Hiya,

Winter's coming so no doubt some of you with rear plastic screens maybe having some trouble, and may consider or forced to replace your soft top with the better glass rear screen from MY02+.

My plastic screen cracked straight down the middle even though it was warmed up, but unfortunately on it's way down, it pinch and folded awkwardly and cracked.

I then bought a complete soft top with frame and rear glass screen from the breakers. With the help of my friend (thanks Dave!), we spent most of today installing it.

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What you require:

2 People
A good range of socket set and spanners
Philips screwdriver

Time:
Around 6 hours

To save confusion, I will be refering to the name of the parts as mentioned in the Service manual.



Here's a link of the relevant pages for further details on each part.

Replacing soft top service manual pages.

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Removal


First step is to create workable space inside the cable, taking both seats out will safe a lot of back pain! Undo 4 bolts from each seat and disconnect electrical connector from the Drivers side.


Undo the Door Sill protector, they just pull out.


Next is the Roll Bar Lower Trim. Unscrew the bolts from the hangers and pull out. After that remove the Rear side trim. There's just one screw near the bottom and it just pulls out. Peel back the carpet.




Take out the Rear Tray Rear Trim by pushing the centre of the push bolt and pulls straight out. After that, pull the Rear Tray out.




Remove the entire centre console next.



After that you should be able to remove the Roll Bar Upper Trim and Rear Tray Side Trim. The Front Roll Bar Upper Trim cannot be taken out completely, so just undo the Seat Belt Bolts and leave it hanging.

NOTE: From the comments by others, some recommend not taking out the Roll Bar Upper Trim, as these are glued in and you may find it difficult to put it back together again.



Undo the Bolts from the Rear Lower Convertible Top Retainer, Right and Left side Convertible Top Retainer.


Remove Right and Left Corner Gusset, then disconnect both orange electrical sockets on the motors. Remove the motor on the Drivers side. Due to tight space, we left the passenger side motor on




Lastly before taking the top off, take off the Clips F shown on page 20-39 on the service manual. Step 10 and two on each side. These were a bugger to get out, and be careful as they are plastic and very soft.


Over the course, you'll have to put the hood up and down to gain space. Put the roof to half way position. Then push the rubber seals out of the bolts it is hanging on.




Lastly, undo the Convertible Top Assembly on both sides and it's Lift off!!!





Make sure you lay things out and put the nuts and bolts with their parts, keep things organised and tidy.



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Installation

It's basically doing the same thing but in reverse order. So I just pick out a few details which I think it's important or might be missed.

Make sure you connect the strap which the plastic screen doesn't have.


To put back the Clip F, I found it a lot easier to wrap it with masking tape, then it should go in smoothly. The centre plastic screw just pushes in, no need to screw it.



Go through page 20-49 in the Service Manual to adjust the hood.



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Few more piccies,








I hope this helps anyone who's wanting to do this. It is not difficult, just takes time and patience.

Good Luck!

~Man.

 

Why did you break the plastic roll hoops? They aren't supposed to come apart. You just undo the (16?) bolts and lift them up slightly.

Also VERY important is you remove the two centre tonneau clips or they will cut into the roof fabric near the glass - you dont want to do the job again in a couple of months!

 

Excellent job and writeup.

Whats next?

 

nice write up. how much did you get the glass roof for???

 

You missed one vital step.

Stand around scratching your head with one screw left over



Nicely done, as ever

 

What have you done about wiring in the glass screen demister thingy?

 

They will now rattle, and are a

 

Oh that "corner gusset" thing, the steel plate...on my car not only was it bolted on, it was stuck on too. I couldn't get it off at all when I was trying to get into the hood stowage area to retrieve a memory card I dropped.

 

No rattles so far

And Yep, the roll hoops does need gluing back together. No biggy I thought

In fact, I've removed some of the rattles I had before with the plastic hood.

Have not connected the demister as mine is MY00 and doesn't have the required wiring / hardware. So I've just hidden it behind the rear tray container.

Thanks for the tip Jel, I didn't release about the nibs.

 

The problem will come if you fit the tonneau, it will put pressure on the hoops and pull them apart

It's an easy mistake to make, Honda dealers did it all the time in the early days when they had to remove the hoops for a seat belt recall.