Have any pics of the panels back on?

 

Where do you buy the brackets for the permanent mount in your picture?

 

Just noticed this thread again. I got a ton of PM's asking about the brackets. I'll just copy and paste the PM I was sending around.

"Since posting that I've gotten about 15 PM's on it haha...so I'll give you a copy and paste of what I wrote to the last guy:

Did you pull out all of your hardtop components? If so, the "race version" (What I have) would be best and cheapest, but you'd have to remove your softtop / softtop frame. The quality is great, though they come in polished aluminum...I had mine powedrcoated black. You will have to trim your interior slightly as well. The hardware surpasses OEM by a landslide though.

He actually just released a "street" version though that makes it where you don't have to remove your soft top. And I'm pretty sure you don't have to trim your interior for the front brackets anymore, he redesigned them.

http://www.izzyscustomcages.com/S200...pBrackets.html

if you have any other questions feel free to ask."


Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the panels back on, but it just looks stock. If I get a chance this weekend I'll take some. I highly recommend these...I always wished the s2000 had a coupe version, so this is by far the best mod I've done yet out of the 6 + years of ownership, now on my second s2000. Izzy brackets > OEM.

 

i would LOVE to do this, as after the hardtop went on, i had no desire to see the soft top again.

the only thing stopping me from doing it is the hit i'll take against the resale value if/when i ever want/need to sell the car. i plan on keeping it, well, forever...so maybe it's not an issue, but there's no way i'd ever want to put the soft top back in if it came out.

 

you wouldnt really gain to much more room because the gas tank is located under there as well as the spare.

 

Thanks for sharing the info.

Does one have to drill holes into the chassis for fastening the bolts? Or do they mate up to pre-existing holes?

 

[QUOTE=Silverf16,Oct 15 2009, 12:14 PM] Thanks for sharing the info.

Does one have to drill holes into the chassis for fastening the bolts?

 

Well he does make the new rear brackets where you don't have to remove all your soft top components. To tell you the truth the biggest problems I had with rattling/creaking was from the font hardtop latches/catchers. I'd say, just switching up just the front latches would be good enough. Though you would actually have have to remove the factory catchers / latches on the hardtop.

I'm personally not concerned with resale, this is my second s2000...and I have 6 years + of ownership. I'm keeping this one for life, hell I've only got about 16,500 on it.

 

If you do get a chance for pictures, I would like to see the front latch replacements and how you did the trimming on the panels.

Thanks

 

Just got the camera to take pics, batteries dead...but here's the thread that I bookmarked, where I found out about these brakets. Half way down the page has pics.

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...65258&st=50&hl=

As you can see the hardtop latches (Which WARNING are screwed in extremely tight, and have loctite)are completely replaced. Which leaves a hole in the hardtop headliner and exposes the paint. With my berlina, it matches my interior so I was lucky with that. You don't have to worry about cutting the interior headliner anymore cause he redesigned them. I'm pretty sure you still have to cut the rear panels a little though. Nothing major, and very easy with a dremel.

I guess this is the closest thing to an s2000 coupe there is, besides that white one. I was actually one of the lucky people to have my soft top slashed / seats stolen . So I decided to go permanent hardtop. One of the major things I liked about this idea, was the weight loss (Around 100lbs). Some people argue it's not enough weight to justify yanking everything down to the frame. I say weight-loss is awesome, especially in a car like ours . On my ap1 S, I had an OEM hardtop on it as well...and it came off maybe 2 times a year. So my main reasons for pulling everything is...I plan on keeping it forever, Not the biggest fan of top down driving, and useless slashed rag top. If you ever plan on selling your S in the future I wouldn't suggest doing this. Definitely weigh the pros and cons. Removing it all was a major PITA, I imagine the Reinstall would be just as bad. And if you sold it without the softtop, you'd obviously take a huge hit.