If anyone's got a junk set of brackets, it'll make it a lot easier. If not, I'm going to pull the trim off of my car and spec something out from that. I have an offer on my house in SD...so there may be a hard top in my not too distant future

 

Originally posted by LittleRocket
The brackets where the seatblets bolt too and the hartop rear latches clamp are part of the soft top. There is a riveted pivot point that you can drill out and remove to get the top off and keep the brackets.

If you take out the softtop, you can't even attach your seatbelts!

 

Originally posted by David Hawkins
If anyone's got a junk set of brackets, it'll make it a lot easier. If not, I'm going to pull the trim off of my car and spec something out from that. I have an offer on my house in SD...so there may be a hard top in my not too distant future

David I am glad to see that you are taking interest in even the little things. You are a real asset to Spyderchat.

 

There is a chance that a very cool guy here(he makes factory quality aluminium work 8) ) will make some brackets but he is busy right now. Can't wait to see what he can come up with

This would be great since we could take off the soft top without cutting anything.

 

Since an HT is in my future I too would love to take the softop out. Whoever does it first let me know!

 

I have located several salvage cars with destroyed tops. Later this month I can get a hold of a couple of patterns.

 

Do I get 1.5% of all sales for intellectual property? :mrgreen:

 

Originally posted by LittleRocket
I have located several salvage cars with destroyed tops. Later this month I can get a hold of a couple of patterns.

Go baby, go!

 

Hi everyone!

Once upon a time I had a Turbo Spyder and I think I was one of the first to remove the soft top.

The answer is yes, you need to cut a bracket on both sides to remove it. And yes, you could get a brackets from the junkyard and leave the fabric etc together on one setup then have the hard top on the other setup.

However, there are about a 100 screws that you have to deal with in order to do this. I found it much easier just to remove the hardtop on the days that I wanted to drive around in the sun...

Ed

 

Softtop removal complete!

Softtop frame, glass, and canvas weighed in at ~46 lbs on my bathroom scale. In addition to removing that, the drains (~2 lbs) and cabin crossbar (~ 6lbs) also are out.

Of course, the cut-off brackets went back on. Didn't bother weighing that, although they are probably between 5-10 lbs for two.

Lots of room now!

 

Seems like the cabin crossbar would be a good thing to keep in...

 

Originally posted by bmerton
Seems like the cabin crossbar would be a good thing to keep in...

I thought about it. A few have said not to take it out, one stating that in a front/rear crash w/o the bar, the car's sides would fold inwards.

However, I think that crossbar was "mainly" for the softtop to latch onto, as it's called the "tarpaulin support frame", and would do very little (if anything) in keeping the car's sides from concaving.

That being said, I could be completely wrong and should put the bar back in as you've stated. Or have a custom one fitted instead because the seats can recline w/o that bar!

 

For those out there who are wondering what kind of space there is if you remove the softtop after a hardtop install, here's your answer.

P.S. I plan to put the cabin crossbar brace back.

 

I plan to cover the chassis body with this black fabric I purchased. It looks almost like the material in the car.

Just need some time to get started on it. School is taking up most of my time right now.

 

I reckon you could get an extra row of seats in there now.

The world's first and only 4-seater MR2, anyone? :wink:

 

Bossman, I'm not a "sounds" type of person. I upgraded by headunit to an MP3/CD player, which is more than enough for me.


Ekona, it would be really cramped if you made a 2nd row of seats back there. The front seats would have to be pushed almost completely forward. Plus, according to our GVWR, the max car load is around 500 lbs. I guess you could have four 125-lb people.

I have carried two "small built" people (one in the passenger seat and one behind it) before the softtop removal. Surely it wasn't a comfortable seated position, especially with such a low ceiling.

It would have been awesome if the car was designed with a front bench seat, and a shifter on the dash... I reckon a MR-3. 8) :wink: