fitting soft top PAIN

garettb16 · Postby **garettb16** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 3:42 pm

hey guys am a reasonably new member and am taking the most advantage of you MX5 gods as i can!

when i bought my NA it had a soft top but was knackered and came seperate to the car. as the car came with a hard top i wasnt too concerned. i managed to get a new soft top still on its frame and have been spending most of the morning fitting it..

well trying to.
with the soft top which i got originally with the car came a 3 piece rain gutter thing which bolts in. so ive sat that on the bolts.

i have noticed that my original soft top has a flexible hard plastic seal attached to the bottom of it with pop rivits. my new roof doesnt have this but has holes where it should be.

can this seal be bought seperatley? and are they available from mazda? and more importantly is it necessary to use it? i imagine without it my parcel shelf with fill with water..

so the roof with the seal attached fits into the gutter which fits the the body of the car and then the carpet fits to the inside of the gutter??

is this all there is?

some help or pics or something would be handy
i have the roof bolted in where it hinges behind the seat belts and only the gutter bit left

any help is help

Garett

fastfreddygassit · Postby **fastfreddygassit** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 5:23 pm

Hey Garett
I guess this means you don't want to buy mine anymore?
Thanks for the heads-up dude :roll:

as for your soft-top
try [url=http://www.aus-cartalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=22543&view=next&sid=886b2142e140b9f68176675b8292051c]this
[/url] and this
all your questions answered.

StanTheMan · Postby **StanTheMan** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 5:32 pm

that seal on the bottom of the roof attached with pop rivets sounds like it could be the rain rail.

defenatley required.
avail from Mazda....but not cheap $400 rings a bell but i could be wrong.

correct your car will fill with water.

I have no idear what the different bits are called.

but your roof together with the rain rail slips over some bolts. the roof then gets held on by 3 other metal rails

Have a look here

The other rails

garettb16 · Postby **garettb16** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 6:56 pm

ok so i think i need a new rain rail.?

anyone have one or know where i can get one>?

$400 for some cheap plastic?

so the 3 metal brackets holding it there are holding the rain rail to the body or does the rain rail sit inside those brackets?

JBT · Postby **JBT** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 9:21 pm

You can take the rain rail off the old roof and rivet it to the replacement roof. Any cracks in the rail can be covered with race tape to repair them. Follow the instructions in the links provided by the other guys.

garettb16 · Postby **garettb16** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:26 am

thanks for your help guys, you have been a great help.

yes i have the rain rail from the previous roof and it seems to be in ok condition. so ill drill out the rivets and mount it to the new roof..

am now happy that i will be able to take off my hardtop roof and drive around and pull it up now if need be to lock it..

i dont like leaving the car without a roof unattended

Dodgy Haro · Postby **Dodgy Haro** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:32 pm

I reused my rain rail even thought it was a bit knackered ... and haven't had any problems leakage wise.

Some advice re fitting the rain rail from personal experience:

1) I would never re-rivet the rain rail to a new softtop - whilst it is perhaps the best way to secure the softtop, the amount of strength needed will take it out of you.

Doing one or two rivets is fine but I bet you will be tired by the time you finish it.

I would just go to a hardware store and use small bolts + nuts to secure the rain rail to the new softop.

2) you will have difficulties latching up the softtop for the first time - leave it in the hot sun so it stretches and then get a mate to help you close it up for the 1st time. Then leave for a week to allow it enough time to stretch.

If you can do the whole replacement within 2 days, you have done better than me ... good luck.

Richee · Postby **Richee** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:57 pm

Dodgy Haro wrote:If you can do the whole replacement within 2 days, you have done better than me ... good luck.

Get a 2nd hand NB roof with frame and swap frame for frame 4 hours tops. :mrgreen:

Boags · Postby **Boags** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 3:41 pm

Richee wrote:
Dodgy Haro wrote:If you can do the whole replacement within 2 days, you have done better than me ... good luck.

Get a 2nd hand NB roof with frame and swap frame for frame 4 hours tops. And that includes drinking several beers and eating wingzzzzzzzzz!

Exactly!

garettb16 · Postby **garettb16** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:04 pm

hey guys today i finished the roof and fitted a set of koni yellows.. was in the mood for wrenchin i guess..

i did rivet it back on and it wasnt too bad (the rain rail that is) and it made it much easier to find the eyelets when bolting the mounting bracket in..

im very happy with the fit and hope to never do it again..

id say i did the whole thing in 3 hours max. i had a mate helping me but he had glandular fever and was very useless really. had time left and fitted the konis

very happy boy i am and so is my MX5.

thanks for your help guys