Convertible top fasteners???

[stever_sl]

Just bought an immaculate TR8 but it didn't like moving from beautiful Colorado to St Louis, I guess, because as soon as it got here it shed 2 of the body-mounted studs that hold its top down. I thought it wouldn't be a problem to get replacements from Victoria British but what they have are the plastic things that go on the top, not the metal studs that are riveted to the body. I see them in the Rimmers catalog and they're cheap, but trans-Atlantic ordering of piddly little things like a couple of small fasteners seems silly. Does anyone know of a US source? I don't see them in Moss or Roadster Factory catalogs but maybe I'm missing something obvious...

- Steve Richardson
St Louis MO
76/77 TR7 (original owner)
80 TR8

[RadioGuy]

Go to a boat shop or Ace Hardware...I think they are the same size but get a sample and make sure before you fix them to the car or take a pair of calipers and measure to make sure.[:)]


Maintained on Saturday…Drive on Fun-Day !!! 1976 FHC - 1980 DHC

[Jolyon39]

Ther are some really subtle size differences, perhaps you should consider checking with an auto upholsterer to identify them.

I have also heard that different top manufacturers supply different studs with their product so the ones on your car may not be original.

Jolyon

[Beans]

TR7 DHC only had plastic hood fasteners both on the hood and on the body.
Any metal ones are fitted by PO's

<center>
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1981 TR7 FHC Sprint (better known as 't Kreng)</font id="blue">
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[RadioGuy]

Jolyon is right, that's why I suggested taking a pair of calipers and measuring the snap. Measure the OD of one of the remaining male snaps, the mating portion. (Metric vs English)

I just hate to pay more for something that is advertised as the only thing that will fit or work and it's the same thing as generic brand that is less expensive and may even work better. Or maybe a little more expensive and last twice as long.


Maintained on Saturday…Drive on Fun-Day !!! 1976 FHC - 1980 DHC

[stever_sl]

I'm amazed to hear that OEM was plastic hold-down fasteners...you have to pull pretty hard on the material to get the snaps to engage, and I would have thought that plastic would just pull right back out. I think I'll stick with metal. I managed to find one of the ones that fell off so I can take it with me to the shops and try to match it. Heck, if I could find the OTHER one I could just rivet them both back on and be done with the job! No such luck. Thanks for the responses, folks!

- Steve Richardson
St Louis MO
76/77 TR7 (original owner)
80 TR8

[windy one]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by RadioGuy</i>

Go to a boat shop or Ace Hardware...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

+1 [8D] I bought mine from my local boat accessory yard. Got both male and female snaps, and the tool to install them. I think I paid like $12.00 for everything. Same snaps, same size, no prob's.

Johnny

[prlee]

Hi Steve,

Try this site.

http://www.dotfasteners.com/

As Beans has said the plastic fasteners were original and used on triumphs in the sixties and seventies up to the end of TR7/8 manufacture. They are very strong and last for many years. I prefer them, they are a good tight fit and they look good (IMO) although they are normally hidden by the top or the hood bag.

However I have found them very difficult to get hold of, when ordered I am sent the metal ones, only ever got them from TRGB.

Pete
81 DHC (Undergoing minor body repair)
79 Spitfire (Current Main drive)

[stever_sl]

Well here's an interim update: I went to a local auto upholsterer and got a handful of metal studs that matched the one from the car, as closely as I could measure. I also got a bag of the plastic mates for the top itself from VB so that I could fiddle with the fit before I riveted anything onto the car. I wasn't able to snap the plastic onto the "original" metal stud by finger pressure, but a pair of pliers did the trick (and a screwdriver was needed to separate them again). With the "new" stud, though - no dice with the pliers. Hmm. I compared the measurements again, didn't see anything...so I took an old cannon ball that I bought at an estate sale and smacked it down on the plastic part. Voila! It snapped onto the "new" stud with no problem then! So all I have to do is carry this cannon ball with me in the car to get the snaps fastened whenever I want to put the top up...

- Steve Richardson
St Louis MO

[southshoreTR7]

there are a few different sizes. you can check with a local marine store like west marine if you are in the US or find a local marine store. they have the snaps in many forms as well as the little tool to afix them. I believe the OP was revering to the rivets that held on the original plastic snaps to the body. I think they are 1/8" in diameter size but since you will have to most likely drill out the original you might have to go up a size.

[stever_sl]

This will be the final word on my old thread - I got all of the top fasteners that Victoria British and Rimmers each offered, for the top itself and for the car body. NONE of them matched the ones that are on the car body right now. Rimmers' came as part of a kit with the aluminum installation rivets so I thought I'd just go ahead and replace one of the 3 (now) that have come off without worrying about the mismatch of that one compared to the others. Nope! The hole in the body piece is much too large for the standard-size rivet. The holes for the other two are also too big for the rivets to "catch" when they're fully driven. So I'm taking a trip to the store to buy an assortment of rivets and see if any of them will be shallow enough to fit the limited depth that there is to work with and yet wide enough to fill those holes. If that doesn't work, I'll pay a shop to figure it all out. It's frustrating when such a simple thing turns out to be so complicated! But I really appreciate all the advice. Thanks folks!

- Steve Richardson
St Louis MO
76/77 TR7 (original owner)
80 TR8 (doing its best to drive me crazy)

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

OK, the original plastic body snaps are the best as they are a smidgen smaller than the metal ones. It will always be hard for the original top snap to fit one the metal ones.

Now, the over sized holes. I have had this problem with my TR7. The 1/8" pop rivets will not work with the larger holes, so you will have to use 3/16" pop rivets. But they will not fit the snaps. You take your 3/16" rivets to your bench grinder and grind the edge of the pop rivet flange down until it will fit inside the plastic car snap. You will have to drill out the hole in the plastic car snap to 3/16".

Now the pop rivet tool will not work on this rivet/plastic snap combination because it can't pull it tight enough to make a good tight connection. You have to take the head of the original 1/8" pop rivet that you drilled out and slide it over the pin of the 3/16" pop rivet before inserting the shaft into the tool.

Finally, be sure to wrap a shop cloth tightly all the way around the area when you get ready to install the rivet. If you don't, that sharp end of the shaft will scratch, gorge, your paint every time.

Clay

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[jclay (RIP 2018)]

PS, it's the original pop rivet that breaks, not the plastic car snap. You can drill out the original rivet and reuse the snap.

I had to raise this pop rivet up to get over the thick plastic of the new top.



Clay

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[stever_sl]

Actually I wasn't able to salvage any of the 3 plastic snaps from my car. One disappeared in a parking lot, one is cracked through from the center to the outer rim, and one had apparently been replaced by a previous owner with a metal snap of completely different design having a wide flanged base. I've got good matches for that one from Rimmers (their 713511, which actually doesn't look much like the pic in their catalog), so I may have to use them as the originals fall out. They'll be well hidden under the top. I was really hoping to find a good source for the no-flange-base plastic ones, but so far no luck.

- S Richardson

[stever_sl]

The parts I've been trying to buy are shown here: http://www.zeni.net/trf/featureT78/14.php (top right, part labeled 713511). These are exactly the plastic parts that should go on the car, but as I said in my last post, I ordered and received part number 713511 from Rimmers and it was metal, and shaped completely differently. The Rimmers 713511 parts work, they snap right into the female parts on the top, so they're a functional replacement for the original plastic parts but that's about all. I guess I could try ordering "713511" from all the suppliers...maybe one of them would still have the old parts in stock and I'd get lucky! The rest I could throw away or use to repair old blue jeans or something...