Late to the party (9 years ) with an easier solution.
I have been reading this thread over the last month waiting for better weather to give it a go.
However I could not see an easy way to make the groove for the circlip as there really is not much of a lip.
I have found that I didn't need to. From the start to the finish:
1) Drop roof, leaving the rear cover open. Remove handle (turn it 90 degrees to do this with a 2.5 hex allen key. Obvious maybe, but as it was loose when I removed it, it didn't need to be turned, but I couldn't put it back without. May save someone time.)
2) You don't need to take off the catch linkages, if you do hovever, be aware that some of the nuts are left hand thread. The nuts also tend to fall off if not screwed back in.
3) Undo the gold torx bolts and the roof wire nuts. Ease the rubber off the metal panel with the twist mechanism on (or hanging off) and turn the panel over.
4) The underneath (see photo posted by ngary 8 years ago) has a slotted plate, undo the nut, under which is a washer. Find an extra washer that can go over the central gold pole, but not the mechanism pushed through. (I bought a pack of 4 for £1). You then put a circlip onto the pole where it is round below the oblong head but above the washers that can retain the washers. To get the pole in the right position to do this you reattach the handle and flip it up (again obvious when you know but took me a while of messing around with molegrips before sussing it!).
I thought that this would stop the pole coming up to allow it to swivel but it doesn't, it works just fine.
5) Reassembly is the reverse of removal. If you have put the torx in before the hood wire bolts, the hood wire bolts wont go, but if you put the roof up a bit more vertically they will. Similarly my torx bolts were quite tight and centreing them, getting them all started before tightening and moving the roof up all helped.
Thanks to the contributors that got me so far, and I hope my tweak helps others.
