how far are you from alexandria/burke(ish)? mind helping out in the future?

 

To take a top out and put the new one in fighting around all of the interior I would plan on giving yourself 8 hours to be safe. It's not hard but there are a lot of steps.

 

You can purchase the Robbins Conversion Glass top that comes with everything you'll need and still use the AP1 frame. I've installed those before, and it's not too bad. I was going to do that to my MY00, until I found a deal on a MY06 OEM top and frame.

 

I can't find any threads on replacing frames but I'm looking at this. Should I follow all the steps up to the tray removal? What about the roll hoops? Is it necessary to slice the old cloth?

 

If you're doing a complete frame swap, then pull out everything behind the seats including the roll hoops, then remove the frame. You don't have to do anything to the top itself.