Lachstock and Four Turbo Charged Cylinders ['04 NB SE]

[Lokiel]

Do you want to borrow my hard-top?

It's black, really needs a re-paint and has the rear demister which I'm not 100% sure actually works - the A/C works for this though

It's currently hanging up in my garage over my car - it'll stop me banging my noggin' when I start working on the car next week.

[ManiacLachy]

FWIW when someone cut the top on my original car to break in (despite the doors being unlocked ) I did similar to what Okibi and ManiacLachy
suggested but I also stitched it roughly closed first to take any stress off and risk it tearing further. Then placed black gaffer tape in the inside and smeared black silicon over the outside. Looked very ugly but didn't leak for the month I was waiting for the new top.

Yeah, I think this is a decent short term fix. I don't expect it to last long, but it'll get by until I resolve properly one way or another.

Do you want to borrow my hard-top?

It's black, really needs a re-paint and has the rear demister which I'm not 100% sure actually works - the A/C works for this though

It's currently hanging up in my garage over my car - it'll stop me banging my noggin' when I start working on the car next week.

Hell yeah, that would be awesome! It would give me a chance to evaluate whether I like the HT for use or not as well. I mean, sure, I'll borrow it, but only to help you finish off Gina

I'll PM you.

[Daffy]

Shame about the tear in the soft top mate
Onya Lokiel for coming to the rescue with the hard top, especially with the weather we been smashed with in SEQ in the last week! We need to see some pic’s when it on Lachy.

[ManiacLachy]

It has been an extremely wet few days here in Brisbane, very lucky I spotted the rip Wednesday afternoon, because it has rained hard every day since. I worked from home Thursday and Friday, kept my car dry and tried to work on a solution to my problems. On Saturday I had planned a trip to visit a friend on the Gold Coast and stay overnight, I needed to be water tight before that.


Good for airflow, not great for monsoons

First thing was to try Okibi's suggestion, it would only be a temporary measure but I needed to rely on it I could. Duct tape on the back, black silicone on top on the outside, then a layer of gaffer tape over the top. I found a tear beginning in the lower corner on the passenger side, so I treated that too.


The Okibi method


Water resistant as opposed to water proof

Ages ago I bought an I.L. Motorsports hardtop fitting kit, just in case I ever wanted to run a hardtop, but I hadn't fitted it to the car yet. I needed to cut out the holes in the trim for the striker plates. I had a few issues hear because the roll bar mounts on to the seat belt stalk and kind of pins the trim to the car. When I undid one the roll bar bolts, it dropped a capacitive nut down below the seat belt re-tractor. I ended up pulling the parcel shelf carpet looking for a way in, but I still couldn't get the trim off and I couldn't rescue the nut. It looked like the roll bar would need to come out. I took a trip to Automotive Plus and Dave kindly cut the trim for me. We didn't have time to go fishing for the capacitive nut, but it wasn't critical.

Saturday afternoon on my way to the Gold Coast I visited Lokiel, who really saved my bacon by lending me his hard top, which had been suspended on a hoist over Gina for quite a while. Lokiel has some work planned on Gina this weekend so he was happy to move the HT out of the garage so he wouldn't be banging his head on it - I've done that once before while visiting.


Ready for business

I only drove 50m before deciding I wanted one for myself! The car is definitely stiffer, much better view out the back, and despite not having any carpet over the parcel shelf I could tell the noise levels had improved. I could hear the exhaust much better. However, with no carpet behind my head it was quite buzzy on the highway.

Sunday morning I went to my car to find the driver's seat soaked I'm not sure how this happened, the roof was dry, the door was dry, the parcel shelf was dry. Just the seat looked like someone had thrown a cup of water on it. I think the rear of the HT wasn't sealed properly, and gusty winds blew the rain along the seal and into the cabin. I put a towel down and drove home with a wet bottom. Despite going through lots of squalls no more leaks were detected. With my softtop I would often get leaks at the top of the windows, not an issue with the HT.


Oh yeah, I'm getting a wet bottom!


Passenger side was dry, but this guy hopped in for a ride

Sunday afternoon's mission was to pull the roll bar and softtop out, find the dropped nut and put the roll bar back in and the carpet back in place. I got the roll bar out and the softtop mostly unbolted by the time my friend Paul came along to assist for the hard parts. We got it all done then swapped his car into the garage to adjust his coilovers so he could clear road obstacles, like particularly large ants, a little easier without scraping.


Paul's Black NB creeping on me!

And so here we are Monday morning. I need to find a permanent solution, Lokiel will want his HT back eventually. I really really like the hardtop, it looks great, and improves the drive. But I love the drop top too. And hard top prices are getting silly. I'm thinking I'll try to pick up a hardtop, and then in time I'll replace the softtop, I like the look of the cloth/canvas tops. I can take my time pulling the old one off the frame and putting the new one on.

I think I'd want to colour match the hardtop, black looks OK, and certainly liveable, but I've got a whole silver motif going on.

Or I could just buy a used but still functioning softtop and frame and install it. Much cheaper. But as with most things in my car, I feel if something needs to come off it should be replaced by something better!

[SKYHI]

That soaked front seat is weird.

Hardtop looks good, but it's all going to come down to personal choice.

[Lokiel]

The hard top really makes the car feel completely different - in this shitty weather we've had lately I'd definitely leave it on.

Check that the side latches are aligned correctly.
I should have checked the driver side latch at my place when you locked the driver-side in place.
When I locked the passenger side in place it didn't feel right, the roof's round rod in the bracket wasn't under the side retaining bracket so I manipulated it in place when I re-latched it.
You mentioned that the side plates weren't fully tightened because you need the hard-top to align them correctly anyway and would do that later.

[apsilon]

Another thing to check is that it's dropped down onto both Frankenstein bolts OK, it's possible one side, likely the drivers in this case, is sitting on top. it could also simply need adjusting. When I got mine I found even though the top was fitted and latched the alignment could be improved. One of the chrome latches for the Frankenstein bolts wasn't engaging at all as the bit that slides under the bolt head was all the way rearward and the side latch on the passenger side was engaged but rather loosely.

[ManiacLachy]

The hardtop definitely makes the car a better car, and I can see why for some people it's the only way to drive the MX5. Much stiffer - the suspension seems to work better with less chassis flex, much better resonance and sound, plenty of head room, great visibility. But I don't think I could go without a droptop option. I think the plan will be to get a good new top and fit it at home, return Lokiel's HT and keep an eagle eye out for a bargain (relative term these days) HT of my own for when I want that solid feel. I think the cloth/canvas Robbin's top from Mania will be the ticket for me.

On Sunday when we pulled the softtop and roll bar, the roof obviously had to come off. Since putting it back on there's been no more leaks. I noticed on Saturday/Sunday after the initial fit there was an occasional creaking in the roof, that's gone now too. So maybe we didn't quite fit it properly Saturday after all. The seat is still a little damp so I'm riding around on a towel at the moment, I need a good hot dry day to dry it properly.

[KevGoat]

Doesn't take much for a leak to present itself. I find on my car, if I wind up the passenger window with the door closed, the soft top seal around the top of the window gets crushed and can leak. I open and close the door and it's fine.

Hard tops do feel nice when fitted and they change the external appearance quite a bit. I actually prefer the look with it on. Inside, as you mentioned, feels more spacious, especially head room, and rear vision is excellent compared to the little soft top window - though I'd get my hard top's window tinted if I had mine on more often.

I don't feel quite as much difference in body stiffness since fitting the chassis rails, but before that was certainly better with the hardtop on.

I'm like you and want the option to drop the top when I want, so can't imagine ever leaving the hardtop on for any length of time, but it is nice to have the option there for whatever reason.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[manga_blue]

Passenger side was dry, but this guy hopped in for a ride

Maybe he was just trying to escape a black snake.

[ManiacLachy]

On the weekend I began work on toning down the buzzing vibration resonance that fills the cabin.

I've got poly bushes everywhere. Infact, the only non-poly bush in my car is the hotside engine mount. These poly bushes transmit a lot of vibration through out the car and vibrate the sheet metal, producing a buzz. I want to turn that down a little, to better hear the car, the stereo, my surrounds and maybe be able to have a conversation with the occasional passenger. I don't want to turn the car limo quiet, I like hearing my car, but the buzz is a little much.

Years ago when I began thinking of this I found https://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/, on his site Don sells all manner of items to help quiet your vehicle, and includes plenty of advice on how and why to apply materials. The product that I'm using is CLD (constrained layer damper) tiles, this is basically what Dynamat, and other name brand sound deadners are, they add some mass to a panel so it doesn't vibrate. They do not block sound. Don makes this quite clear (where other manufacturers do not), these reduce vibration resonance - exactly what I want. Because they don't block sound, you do not need to cover 100% of a panel, Don recommends 25% coverage and suggests that beyond that you're getting diminishing returns on your money spent and weight added.

After CLD tiles you could add a MLV (mass loaded vinyl) layer to block sound. MLV is HEAVY, but it does block sound. It might be an option in the boot later if I'm not satisfied with the CLD results, but I'll re-visit that thought another time.

Because of his fantastic advice (he's also active in a lot of sound/audio forums as well) I wanted to spend my money with Don, and not buy elsewhere and apply his techniques. Don has vehicle break downs of required materials for a number of vehicles and suggests that an NA MX-5/Miata need 35 tiles. I ordered 40 tiles because there's a price break there and 40 is the max he can fit in a single shipping box, always good to have extra on hand. I also ordered a roller to help apply the tiles, they're foil backed and sharp. The package weighed about 8kg, not a horrible amount of weight to add to the car, and if I really need to make that weight back I have plenty on my belly that could be shed!


40 SDS CLD tiles and an application roller - ~8kg

I started with the boot and the drivers door. I didn't do the passenger door because I'm having some PDR work done on it soon and didn't want to apply anything that might hinder the results, I'll tackle the passenger door later.

In the boot I cut up some tiles into quarters staged them about the boot to get an idea of where I'd permanently stick them. I ended up using 5 full tiles in the boot. If I did it again I probably wouldn't go smaller than half tiles, I wonder if it makes a difference? The most resonant part of the boot is the spare tyre well, but Don notes that the spare tyre actually absorbs some panel vibration where it touches, so don't apply the tiles there. I also added some up in the rear fenders as they're quite tinny sounding. I feel like the boot could use a little more coverage, might re-visit this at the end. I didn't apply any to the boot lid, but this is another area I'll re-visit if need be.


The boot coverage - plus some tucked up in the fenders by the aerial and the battery - 5 tiles cut into quarters

In the drivers door I used 4 full tiles on the outer skin, this seemed a little more than 25% coverage, but it's what Don suggests. It was a little tricky getting the tile in the upper left corner as it's blocked by the inner skin, and the tile sticks to the door like it was a magnet! I used maybe 1/3 of a tile on the inner skin, there just wasn't much real-estate to apply the strips, I guess I could apply some more on the backside of the inner skin? There was an OEM foam block in the door, I assume for sound deadening, it's attached with a nut and some double sided tape, I re-installed it with some fresh tape at the end.


The extent of MX-5 OEM sounddeadening


Driver's door coverage - 4 tiles outer, 1/3 inner

Afterwards, closing the door was a little more solid, not quite German door sounding like others had observed, but then I'm not using as much material. I wasn't sure I'd notice much change from such a small treatment to the car, but on my Monday commute I definitely felt a change. It's subtle but certainly less buzzy!

I've still go the rear parcel shelf, rear cabin wall (behind the seat backs), the floors and the passenger door to do. I'll tackle the cabin when I'm installing my new soft top (which will be here this week with any luck!) and the passenger door after the PDR. I'm feeling confident the car will be a much nicer place at the end!

[Magpie]

I went for the cheaper option. $60 when I was at WTAC

[ManiacLachy]

By the time you've used 4 or 5 of those, mine is cheaper!

But of course our cars aren't exactly designed for the same purpose.

[Magpie]

But of course our cars aren't exactly designed for the same purpose.

yours, Lokiel’s and mine are the same... constantly in the shed being played with. However at least yours and mine is seen in public

[Daffy]

The tiles look like a great idea Lachy. With the new bracing going in mine this week there may be some need to look into that idea too!