Unfortunately everyone knows that it is a very common problem that S2000's get holes worn into their tops. The holes are usually always in the same spot and I've finally had them show up on my top. I tried patching the holes with some leather pieces, but now the glue has stopped holding, and even worse when I tried re-gluing it, the super glue just turned white and crusty. So I've had a new top laying around for a while now, and everyone says its a pain in the ass to replace it. My intentions were to pay someone else to do it, since it would be worth $400 to me not to have to go through the hassle. BUT, since new stuff always comes up in life, I don't have the extra money, but still need the top on my car, So I just sucked it up and started on the project. Now, I have not completely finished since I realized that I didn't have the rivets I needed and Lowes closed at 9, so I'm going to pick them up in the AM and put it back together.




Old top still on the car:




Top assembly removed out of car: Basically to get to this point really isn't too challenging, but rather just time consuming because you have to take apart the entire interior. Removing the seats isn't necessary, but I found it made things a whole lot easier to take the driver's seat out. Once, the top is ready to be taken out, I HIGHLY suggest having a helper to assist in actually removing it out of the vehicle. I did it by myself and it was a daunting task to say the least!






From there, I carried the top assembly to my living room to begin taking it apart.




To get the cloth off doesn't take too much work, just a phillips head screw driver, a flat head, and a drill to drill out 6 rivets.






Once you get to this point, you will see exactly why these tears occur. Honda did a shitty job on the finish of the bars on the top frame. The bar I have pictured below is the one which slides along the cloth every time it goes up or down. As you can see, there are rough edges on this bar, and they are located exactly where the holes in the cloth appeared!! So tomorrow morning I'm going to hit them with the dremel and then some 800, 1500, and 2000 grit sand paper to get the finish as smooth as possible to keep the same thing from happening to the new top.






Finally, here is just a shot of the new top.





I'll add more pictures tomorrow once I have completed the install.


Who else here has replaced their top themselves?? What was your experience like? How did it turn out??

 

 

Nice!

 

I replaced mine about a year ago, but i did not take the frame off, just take you time, looking good so far....

 

I hope you can get those roll hoop covers back on and get them to stay. Most people just unbolt and remove the whole hoop assembly. You can also cut a piece of scrap out of the old top and put it on the inside of the new top to help thicken it, just in case it still rubs after you grind the frame down.

 

Thanks for posting this! I suspect that I'll need to replace mine in a year or so. I'm not looking forward to it.

 

me neither

 

its really not bad at all supper easy dont worry

 

The two halves of the roll hoop cover are melted together at the factory. It's nearly impossible to glue them back together and have it both look good and last a long time. Unfortunately, I think he's going to have to replace the hoop/cover assemblies.

 

Yep. I cringed when I saw that. If you're limber, the top can be replaced by removing the seats and rear tray pieces only. Much less crap to pull out.

Please: use big washers on the rivets for the gutter and silicone them to seal it. Any holes in the gutter need to be sealed up as well. Good work.