How To: Replace the Soft Top
by Kool PT | March 1, 2009 4:35 pm
OK, after managing to find myself a new Toyota soft-top at a fraction of the standard new price I was stuck wondering if I should attempt to fit it myself or put it to a garage/fitter for peace of mind. Toyota said it would take 8 hours to do and quoted me something like £700 inc vat to fit. I managed to get my own hands on a guide of sorts so I thought I might as well give it a go as it was forecast to be a nice weekend. I have not finished the re-assembly yet but I thought I would post pics of the disassembly. From fully fitted to entirely removed took me 2.5 hours on my own – and I am far from a mechanical expert, a year ago I had never even changed a car’s oil or fitted a new air filter.
Here is the car as it looked first thing this morning. I had fitted a perspex window which was fastened on with pop-rivets. Less than ideal but kept the wind and rain out save for a bit of moisture from time to time. If anyone else finds themselves in my boat I would recommend it as a quick fix as there isn’t much that can be done with the old roof.
1. Pop off the scuff plates on both sides of the car. There are 4 clips which hold them on, push them inwards with a screwdriver or similar object to unlatch them. I used a current testing tool, with a pointed end which turned out to be perfect for this and the other steps that require a similar action.
2. Remove the ‘lower rear separator covers’ by pulling out the fastenings marked on both sides of the car. I used my fingers for some and a pair of needle nose pliers for the more stubborn ones. You might want to wrap the latter in duck tape or similar if you’re protective about the condition of your fastenings. Once the fittings are out, lift the whole thing out of the cabin.
3. Remove ‘quarter trim panels’. First step is to undo the bolt which fastens the seatbelt to the floor.
Now pop out the two fastenings at the top of each quarter panel. You just pop the central circle down with a pointy object (I used my trusty circuit tester again) and then you can lift them out. Once complete, pop out the panel and feed the seatbelt through the slot to remove completely.
4. Remove luggage compartment lids. Not much to mention here, undo the 6 bolts which hold them on. The lids are remarkably heavy, I might leave them off once I’ve finished to save a bit of weight.
5. Remove luggage compartment boxes. First thing’s first, undo the 2 screw/bolts on the vertical face of each compartment:
Then unclip this wire and pop it out of the driver’s side box using pliers on the fastening underneath.
Then lift out each box starting with the passenger side – the way it fastens prohibits removal of the driver’s side compartment first.
6. Disconnect seatbelt from shoulder height fastening point. 1 bolt holds it in place.
7. Pop out the pull leaver front plate, unscrew the two fastenings behind it and remove.
8. Remove wind deflector. Pop out the two plates which conceal the fastening nuts.
Then unscrew it in 4 places and lift out.
9. Remove luggage compartment cover/garnish.
These two bits are held on with a bunch of plastic clips.
10. Remove tarpaulin material from horizontal frame. 4 screwing caps undone and it’s off the cross bar.
Then make sure it’s unpopped from the fabric at each side too, and remove.
11. Remove horizontal frame/cross bar, 2 bolts at either side of it and it’s out.
12. Remove ‘room partition board’. This is the acrylic wool covered plastic ‘floor’ for the back of the interior. It is fastened with three plastic clips which pop out. Left right & centre.
Notice however that to access this you need to lift up the ‘parcel shelf’. This wasn’t mentioned in my guide but it pushes on to the clip that you can see in the hole of the board. It also attaches via two lengths of chord to the frame of the soft top here:
These just unclip and fold out to release the chord at either side.
13. Unscrew the soft-top from its fittings.
There are a bunch of nuts (circled in red) which keep the top bolted. Undo all of the ones at the back, now look at the miniature steel frame that runs along the side of the roof.
There are 4 or 5 nuts of varying kinds to undo here, then there is the one which I have pointed an arrow to. It’s pretty hard to get to so use an extension for your socket wrench. Little did I know at this point that it is 20 times harder to get back on afterwards!
14. Pull aside the remaining interior tarpaulin material from around the main pillar fixing. I don’t have a picture for this, but there also 3 more screws from memory that hold the main pillar onto the body. One is a large brass coloured bolt, the other two are just regular screws.
15. Now take a visual note of any extra tarpaulin material and move it out of place if required. You should pick up some double sided tape to stick it back into position once the new top is on. Start to move the soft top’s rubber lining outward from the car body like so:
There is a sort of steel gasket which runs along the back length of the window – remember to put this back on first before screwing the nuts back on when you come to fit the new top.
Once it’s been pulled off the bolts that are attached to the body, remove the whole thing with the aid of a helper, lifting upwards from the main pillar.
Et Voila!
This image has been automatically resized. Click to view original at 800×600
Re-installation is the same procedure in reverse.
I have been running with my new roof on for 2 weeks now, no problems so far. It feels great to be able to get the top down again
Source URL: https://midshiprunabout.org/mk3/replacing-the-soft-top/