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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Soft Top advice?

Hi all,
MG midget Mk III 1972
Have come to the conclusion that I need to be able to put my soft top UP...I'm getting a a little too old to be topless all the time and it limits amount of time I can drive my Midget.
The top is a real cow to fix up. The hood is ( apparently) only a few years old and has no tears or rips. The Hood frame is all there- but its almost impossible to get the hood catches to fix onto the windscreen top rail....are there any adjustments I can do to " move " the frame a little further forward to the windscreen. I'm not a small guy and I cannot force the hood , so it must surely be an adjustment I cant see ?
I have trawled this archive, the owners manual, the & Haynes BOL & the Brooklands book I have but no joy....can anyone out there help at all?
Cheers & Happy New Year
Colin
colin frowen

Colin, if you have undone the six bolts behind the seats and given it some serious jiggling, I mean undo the bolts, attach clips to windscreen the jiggle hard, then re tighten, if it still won't fit properly, then either you have the wrong hood or someone has fitted it incorrectly, (eg too short) :-(

plan B, scarf, woolly hat, gloves, in Sales!

Dave
Dave Warren

You can slacken off the 3 bolts where the hood frame mounts behind the seats, then try doing up the clips. If you can do them up and the hood still looks nice and tight then re tighten the bolts.

It will be best to try this on a warm day which at this time of year is maybe why you are struggling.

If that doesn't work then the windscreen can be slackened off at the top of the A posts and similar tried.

If still not ok then more drastic measures are required like removing the hood from the header rail and re attaching further back.

john payne

Apart from what Dave has said there isn't any intentional adjustment possible. Loosening the 6 bolts will get you a couple of mm but little else. Tighten them up once you have the hood fully up and let the hood stretch a bit.

Most fitters try to get a tight fit, some even drum tight but there is one certain fact with Vinyl hoods. They will shrink.

This is one of the problems I found when buying second hand hoods. The chances of it fitting another car are slim. The only remedy I have thought of (which I have yet to try) is remove the hood from the header rail and re-position it with 1/2 inch or so slack. This all depends on how much surplus the trimmer has left and also what type of glue has been used to stick it to the header rail. Care needs to be taken to ensure the material doesn't tear as you unstick it and a bit of heat to soften the glue would be appropriate.

If you succeed I expect it will still be impossible to fasten the side poppers behind the doors.

Rob
Rob aka MG Moneypit

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that you can also adjust the catches on the header rail, first thing I'd try

I found that there are header rail seals that are the wrong shape which can make a difference to their sealing, the seal doesn't need much tension on it (from the catches) to seal
Nigel Atkins

Colin.

Leave a blower heated in the car for 30 mins gas mark 5.

The hood may expand / be flexible enough to get the hood shut.

It's likely to be very tight when it cools.

Gavin
Gavin Rowlesxxx

the hood needs to be adjusted so that it can be put up and took down at this time of year so I don't see any advantage to heating it, as said that'll only made it very tight when cooled

adjust the header rail catches and if that's not enough then adjust the hood frame at the 6 set screws by the sides of the seat
Nigel Atkins

In the winter time, they will be harder to connect....because there cold, in summer they get real loose because they warm up

Nigel is correct the clips are adjustable

If your creative... you might make a leverage tool to clip the clamps into place

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

The shrinkage is temporary and reversible. Once the hood is off for a while, it will shrink back again as noted above. The longer the car is with the hood up the more shrinkage takes place. Conversely, with use - particularly in warmer weather, the material stretches. That's why the manufacturers and fitters set them up to be tight - if they didn't the hood would turn into an ugly floppy bag of a thing once it had been used a bit.

I have the same issue with my cars, and to avoid this shrink & stretch cycle, I usually erect the top when I put the car in the garage and may not be using it for a few days. If I remember!

The reversibility is shown well with the packaway hood on the 63 MGB: After a summer when the hood stays off all the time it's tight to get the hood to fit even when the rear tensioning bar is collapsed into the forward position. So the first couple of times I use it (looking ugly) with the bar in that position. With use, the hood starts to stretch again and the bar can be pushed backwards into the correct place. With further uses, the hood can be removed for the odd sunny winter day and then replaced with the tensioning bar remaining fully extended.
(Folding frame hoods like 1275's and later B's are too sophisticaed to allow this type of useful observation!)

So for that reason, I support the heater method. It works, been there & tried that successfully. Subjecting the hood to a bit of tension while doing so (for example a bit of weight on the header rail) is a help. Once it fits take it for a motorway run and the aerodynamic lift on the top of the hood will finish the job.

The problem you could have with adjusting the hood by releasing it from the header rail in order to get it to fit easily when the weather is cold and it's been off for a while, is that once it's been used and stretched again it could become floppy and horrible if not done properly.



Paul Walbran

Absolutely- if the hood has been down for a while...heating to get it to fit and leave it up will stretch vinyl roofs a little.

If its duck or mohair then it will make little to no difference.
Dean Smith ('73 RWA)

This thread was discussed between 31/12/2013 and 01/01/2014

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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