The Turtle Gets Shelled

Soft Tops...Bah! 

Some people buy a Miata specifically because you can easily drop the top for the open air driving experience.  I'm one of the few Miata owners who could actually care less about it being a convertible, and actually see the Soft Top as kind of a hindrance for the car.

As a convertible, the Miata chassis is kind of "sloppy."  With about 3/4's of the roof structure being replaced with a metal frame and a canvas or vinyl covering, the factory Soft Top offers little in the area of protection from thieves or support to the car.  Also at highway speeds, the wind noise can be quite irritating as well.

I bought the car to enhance it's performance and occasionally "drive it in anger" on the track but it's a street car for the most part.  A Hard Top would serve to help stiffen the car up a bit, offer better protection from the elements, make it more pleasant to drive and look a lot better.

I wanted to retain the Soft Top in case I ever needed to pull the Hard Top off, or got a wild hair and wanted to take it out as a convertible.  So, I decided to keep an eye out for a Hard Top while the car was off the road to fix the Oil Pan .

Hello Craigslist My Old Friend..

Surprisingly, I was able to find a hardtop available in the local area off of Craigslist. It was located about 3miles from my apartment and I headed over to check it out, before it got snagged up by someone else.

  It was a OEM Mazda hard top from a early Miata, so it didn't have a defroster.  It wasn't perfect, with some slight damage to the edges in some spot with faded red paint.  I made an offer and the seller accepted.  He helped me load it into the Raider, and I was off with my new prize.

Lucky Find

I still needed the side striker plates to completely mount the hardtop, so I placed an order for them from a dealership online.  The car had a set of "Frankenstein Bolts" from a previous hard top install, so I was able to throw it on the car and see what it looked like.

Red And Green...Not A Good Combination

Two Things That Don't Go Great Together

Obviously, the Green/Red combo was, pretty garish.  A buddy at work told me he had a friend who could paint the top for me at a decent price, and repair the damage to the edges.  I drove the car out to his place, and left the top with him for a few weeks.  It took awhile because he was doing it as a favor, and for FAR less than what a few shops in the area wanted to charge.

Take your time man, I can wait.

Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch

With the hardtop off, I could deal with a few other things that needed to be taken care of.  One of the "Frankenstein Bolts" was loose, the power antenna had gotten bent due to a mishap with my garage door and the Bose Head Unit needed to be replaced.

Revenge Of Frankenstein

The loose "Frankenstein Bolt" was due to a broken captured nut on the driver's side.  The bolt wasn't threaded in fully and was spinning in place.  Using a ratchet and universal joint on a socket, I was able to hold the nut in place and unscrew the bolt.  Easy.

The passenger side?  Not so easy.  The bolt seized up on the stud, and after a fight was removed.  The stud seized in the nut and was pretty much destroyed in the process of removal.  I wound up breaking the captured nut under the bolt, and everything dropped free.  Not my proudest moment, but it worked.

Screw You.  I Win.

I ordered a replacement set of bolts, and while I waited for them to arrive, I took the opportunity to paint the trim plates under the bolts with special tinted paint designed to smoke chrome trim and wheels.  The effect I got was a kind of "Piano Black" which was far more attractive than the anodized Gold finish that it came with.

After the new bolts and studs arrived, I bought a set of nuts with the proper thread and installed everything, in preparation for the repainted hardtop.

Radio Ga Ga

Took care of a few other things while the hardtop was being painted.  I installed a JVC Bluetooth head unit to replace the factory BOSE unit that came with the car.  I used a Scosche C4MA02 to convert the speaker level output of the aftermarket head unit to a line level signal that the factory BOSE amplifier could use.

Since my Miata only uses two speakers, I also de-pinned a unused lead from the adapter to act as a 12V trigger wire for the factory amplifier.  This wire was soldered to the 12V power antenna wire coming off the aftermarket head unit harness and was placed in the Scosche adapter plug to mate up with the Light Green Wire with a Black Stripe on the factory radio plug.  This is the trigger wire for the factory amp.  With this setup, your power antenna and the Bose amplifier should switch on whenever you power the head unit up.

Full details are available at this link:  Bose Amp/Aftermarket Head Unit

Of course, I did all this work before I destroyed the power antenna mast backing out of the garage with the door partially down.

Figures.

Since a broken power antenna mast is no bueno, I replaced the base with a new non power assembly.  To clean up the look a bit, I installed a shorty aluminum mast and painted the trim ring for the base to give it a piano black look as well. The radio reception isn't the greatest, but I rarely listen to the radio anyway, relying on Pandora, CD's or music on a USB drive.

It's Done!

Got a call, saying the hardtop was ready.  Drove the Miata to pick it up and pay the guy.  I think he did a good job.  And for a LOT less than what I was quoted at a body shop.

Is This The Same Top?

Shiny Top, Dirty Car

I was pretty pleased with the work, and talked to him about doing the hood and bumpers for me as well, in a few weeks.  I couldn't believe it was the same top.  I was so stoked, I decided to wash the car and snap another picture of the car.

 

Squeaky Clean

The car is a lot more civilized to drive now.  Much quieter at highway speeds, looks a ton better and feels much more secure with an actual structural piece tying the vehicle structure together.

Now If I Could Just Get It To Stop Leaking When I Wash It...

Alpha, Mike, Foxtrot.....