). In worse case I can throw a tarp or something in the car in case I get stranded and it starts raining. Thanks for your help!

 

I have heard that you may be able to close the roof by having someone manually push lightly on the broken flapper while you hold the close button down, which should allow it to complete the process and close to completion. I did not have to try that myself and only read it somewhere. If another user knows more I hope they can reply.

 

Is there is nice tutorial how to change them? I have mine broken

 

Check this on Youtube...made by one of my customer whom to I sold my gears

 

So in my case both flaps do not move at all. When I'm trying to open the room the latch next to windshield click and flaps trying to move a bit but nothing happed and the whole process stops. Any ideas what can it be?