Feasibility of remove and refit old soft

[lonesailor]

My soft top is in fairly good condition except for some missing stitching and a cloudy rear window. I would like to repair it before it gets worse. I want to avoid the expense of a new top although realize I'm up for a new rain rail. Has anybody tried this? is it feasible? Any advise or suggestions would be appreciated.

[93_Clubman]

It's very feasible, but without knowing your DIY skills, hard to say if you will find it easy or difficult - either way it's time consuming if you remove & refit the soft top skin from the frame. Usually 6 to 8 hours labour are quoted. Bit quicker with a helper, but much quicker to simply remove the soft top skin with the frame, ie unbolt the frame from the car & detach the rain rail which is usually riveted in place.
However, if you haven't already, before doing this identify who you want to do the repairs, if the repairs need to be done off frame or if they could be done on frame, how much the repairs will cost, & if the look of the repairs are going to meet your expectations. There are a couple of guides around for removal & refit which I'll try to link you to.

[93_Clubman]

Miles did a soft top remove & refit, which should be early on in his garage chat thread:
viewtopic.php?f=57&t=54163
Lots here ref soft & hard tops:
https://www.miata.net/garage/garagetops.html

[speed]

You can get 2nd hand nb soft tops with frame for $400 to $500. Glass rear window, so never worry about the plastic again and as pointed out, much easier to fit as a whole unit


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[lonesailor]

Job done,no problems all now looks like new