hood hard to close!

PM7 · Postby **PM7** » 25 Mar 2011 12:32

Ive had the hood down twice over the last couple of weeks and left it til early eve to put up, but had to realy fight with it to get it to locate, it is a vinyl roof and i think it must have contracted in the cold. Does this happen with mohair?

Patrick.

1981 DHC.
1980 Premium x2

Hasbeen · Postby **Hasbeen** » 25 Mar 2011 12:49

Yes. I left home, hood down at 5.00 AM, & ran into fog & cold in the mountains. I had to park in a sunny spot, out of the fog, & wait half an hour for the hood to warm up, & then get a passer by to help to get the mohair hood to locate.

Hasbeen

FI Spyder · Postby **FI Spyder** » 25 Mar 2011 15:51

My original hood while it looks brand new (rear window finally showing some fog) is hard to put up if it's not warm. It's a little stiff. I have to warm it up with a hair dryer to get it pinned and snapped up. Pulling the rear bar forward while pulling the front forward and down to get the pins in helps. I have to watch before I leave the garage, if there's a chance of rain and it's cooler I have the top up. If the temp's going to drop off when the sun goes down I put the top up while the sun's still on it. Makes it tricky in spring when showers can pop up unexpectedly and sometimes some cooler top down driving at night. It a bit of a pain in the butt but I can't really justify changing it when it still looks like new. I have to be aware of what the weathers going to do before you head out with checking the internet for doppler radar, satellite views and weather forecasts but in spring anything can happen. You have to be cognizant of your area peculiarities like locally bands of weather go through the Malahat and Nanaimo whereas the Cowichan Valley in between will often stay clear.

mohair has a rubberized (synthetic?) backing I believe to make it water proof so I would suspect an older mohair would have some of the same effect as Hasbeen has stated.

TR7 Spider - 1978 Spitfire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

gaz · Postby **gaz** » 25 Mar 2011 18:23

when mine does that i fasten at the front first then just fasten a couple of the studs enough to keep the worst of the weather out till it warms up again

It rides again..... and again wehey!!!!!!!

Philip · Postby **Philip** » 26 Mar 2011 05:08

me too - just fasten at the front and fight to get a couple of studs done up. Then use the heater ! Mind you if it aint raining why put the hood up at all ? Get a thicker jacket.

staningrimsby · Postby **staningrimsby** » 26 Mar 2011 09:21

Who cares if it rains, i don't know if its true but i was told that if you have the hood down and are doing a constant speed the way the windscreen is designed if it rained you would not get wet unless you stopped to put the roof up.[:D]

1980 2.0 DHC (soon to be 16v) - Polly.

stevie_a · Postby **stevie_a** » 26 Mar 2011 11:31

that is kinda true until you come up behind miss daisy driving at 20mph

then the rain comes in and you get wet and have to stop and put the hood up

and get soaked in the process 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If it's not broke don't fix it.

http://www.smallbiztranscripts.co.uk

busheytrader · Postby **busheytrader** » 26 Mar 2011 12:31

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by PM7

Ive had the hood down twice over the last couple of weeks and left it til early eve to put up, but had to realy fight with it to get it to locate, it is a vinyl roof and i think it must have contracted in the cold. Does this happen with mohair?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

We had a MX5 with a Mohair hood. It never seemed to expand or shrink with the heat. Then again it never had the daft TR7 windscreen fixings that we have to wrestle with after the warm day / cool evening scenario. Luckily I can stick the 7 away in the garage and under a cotton cover which defers the fight.

I drove about 200 miles down the Autoroute to Le Mans in the pouring rain and didn't get wet. Once we slowed below 30 mph to raise the roof under a bridge we got soaked[:0]

Adam

TR7 V8 DHC Jaguar Solent Blue. 9.35cr Range Rover V8, Holley 390cfm, JWR Dual Port, 214 Cam, Lumention, Tubular Manifolds, S/S Single Pipe Exh, 3.08 Rear, 200lb Spax & PolyBushes all round, Anti- Dive, Strut-Top Roller Bearings, Capri Vented Discs & Calipers, Braided Hoses, 4 Speed Rear Cylinders, Uprated Master Cylinder & Servo, AT 14" 5 Spokes or Maestro Turbo 15" Alloys, Cruise Lights, S/S Heater Pipes, Replacement Fuel Tank. No Door Stickers. Mine since July 1986, V8 from 1991

FI Spyder · Postby **FI Spyder** » 26 Mar 2011 15:21

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by staningrimsby

Who cares if it rains, i don't know if its true but i was told that if you have the hood down and are doing a constant speed the way the windscreen is designed if it rained you would not get wet unless you stopped to put the roof up.[:D]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

That is true. On a club run to another chapter's car show there were 20 of us and we all agreed that we would keep out tops down. It rained lightly until we got to our rest stop when it stopped just before and we lucked out with wet roads and clearing sky's. By the time we got to our destination we had sunny skies for the rest of the day. Didn't get a drop on us.

TR7 Spider - 1978 Spitfire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

PM7 · Postby **PM7** » 26 Mar 2011 18:39

Im not the only one then![:(] I must admit last summer it was an absolute dream to stow away and put back up, but when cold its like wrestling with an aligator and his tough skin!![B)] Sounds like mohairs the same. I noticed that the rear webbing straps are quite slack when its hard to refit so have to pull on the rear rail first and then the front header rail and then locate the drivers side pin and once thats in the other side shuts easy. If you haven't put your back out in the process[:(!]

Patrick.

1981 DHC.
1980 Premium x2

staningrimsby · Postby **staningrimsby** » 26 Mar 2011 20:11

Its all good fun though and this is part of the reason we love our cars, if we had electric roofs it wouldn't be half as much fun.[:)]

1980 2.0 DHC (soon to be 16v) - Polly.

PM7 · Postby **PM7** » 26 Mar 2011 20:44

quite right [:D]I hate putting the cover on my dhc just because i love to look at her from the house checking out those lines from different angles, it must be love[^] or ocd or both.

Patrick.

1981 DHC.
1980 Premium x2

prlee · Postby **prlee** » 27 Mar 2011 19:09

The vinyl hood does go stiff when cold, watch the plastic windows, I have a split on one of the Sptifire quarter windows caused when lowering when it was frosty.

Pete
81 Red DHC
79 Blue Spitfire

Philip · Postby **Philip** » 28 Mar 2011 06:36

PM7's right. Always pull the rear bar forward first and then the front one. That way you atand a better chance of getting the header rail fasteners to line up with the holes.

Wayne S · Postby **Wayne S** » 28 Mar 2011 09:00

Not ashamed to admit that I slid the tonneau cover for the hood in the other side of the bed to warm it up and make it easier to fit on a cold sunny morning :-)

!!!

Red 4.0 Litre V8 DHC Grinnall (with huuuuuge arches...!)

Anonymous

hood hard to close!

hood hard to close!

Who is online