I picked up an OEM hard top this past weekend and spent all day yesterday removing my crappy soft top and adjusting the hard top. I understand the front latches are not adjustable but can be made adjustable. Before doing so though:
How much front gap do you have on your OEM top?
Is it different on each side?

For me, I have 9mm on passenger side and 11mm on drivers.

I'm asking because I'm trying top line up the gap at the top corner of the quarter to bottom corner of the tops window. (See picture)

I can't help that I'm a perfectionist. If I can't get it though, then oh well. At least I tried.

 

Anybody with some assistance?

 

Do you have access to the Honda measurements for aligning the top ?. Here is the link to the installation instructions, see page 6 for the alignment specs, but read the entire document.

https://www.handa-accessories.com/s2000/s2k2top.pdf


It gets centered between the passenger side and driver side at the rear. The height adjustment at the rear is measured 185mm from the moulding seam as you see on page 6 of the document listed above. The front height is supposed to be about 1mm lower than the windshield frame when closed. So there are a number of measurements that you need to look at, not really the way you are doing it.

I always found the driver side sat higher on my car, and I've read this about quite a few others. You tighten up the front by removing the shims under the latches. The latches come from the factory with about 3 shims (1mm each) sandwiched between the latch and the hardtop, as you remove shims the hardtop tightens up. I've removed all of mine. If that is not enough then you can look at placing washers under the front striker plates, but that would be a last resort after pulling shims from under the latches.

 

Thank you zeroptzero for the response. I had used the manual when installing and adjusting the rear gap and I just read over it twice again to see if I had missed measurements for the front gap. There are no measurements posted, only a picture depicting the front latch system with a small line to show the hardtop sitting lower than the windshield frame.

However, there is nothing about how far forward it should sit. The rear latch bases have about 4mm of play on install and so do the latch posts. Should I be installing them pulled back so they are pulling on the strikers or forward pushing the hardtop closer to the windshield.

Like I said, I'm sort of a perfectionist, so to see things not lining up perfect after following the instructions and measurements, slightly bums me out...

 

It is pretty much a self adjusting process if you follow the installation guide, you don't have to pull the latches in any direction as the hardtop should self-adjust itself to the correct position. Every vehicle is going to have a different situation with some slight deviation in the body/windshield frame, and each hardtop structure can have some deviations as well - i.e. warpage. The vehicle body flexes, and so does the hardtop ever so slightly, so you can have some deviation between the two.

There isn't any adjustment forward or rearwards on the front latches so keep them tight, you can adjust the latch height by removing shims if your top does not sit right when it is fully tightened down - looking for the hardtop to sit approx. 1mm lower than the windshield frame as you noted. Make sure your striker plates are not worn out and that you indeed have hardtop striker plates on the front , and not softop striker plates.

Install the top with the rear latches full loose - all five bolts loose. You don't have to put them in any particular position as the top will self-adjust once you clamp the front latches. Clamp down the front latches and that pulls the hardtop to the supposed correction forward position. Center the rear of the hardtop left and right, then tighten down the five bolts on each of the rear latches. Close the rear latches and check your gaps.

That is about all you can adjust other than the shims under the front latches and potentially adding washers under the front strikers to pull the front latches down tighter if your top sits too high at the front. Your one picture shows the one front corner sitting too high, thus I would look at adjusting the front latch and/or striker plate on that corner to pull down that corner further. (remove shims under latch or add washer under striker plate.

 

Is the OEM Hardtop a rep OEM Style or is it a OEM From Honda? I have the OEM top from Honda and it fits perfect all the way around with the OEM Hardware.

 

Thanks again zero. I'll keep fiddling with it till it sits as best as I can get it. I'm about to test it thorough a car wash, if it passes then I'll be satisfied. My soft top fit horribly, was VERY loud (air gaps), and flowed water in rain. So just about anything I do will be am upgrade top that.

516- it's factory OEM with OEM hardware. Only thing it's missing are the data stickers.

 

You will get leaks in a carwash. I've done it before despite knowing that you should not run the car through carwashes. The main area of leakage is at the vertical portions of the driver and passenger windows, easily cleaned up with a towel so take some towels with you if you plan on doing this. This is on a perfectly fitting hardtop after adjustment. I did not get any leakage along the top windshield frame, all leaks occurred at the driver and passenger side windows. Mine does not leak when driving in torrential rain storms, but you will get leaks under the pressure of a car wash.

 

I have a love hate relationship with my OEM hardtop...

I am not a convertible guy, so I LOVE my OEM hardtop... I love everything (functionally) about my hardtop... The noise insulation, the temperature insulation, the clean appearance of the finished headliner, the highly visible wraparound rear window, the exterior appearance... It's all good...

I absolutely hate the finicky fitment and installation... My initial installation resulted in a ton of wind noise at high speeds because the lip of the front was every so slightly raised up. After I fixed that, I had some squeaking and rattling. Some of my issues were resolved with some Shin-Etsu grease on the rubber seals, which left some loose rattling in my front latches...the problem was not the latches themselves, but the fact that the latches never clamped down the roof tightly...there was always some "play" in the roof that caused the front of the roof to rattle around...

I replaced the soft top strikers with hardtop strikers...that helped, but didn't solve my issues... I finally bought some shims and that finally quieted things down really nicely... In fact, I would call my installation at this point "SILENT" (big claim, right?). Even with this near perfection installation, the latches still didn't seem to draw the roof down tightly...it still seemed "loose", but there was no play in the roof, so there was not rattle... I was happy... for a while...

Unfortunately, I installed my hardtop with the one-piece "Izzy-Style" rear brackets, and I made the genius decision that I wanted to move to OEM brackets so that I could remove the roof easily if in pinch (even though I am not a convertible guy)... Makes no sense, right?

Well, as you would guess, all the hard work I did to get my SILENT and perfect install went out the window when I removed everything and introduced the OEM brackets... Now I had to take the roof on and off and screw and unscrew the brackets to reposition things... The rattling problem was still in the front...but I couldn't figure out how to get the rear adjusted in a way that replicated my previous installation with the front's latching without any play...

After some frustrating hours, I was finally able to get the roof to about the same SILENCE as my previous installation... I don't know how I did it..and I am afraid to ever touch it again to be honest...

But as of now, I have my OEM brackets in place, and a great silent installation... Crossing my fingers that I don't have to go through that ever again...

Let me know if you need any help or advice to eliminate your noise issues (or if you just need some therapy)... Honestly, I think S2000 hardtop owners need to start a support group or a 10-step program!!!

 

HAHA, I know what you went through! I have a Forbidden Double-sided carbon fiber hardtop on right now and I went through the same ordeal! The rattling (sounds like a marble in a jar) was driving me CRAZY. Adjustments only cured the problem for a few days. It was so bad that I thought maybe it was an ill-fitting aftermarket hardtop and ended up buying an OEM top, lol! I couldn't install it right away b/c the OEM top didn't come with the catchers. In the meantime, I finally managed to fix it all and it's now silent and has been like this for a few months (you can hear it flexing when going over rough roads though)! I'll end up buying catchers and installing the OEM top, I dread the adjustments that I may need to make to make it silent though. Where did you buy your catchers from Mike?

To the OP, you should definitely check out some hard top strikers. They are supposedly a little thicker than the soft top strikers.