Just picked up an OEM hardtop and I have a few issues I'd like to sort out.

1. I'm missing one of the screws on the drivers side latch. One is flat and the other is kinda round, I need the flat one. Would it be this part number?

93600-06016-0G 072 006 SCREW, FLAT (6X16)

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...SOFT+TOP+FRAME


2. The top rattles when going over bumps, especially the drivers side latch area. However when I hold my hand on the latch it doesn't seem to rattle as much which leads me to think it's because I'm missing one of the screws.

3. What do people do with the latches on the soft top when folded? Mine like to lightly rattle.

4. What are the brackets at the rear of the hardtop for? In this picture they are right at the bottom beside the posts of the hardtop stand.



5. The headliner and seals smell like ciggarette smoke, LOL. Any tips/advice/products I can use to minimize the odor?



All help is much appreciated.

 

 

1. No idea

2. You can get spacers for the catchers to make it a tighter fit. That should help that

3. Mine do that and have been thinking of just taping them

4. That's there to rest on the soft top

5. No idea again

 

The rear brackets keep the softop from flopping around over big bumps.

Latch rattles are very common when it comes to softop latches and hardtop latches.

Definitely replace the missing screw first.

Some people stuff small slats of felt material between the plastic and metal parts of the latches, softop and hardtop as they rattle internally between the plastic and metal parts.

There is a full adjustment procedure for the hardtop, which can help when transferring between different vehicles if your hardtop rattles or moves around.

If the front of the top seems too loose, there are shims underneath each front latch , you can remove shims to tighten up the fitment. There are 3 shims per latch, I've removed some of mine. As a last resort you can also install washers under the front strikers to tighten it down even further.

Make sure your front strikers aren't worn, there is an improved hardtop striker that you can purchase if your car doesn't have them.

Lube up all of the front seals along the windshield with Shen Itsu grease prior to installation, grease the rear lower seal of the hardtop with grease as well. Grease the pin mounting indentations of the front strikers with a good grease, also grease the front latch pins, and the front latch hooks with grease too.

Hopefully the hardtop threaded insert with the missing screw isn't stripped or broken, I had a couple of them on my hood and they can be a bit of a pain to repair. Try the new screw first, the screws have different heads on them so the latch can close properly so make sure you get the right screw in the right location. Always use a large sized phillips screwdriver when working on the latch screws, it reduces the chance of stripping the heads and you can get a good bit of leverage on the screws as well.

No idea of how to remove smoke odours, give it a good cleaning with a vinyl cleaning product and give the glass a good cleaning as well, that may help remove some of the residue.

 

1. Yes that looks right. At first I thought it was the wrong one because the required qty says 6, but the other 4 should be for the strikers (2 on each side) and then there are the 2 for the latches (1 per side) that you need.
2. Yes missing 1 of the 2 bolts would probably create a rattling noise, HOWEVER, the OEM latches are notorious for rattling even when properly mounted. It’s a very common problem if you search “latch rattle” on s2ki.
3. Everyone’s seems to rattle….do a search for some methods. Some people buy new strikers so there is a tighter grip, others wrap the hooks with something. All depends if you want the rattle 100% gone or 99% gone. For 100% gone, most people go with permanent mounts like Izzy’s brackets.
4. I can’t see your pic b/c of my work firewall, but I’m guessing it’s the brackets w/ the rubber stopper pointed down. That is so your softtop will hit the rubber stoppers in case you try to raise it with the hardtop on. However if you are using the OEM hard top hardware with the OEM driver side rear bracket, then the soft top switch should be deactivated once the pin is pushed down on the bracket.
5. Scrub the surface with interior cleaner as best you can.

 

You guys are amazing, LOL.

So much advice in under half an hour, thanks fellas!

 

Source your latch screws from the hardtop menu, parts 34 and 35, one is flat the other isn't, I believe the hardtop screws are longer as the threaded inserts are deeper on the hardtop, about 20mm in length compared to 16 on the softop.

If you are getting the hardtop second hand there are two rubber caps /stoppers that snap onto the softop metal frame as part of the hardtop kit, if you don't use them it might increase softop rattle when it is in the down postion. I bought them separately when I got my hardtop, but I can't remember the part numbers.

Use a little bit of grease on the rear catchers/latch pins to keep them quiet too.

 

Thanks for the tip.

 

Interior detailer won't likely get all the smell out, unfortunately. Luckily your headliner is vinyl, so I'd recommend getting a cheap portable steam cleaner (I got mine from Canadian Tire) and blasting the entire area. I just finished doing this with the vinyl headliner in my Type R. It was so gross, brownish yellow gunk came oozing out everywhere the steam hit. But the headliner now looks great and it doesn't smell! You can clean the seals this way too.

 

Alright cool, thanks for the tip! I'll try some heavy duty cleaner tomorrow and see what happens as well.