Regarding the no lights on dash - if you have exhausted the checking the reostat and the fuse and still no lights, have a look in the archives to see how to remove the glove box ( 3 screws on bottom - 2 on top - wiggle glove box out - undo map light wires) and get a flashlight and look for a wiring harness that plugs into the various items coming from the area where the instruments are - the harness may be unplugged, the bulbs may be dead - you can try to see if there is any current in the bulb holders - you may need to pull the radio out to get a better look at which time you can look for current - is the radio grounded. I was so excited to get a radio that I installed it and the speaker and the heater levers that I forgot to put the wiring harness back in - no lights at night for heater etc.
My heater switch was dead so I jumped the wires and had two speeds so I used a toggle switch until I got the proper switch - the heater fan is lame though.
Soft top - mine has never worked by doing the front first - its just too tight and I have never stretched it out - my process is as follows: I open the top, secure back first, open fully and carefully pull each front side cam into the the receiver thingy (its a two handed job) and when both are just sitting in there I tighten one at a time by turning the cam slightly until it sits in the hole then tighten it up. I'm afraid that I will rip the windshield apart because the top is so tight but it hasn't happened yet.
Go slow and look for the obvious items.
