Hardtop time of year!!

by **Navin** » Fri, 15 Oct 2010 7:38 +0000

Hey all,
it's time to put on that hard top!!! I put it on the other day and Its creeking and rattling since! I thought it would make the car alot more quite not worse!! I can see where it can be tightened up at each of the clips but they all seem to be tightened up to the last already! Is there any other way of tightening it up??
I'm also thinking about taking the soft top out of the car altogether too as that sounds like it's crecking away behind me too when it's folded down. Is this a hard job to do or would I be better off leaving it where it is??

by **leamyj** » Fri, 15 Oct 2010 8:34 +0000

You do have "Frankenstein Bolts" on the car?? They are the two bolts rising up from the rear deck?? Inside the chromed pieces of the hard top there is also an adjustment for the fitting at the frankenstein bolts.
I wouldn't remove the soft top either. Try reopening the soft top and then make sure that all the material is folding comfortably as it goes back down, If you have a plastic window with zip, open the zip and lay the window flat before dropping the soft top. hope this helps.

John

by **Steve** » Fri, 15 Oct 2010 10:43 +0000

Cool, must do this too, some good pics/description of the adjuster + adjustment here.

You can also loosen the bolts on the hooks the clamps grab on to on the windscreen header, push the hook forward + retighten a bit at a time .
To stop bowing out in the front middle edge of the top, loosen the front clamp bolts (the ones that hold them to the top) and push outward a bit, then retighten.

by **MX5Steve** » Tue, 19 Oct 2010 7:39 +0000

Adjusted the Frankenstein bolt adjusters tonight sounds fine now

mine are rusty though.

linky: for replacements
http://www.autolinkmx5.com/hardtop-rear-deck-lock-plate-mx-5-na01-r1-863-4164-p.asp

by **Navin** » Thu, 21 Oct 2010 10:28 +0000

Got my hard top sorted! I have the bolts on the back of the car so that was fine. I thought the adjusters on the 4 clips were fully tight but I managed to tighten them a tiny bit more which did the job. I also put a bit of wd40 on the rubbers where it sits on the car and I am now rattle and squeak free!! Well, from the roof anyway! Must just figuar out how to stop the vibration nosie coming from the dash and other rattles and I'll be sorted!!! Thanks for eveyones input.