Unfortunately overdid the zip when zipping up and it’s now not in sync. When I try to unzip to try to recover the ‘teeth’ to be all together the whole thing starts to undo. I’m petrified if I keep unzipping there’s no way I’ll be able to rezip and so have the whole back exposed.
Just had a bill for hundreds to renew the power steering pipes so really not keen to get a new roof (the plastic and roof are ok).
Have I had it with the zip? Any ideas how to fix the zipping mechanism
I apologise for what appears a trivial question but as you may appreciate, being non technical, the implications of having it all unzipped and not knowing how to fix it means the car gets very wet inside when it rains. Thanks in advance
Don’t be daunted. The end of the zip is held together by a metal “staple”. If you unbend and remove that with needle nosed pliers, you can take the zip slider right off, then realign the two sides of the zip before you put the slider back on and replace the staple.
It may well be that the zip came apart because the slider is worn and isn’t pressing the two sides together effectively. I expect you can still buy a new slider from Mazda for about a fiver. Used to have the part number somewhere. Will let you know if I find it.
Edit: Part number is NA01-R1-250B Hooray for the archived old forum: http://www.mx5ocforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=52394
Hope that helps.
Martin
Thanks very much for your useful comments. I decided to take a long term view and bite the bullet however - avoid any probs in the winter.
Just to let anyone know who may be interested I received an excellent service today (mobile) by company called Car Hood based in Chessington who supplied and fitted a brand new vinyl replacement hood for my Mk1 for £280 incl VAT
That is a good price for the roof and I am sure that the new roof is very nice, but if anyone else has this problem and does not want to replace the roof I managed to fix the zip.
The same thing happened to me a few days ago, but my roof is not an original mazda one, and you could not take the zipper of the actual zip as you could not get to the end of the zip. Also the roof is in good condition, so I did not what the cost of replacing it.
I managed to resolve the problem using a pair of pliers. I found all I needed to do was squash the zipper so it pushed down onto the actual zip a little tighter. Which would be easy if it was not trying to reach into the back of the car on a hot day trying to reach it!!! This then cause the zipper to ensure that the zip would stay together and not re-open when closing the zip. Have a search on google for ‘repair separated zip’ and you will find some people explain it much better then me! I finally but some WD40 on the zip (other people have said candle wax works well) so the zip move really freely now putting less stress on the zip.
Hope this helps someone else!
Rob
Thanks for the tip Rob, my zipper has separated at both ends and I’ve checked the google advice; just need some pliers now! Will then give it a whirl.
Cheers,
Claire
Mk 1 Red Miata (US Import lives in Bristol)
The zip is seperate at both ends. It should have a large staple in it to keep it together. New zippers are available from Mazda at about £7
When I bought mine I was told that releasing the tension from the screen clips before trying to open/close zip would lengthen the life of the zip. 
Hi,
I manged to sort my separating (at both ends) zip last weekend after following the links on Google to ‘separated zipper repair’ and with a pair of long-nosed pliers and a friend! It’s all fixed now. Used an old lip salve to help ease it along too, worked wonders!
There are also pix to help sort out the whole zipper if it’s out of sync, which mine was too. Check out Google, better than me trign to explain at lenght.
Good luck,
Claire
Pleased you got it fixed and all it cost you was a little bit of time.