New top installed!!!

Nice, bet that feel good to get done eh?

Chris

92BB&T (needing top soon!)

Well done Tom,

I keep looking at the glass window upgrade (mines a 94) but i have seen a few pics on Miata Net where the glass window hoods stans proud of the boot line. Put me off a bit, whats yours like any before and after Pics?

All the pictures I found there were of the top closed mate. I have heard that when the top is in it's down position, with the standard plastic window, you cannot see any of the top from a low stance side view, it is hidden below the lines of the car. With the glass top apparently it stands higher.

was discussed on this forum a little while ago.I guess the difference cannot be that much or you guys would have noticed straight away.

Mark.

Congratulations. It looks great. I am about to do the same and would love to hear your experience with regard to the rivets. I never used rivets before and have read that special attention is necessary to rivet the cable to the front of the frame. Specifically that the hole in the cable connector need to be enlarged and that the rivet for it needs to be long... did you have any problems with that? Where did you get your rivets? Also, if you recycled the rain rail did you rivet it or use nylon screws (as mentioned on miata.net) to attach it to the new top. Thank you.

*Do not* attach the rain rail to the top. It is easier not to damage it without. In the official installation instructions, you are told to tape up the holes in the rail if you do not attach it to the top, but that is not really necessary either. Professional shops do not. You may get leaks from cracking the old rail (it will be extremely brittle), but not from leaving the holes open.

Leon

"Tom Garrett" wrote

I did the same with the same top (those are photos of my wife's Robbins no-zip that Mark posted). It took a while to get back on track and I was cursing myself the whole time.

You will notice an increased height in the down position and also the tendency for the top to rise substantially as you drive around. The solution is to put the boot on (it DOES still fit). I consider the no-zip and glass to be worth the compromise and will be buying the same top for my '97 when the weather warms up.

Thank you for the reply. I heard of people leaving the cables attached at the front/rivet end and pulling them through with the tracer string but it was not clear to me if the spring would pull though easily through the top or if the spring was removed from the end of the cable in order to fishing it through. Did you remove the spring before pulling it through the top? Thanks again.

I installed a new frame and top, so I did not have choice in the matter.

Leon

Excellent! I will do the same. Thanks again.

I am not the only one. The professional shop that put the glass window in my original top did not either. Never leaked for all the years I had it in Florida. The official Mazda manual list both procedures as possible, without comment, but it beats me why *anyone* would want to attach the top to the rain rail:

1) You are sure to at least crack the brittle thing. Leak, leak, leak. 2) It makes it *much* more difficult to get the top on if you have a long brittle rain rail attached to it. Of course, after you have broken it into pieces, it should be easier.

It goes over the bolts that hold the clamping brackets that also keep the top to the car.

No. It is attached.

No. My first top was zippered, my current (M2) one is zipperless.

Be careful with it. *Very* careful.

Leon