Refreshing the Mohair hood on my V8

[paul w]

Having neglected my v8 for a decade has taken a toll on the mohair top. I shoulda' covered it, but you know ?

So it was looking very dusty and discoloured. I carefully hoovered the dust and lint etc. off with a car vacuum. Then i washed it lightly and left it to dry. It looked better, but a bit dry and faded. I had bought some Renovo products, reviver, water proofer and window polish from Bobsport and as the weather is so warm, thought I'd give it all a go. First thing I did was mask the car up to protect from splashes as I wanted to work quickly in the heat of the day. The work was carried out in my garage away from direct sun light. I painted on the hood reviver with a 2" brush working quickly but firmly stippling the liquid in to the nap and especially into the seams.
It is a watery black solution, but still needs a good pull on the brush to distribute it evenly. Several splashes were evident on the news paper masking I'd employed as the brush flicked it from time to time. All done in an hour, so moved the wedge outside to aid drying time. A couple of hours later it appeared and felt dry, so I started applying the waterproofer which is a pale blue liquid of similar viscosity to the reviver. This was done in the same way as the earlier work, making sure to stipple it in to the nap and seams. Then back outside to dry. It really looks like
new. The nap has raised and the colour is dark black and it even seems to have tightened the hood somewhat.

All I gotta' do now is polish the plastic windows which are a bit foggy with some renovo polish.
I reckon the solutions will do another couple of applications as I'd used about a third of each bottle. Not cheap, but a new mohair hood is very expensive, so this renovo stuff is worth the moolah to rescue a rag top.

Highly recommended to you guys that have tatty hoods that need a bit of a makeover.

[busheytrader]

Hi Paul,

I have one of the Mk3 MX5 launch models. It's on a 55 plate with a Mohair hood. It's my daily driver and has 104k on the clock.....it's been well used and washed.

I bought the Renovo kit as the whole hood was getting a dark green tinge and getting multiple light green spots. I washed and rinsed the hood with cleaner 3 times over 3 consecutive days, scrubbing the discoloured patches as per their instructions. (Lots of scrubbing) It seemed to clean up a treat.

Then used the reviver, a black watery dye. It seemed to cover well and applied 2 coats across 2 days, working fast so the wet edge wouldnt dry out. I didnt apply the waterproofer straight away in case I sealed in any reappearing green patches. Well 6 weeks later and a few of the green patches have reappeared under the dyed surface and are spreading.

I've read many tips about removing them, most of which seem to involve Milton sterilisation tablets / solutions which I guess act as mild bleaching agent. I guess it's a type of algae that's the cause........Has anyone removed these successfully on their mohair hood?

Adam

[saabfast]

Not on the TR7 but on my Saab 9-3 convertible I vacuum the blue roof, scrub with Johnsons Blue baby bath using a nail brush, when dry wash with Miltons solution then when dry paint with Fabsil. This is a recognised way with those roofs. I find it does not get out all the deep seated green and small light patches but does improve the look and I have never had a leakage problem. Some claim the new Fabsil gold is even better. The TR7 is kept covered so the roof has not really got the same problems over the last 12 years since fitted.