Soft top replacement without removing roll hoops/seats
 

I recently replaced my top with an OEM blue one, and read this thread for some guidance beforehand: https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/882...t-diy-for-my02


My car spends the winter in a 10x15 storage unit, so I needed to swap tops and remove as little as possible due to time & space constraints.

I've read posts mentioning not pulling the roll hoops but no clear mention of what needs to be done differently. I left my seats in, and only pulled what I absolutely needed to. I did much of the work through the trunk after removing the spare.

To pull the plastics to the side of the rear tray, this screw needs to be removed from each side:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45...psd0fsui3c.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45...pshcg00uw9.jpg

After removing the other screw and two plastic fasteners that are visible from the top, that piece will slide out in an arc towards the middle of the car. There is one clip underneath that you will need to disengage from the plastic as you move it.

One thing that I noticed afterwards is that my roll hoop plastics dont look super tight... so there may be side effects of yanking this thing out with too much aggression. I'm also sure that if you do it too aggressively you could snap the plastics, so be careful. Taking these out this way, and putting them back in (especially) takes a bit of effort/contortion.

I removed the door sill, the rear/side plastic, and the small rear plastic behind each seat in order to get to the screw pictured above. Seats, center console, and roll hoops stayed in. One other thing I realized that other DIY threads don't show is that the middle weatherstrip doesn't need to be removed, save some time and leave it in.

I did the top removal/install in about 6 hours, and finished up the plastics/cleanup another day in a few hours.


Blue on blue!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45...pstusempdq.jpg

Couldve saved yourself some aggravation with the seats out as well, but good tips for those interested u tackling this job themselves.

For sure. I almost yanked the driver side one, pulling them both wasn't going to happen due to the small space. No place to put them really, and I couldn't open both doors fully.

Soft Top Magic
 

I know I'm waking up a thread that's old, but i'm surprised more people haven't commented on this post.
I am currently going to replace my soft top this weekend and have read all the usual and popular threads everyone has recommended.
I find most of them a bit convoluted and unnecessary. If you get this before i do the job this weekend, i wonder..
Is there anything that you would do differently with the installation that you can remember.
I still can't believe you were able to put the top on in such a cramped working area with taking less crap out and got the job done in 6 hours.
I wonder if the work you did has still held up since 2015.

Thanks!

Still can't believe you'd attempt this without the usual stripping of the interior. All in all, removing everything wasn't too bad for me, just take your time and be patient.

I can't imagine doing it any other way personally, but I do have a tight garage and not-so-great lighting as well, so every little bit counts for me.

Mission accomplished
 

Now that was a loooong ass job! End result is all that matters though so at least you got it done.

By the way (and not to thread jack), how rich is your car running? Boosted? The rear bumper is soot-ed up from the exhaust quite a bit

[left]
Yes I’m glad it’s over and the job well done.
Have not checked to see how rich it’s running at the moment. I’m NA and yet I’m pretty sure the car is running rich. It has a Mugen ecu and a high flow