mx5cartalk.com

Am going to replace the soft top on my 1990 NA. I was going to order one of the Prestige tops ( the mohair one with glass window for $895 )... but I am told there is about 7 hours labour to install, which would add another $400 to that ( I am not real confident doing it myself )......
I was talking to MX 5 Mania and can get an NB soft top with glass window on the NB frame for $1100. They say it is then an easy job to install as it will fit straight on.

What would be the best option ? Are there any advantages to putting the NB top on my NA ?

7 hours sounds a bit excessive but im curious to see ppls replies to if this is correct (a few ppl on here do have soft-tops from these guys) as im looking to buy a mohair or stay-fast soft top from Prestige at some point.

bush_pig wrote:Am going to replace the soft top on my 1990 NA. I was going to order one of the Prestige tops ( the mohair one with glass window for $895 )... but I am told there is about 7 hours labour to install, which would add another $400 to that ( I am not real confident doing it myself )......
I was talking to MX 5 Mania and can get an NB soft top with glass window on the NB frame for $1100. They say it is then an easy job to install as it will fit straight on.

What would be the best option ? Are there any advantages to putting the NB top on my NA ?

7 hours is if you do it yourself at home and have never done it before. I did mine in that time by myself with my wife lending a hand occasionally. It is not too complicated and easy enough for a diyer with a bit of commonsense.

Ben

DIY !

Sounds like I am going to have to pump up and have a crack at it..

http://www.cienega32.com/miata/nb2na/nb ... xplant.htm

J

yeah about 5 hours to replace the top. Keep in mind if you have to replace the top, the rain rail may need replacing too.

$ for $ the robbins glass top from the US ends up a bit better and comes with the replacement rail.

http://www.topsonline.com/index.php?Dep ... odelID=645

and on this thread

http://aus-cartalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=26589

Where are you located? We are always helping each other out on here. We even hold days (dodgy days) where we get together and help each other out.

You will be fine having a go at it by yourself though. Just follow the instructions on the above link. Also look at www.miata.net/garage . Pretty sure there's a tutorial on there too.

I was going to order one of the Prestige tops ( the mohair one with glass window for $895 )... but I am told there is about 7 hours labour to install, which would add another $400 to that ( I am not real confident doing it myself )......
I was talking to MX 5 Mania and can get an NB soft top with glass window on the NB frame for $1100. They say it is then an easy job to install as it will fit straight on.

I had these exact options in front of me about 2 months ago...
and finally went for an '04 soft top put onto my '91 at Mania. Hard choice at first, cause a mohair top would look stunning! :shock:

It boiled down to the fact that this is something I would use several times a day (insert homer voice: \"top goes up, top goes down, top goes up...\") so I'd rather get Mazda OEM (evolving since '89), and then spend a little more and have it in perfect. Not gonna risk being disappointed after shelling out a grand... Plus they gave the roof a once over with Autoglym vinyl protector, and it looked BRAND SPANKIN' new! Absolutely thrilled with result!

The difference in rain rails between old design and new design is significant - think of 16yr old pond lining vs. HDPE milk carton. Do Prestige come with rainrails - just something you might need.

One things for sure, glass window is absolute bliss - you won't look back (oh bad pun)

If mohair is your absolute (and easy to see why), a dodgy day could be a goer! Good luck with the decision!

thanks for the replies....... is there any difference cosmetically speaking between the NA and NB top and frame.. what I mean is do they look significantly different >?

It may sound dumb, But what is a rain rail?
Any pictures?
Col

The rain rail is the littel plastic 'gutter' that runs around the back edge of the roof to drain water off just behind the seats.

Get a top with one fitted.

A few things to consider:-

The NB frame has better side window seals than the NA frame meaning reduced wind noise and no more wet shoulder.

The NB will be newer so there will be less wear on the pivot points so it should rattle less

There is slightly less head room in an NB due to the liner thingo to help tension the rear window

A reasonable number of NB8B's had a problem with the roof being pinched in the mechanism as it was lowered resulting in wear holes. If you decide to go for the NB roof you may need the updated set plates to help avoid this. This happened twice to my roof. An additional layer of softtop fabric glued to the inside of the roof \"C-pillar\" reduced the likelyhood of the roof finding it's way into the pinch points so seems to have fixed the problem for good on my car.

You could find a used NB roof frame and attach an aftermarket mohair NB roof and have the best of all worlds.

Garry made a good point. There is three ways to go about this.

1. Retain the existing NA frame and put a glass window soft top on it. Notice I didn't day NB softtop as it is possible to buy NA glass window softtop kits that contain everything you need to fit it to the older style frame. This is waht I did. I bought a Robbins softtop, canvas, with glass window. I reused my old rain rail.

2. Get a NB glass window softtop and fit it to the NA frame. This will require some extra bits and pieces, further can be found at www.miata.net\\garage.

3. Get a complete NB softop and frame. Much easier to fit and could be done in around 2 hours. Could cost more than just the softtop, but is probably the better solution.

Just my 2.2c worth (including GST).

J

I love my prestige autotrim roof. I think the mohair looks brilliant and it wasn't to to difficult to install. However if I had my time again I would probably buy the NB frame and roof and sacrafice the mohair for the above reasons. Can't believe I said that . Still love the mohair though

Ben