Read the fine print; I tend to be a little sarcastic when dealing with BS like this.
"I now need to pull infamous red handle in the trunk that moves a whole 15 feet (
give or take 14 feet, 11 and 7/8 inches)."
So in essence, if your handle moves an actual "inch" that's more than what mine does (somehow that doesn't come out right LOL). And you can have your "idiot" card back; save it for a rainy day. No such thing as a dumb question.
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Final Update: took about a week to get the actuator in, tackled install that same weekday evening and it checked good, using both the old motor and the new one (had plenty of fluid to top off both). Decided to stick with new motor to "refresh" things.
As for that hall sensor, this little thing will ruin your day if not where it should be! (this is the "down" position sensor, not really viewable with the top fully installed; the "up" position sensor is sitting on top).
So now that it's back together, everything works like champ!
Oh, you can bet had my fair share of issues getting it back in and secured and finally working right, but I got it. Only thing left is to do a little adjustment on the down lock / latch since it's "catching" right after it's unlocked and the top starts to go up.
So that's it. For those troubleshooting power top issues like mine, where it appears the motor "sounds" good but is not working, it probably still is and if you can confirm that it's not corroded out like is usually the case, next best thing is to check fluid level. If it appears low, fill it back up and cycle it several times to try to get the top to move. Out of the car, I just alternated applying the 12v + and - leads on the motor. If you have a leak, you'll find it.
Again, many thanks to shipbuilder on the removal write-ups and to others who post advice on fixing this sort of stuff.
