Hi Folks,
I'm going to look at a hardtop and fitting kit tomorrow, and will buy if it's as described. I'll have to have it fitted there and then, and wanted to ask a couple of quick questions.
Is it necessary to undo the seatbelt mountains? ISTR reading somewhere that this isn't strictly necessary. Is that true?
Also, roughly how long would it take for me and the seller to fit it ourselves, including fitting kit? I'm brand new to the MR2, with no experience. He's had some experience with the MR2, in general, but never fitted a top/fitting kit before. Any ideas? Thanks
I've no actual experience in this and I'm sure someone more practiced will be along but as far as I'm aware it's a case of making sure your soft top is fully and safely stowed, loosely fitting the side strikers, fitting the rear latches/hook plates then offering up the top.
Then make the adjustments to the side strikers to make sure everything is nice and tight when you clamp it on.
Obviously you'll need to cut your seatbelt trims to fit the strikers which doesn't necessarily mean removing them, it's only if you're removing the trims you're going to have to undo the bottom seatbelt mount to thread it through.
You'll need to connect your heater cable too remember.
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As above.
Just run the heater up high for 10 minutes to make sure the soft top is warm enough to fold.
30 minutes including tea break.
Johnny, I'm doing similar on Saturday (transferring my hardtop over to @james_ly (https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=25285) ), so would be keen to lend a hand / learn some lessons... drop me a PM if it is happening in the evening and I might be able to loop out to you on the way home.
I was "involved" when mine was installed previously, but there were two experienced people working around me, so I missed some of the parts of the install.
In addition to the usual tools*, apparently cable ties are a common requirement for keeping the side-strikes firmly in place.
FYI - it was an uninstall + install (took it off one car and installed on mine) in about 45min, incl tea and lots of chatting.
*I'm working on this list, but it was a collection of:
- sockets (for the bins / seatbelts)
- torx (quite a large one for the rear hooks)
- screw drivers (e.g. philips for the bins)
- torque wrench (need to work out the torque settings for the seatbelt in particular)
- plastic trim removal tools
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS26UyEdljc
Looks fairly straightforward, will find out with @BahnStormer (https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=24604) !
Quote from: BahnStormer on November 22, 2018, 15:37
Johnny, I'm doing similar on Saturday (transferring my hardtop over to @james_ly (https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=25285) ), so would be keen to lend a hand / learn some lessons... drop me a PM if it is happening in the evening and I might be able to loop out to you on the way home.
I was "involved" when mine was installed previously, but there were two experienced people working around me, so I missed some of the parts of the install.
In addition to the usual tools*, apparently cable ties are a common requirement for keeping the side-strikes firmly in place.
FYI - it was an uninstall + install (took it off one car and installed on mine) in about 45min, incl tea and lots of chatting.
*I'm working on this list, but it was a collection of:
- sockets (for the bins / seatbelts)
- torx (quite a large one for the rear hooks)
- screw drivers (e.g. philips for the bins)
- torque wrench (need to work out the torque settings for the seatbelt in particular)
- plastic trim removal tools
Hi,
Thanks for that. Unfortunately doing swap tomorrow at 1.00, in sunny Mansfield. I'll try and post on here how it goes.
No probs - just thought I'd ask in case you were doing it in Surrey :)
Let me know if there's anything significantly different to the video - off the top of my head, amendments I would make:
- The cuts he took into the plastics were huge: you don't want them touching (and squeaking), but mine are much neater - symmetric gap, probably <2mm. But then mine came with the hardtop from the donor car, so I'll be putting my originals back in.
- We took the bins out entirely to avoid damaging the plastics, but then we had the bottom of the seatbelts off too as we were changing plastics.
- I think the heater cable was routed slightly further back.
- .... any more?
Mod - copyright content removed
Ummm... okay - sorry, makes sense, but in my defence, I was just quoting a previous thread :-\
Torque settings? Just give it a few ugga duggas with the gun, she'll be reet!
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Quote from: Call the midlife! on November 23, 2018, 17:22
Torque settings? Just give it a few ugga duggas with the gun, she'll be reet!
Well... either that... or the long breaker bar, to make sure its REALLY tight!!!
:withstupid:
Seriously though: from memory it was 8Nm-18Nm for the top bolts (I know - weird range) and 42Nm for the seatbelt bolt at the bottom.
Quote from: BahnStormer on November 23, 2018, 18:01
Quote from: Call the midlife! on November 23, 2018, 17:22
Torque settings? Just give it a few ugga duggas with the gun, she'll be reet!
Well... either that... or the long breaker bar, to make sure its REALLY tight!!!
:withstupid:
Seriously though: from memory it was 8Nm-18Nm for the top bolts (I know - weird range) and 42Nm for the seatbelt bolt at the bottom.
To be honest I never bother with torque settings for things like that, they're not structural and nice and tight is plenty tight enough.
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Ah, I thought you were joking!! Beyond just shearing bolt-heads off and stripping threads entirely, I've twisted the whole thread on a bolt before by over-torquing it, so I'm paranoid about any bolt now.
Well I was being light hearted about the ugga duggas after stripping a seat mounting screw previously but I usually just do ones like the seatbelts nice and tight without swinging on them.
Suspension/frame etc I'll use a torque wrench for safety sometimes.
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Got my new hardtop today. Fitting wasn't too bad. The seller, who never fitted it to his car, watched the person he bought it from fit it for him. That, and me watching the above video, was enough info. He did about 80% and I did 20%. 1 hour, to swap entirely over from his car to mine.
I discovered that you undo seatbelts only if you're going to exchange plastics. Keep your old plastics and dremel a hole in them, and you don't need to undo belts.
One other thing. When undoing the seatbelt, be very careful not to hurt yourself. The bolts are on with what feels like loctite, and when they go, they go suddenly, and the socket wrench lurches violently like it has slipped. Mind knuckles!
Car drives differently. Doesn't crash over bumps any more, and handles better. I'm not saying it's got more grip. It just feels better thrown into a corner enthusiastically. Surrounding traffic noise: gone. Wind noise on motorway: gone. Stereo: audible at a lower volume. I have a feeling I'm going to be one of those people who keeps hardtop on in all but summer heatwave weather.
Torque settings taken from the Repair Manual (Service Specifications - Body) in the 3 units shown and a cut and paste job:
TORQUE SPECIFICATION (N-m/kgf-cm/ft-lbf)
SEAT BELT – – –
Front seat outer belt shoulder anchor x Body 42 420 30
Front seat outer belt floor anchor x Body 42 420 30
Front seat outer belt retractor x Body Upper side: 7.5 76 66 in.•lbf
Front seat outer belt retractor x Body Lower side: 42 420 30
Front seat inner belt x Front seat 42 420 30
Good info. Thanks. Probably wise for us all to have this knowledge, as seatbelts are a safety related item. Admin, could this info be added to "Torque Reference Guide" in the Reference section?
Quote from: Johnny5 on November 23, 2018, 20:55
I have a feeling I'm going to be one of those people who keeps hardtop on in all but summer heatwave weather.
Glad to hear you've got the hardtop fitted OK and you've found the benefits of having it on the car for the winter. Why not do what a lot of members like myself do - take it off when the clocks go forward in spring and put it back on when they go back in Autumn. That way you get the best of both worlds - a soft top & roof down motoring in the nice weather and a nice cosseted environment in the cold dreary winter months ;)
I meant to make a note of this at the time.
Tools required :
T30 torx,
Phillips screw driver.
10mm and 12mm socket
Perhaps an extension for the sockets (especially around the seat belts and the rear mounts), bit that's depending on the size of yout sockets and wrench
and a plastic pry-tool for the little plugs (under the blanking plates) might help.
Some good sized cable ties are probably worth having on standby to make sure the latches stay down.
Then either a torque wrench (42Nm) and 14mm socket if you're swapping the plastics over
OR a dremmel for the plastics cutting, if you you don't have plastics to swap over.
Feel free to contribute more if you think I've missed anything.
I think it took us an hour, but that was a full swap over using one set of tools and a bit of ambling back and forth.
Yep, as said, fitting very straightforward, the instructions made it seem more complicated than it actually was for me!
Quote from: james_ly on November 26, 2018, 09:25
Yep, as said, fitting very straightforward, the instructions made it seem more complicated than it actually was for me!
Agreed - was really very straight-forward and easy taking our time, as we did... I think the only slight time-waster that "we" did was when I was trying to save time by putting my blanking plates back on as soon as I'd taken the rear mounts off: I should have waited for the 2nd bolt and plug from your car first, THEN put the blanking plates on.