Replaced top - Bulge?
 

Afternoon!

I recently replaced my top and now i have this bulge and I can't figure out why it's there?

Ideas?

PZ

either something is stuck back there or its the forming bar

yep, and when you remove the bolts... REPLACE them! They look like ass! Dont put on a new top and secure it with rusty fasteners!

but whre do you get new bolts with the pins on the back to secure the cover to?

I dont know... Mazda?

Hell... take them off and spend 20 minutes with a bench grinder and clean them up!

oh... you were talking about something else... sorry

looks like there two part numbers are the bolts or "hook - a" and "hook - b"

FB67-R1-91YC
FB67-R1-91ZC

HOLY CRAP they're expensive... 25 and 15 bucks, respectively. yes... EACH!

i used one of those little sandblasters on mine and painted them, those bolts are highway robbery, never mind the FIRST one, think its like $50

Hi guys. I agree the bolts are spendy, i notice that too. I'll clean them up at a later date but my other tap was torn almost in 3 pieces so I wanted to get it swapped.

It must be the metal strip or frame piece I put on. This top didnt have it so i removed it from my old top and put in place. My top is REALLY tight and i know it's stretching out but I'm still nervous.

Did the torque amount in the service manual have anything to do with this? I didn;t understand why certain bolts were a certain numbers and others were different.

Take 'em off, send them out for powder coating. Paint just chips off, and in short order.

And the bulge is indeed the forming bar. Looks like it might have cracked for broke at that location. All you can do is replace it.

Those are called pull the dot fasteners from tenax. You can find replacements cheaper on the internet than from mazda. And i was lead to believe the forming bar was nla. Maybe im wrong. Im trying to wrap up my vert resto and both are pieces im in need of yet.

If you blast them the paint wont come off, but pc is probably cheap enough

The base where the skin mounts could be bent also.I had some rusted out,so I took it off with a grinder and found some brackets that had the same bolt thread inserts alreday on it.I cut the thing into strips and riveted it on and used that as a mount for the Skin Bolt.
Worked like a charm.
If you are so concerned,take a bolt or two out and look and see what it is.