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MG MGA - MGA Hood (Soft top)

Sorry gentlemen to say this but I think the MGA hood is horrendous! For our USA colleagues I mean the soft weather gear top. On my Frogeye a sheet of fabric lifts off and tucks away somewhere in the boot. On my recently departed MkIV Sprite it folded down neatly around the back of the car and could be erected by one person in seconds.
The MGA was obviously the version in between! It has a mind of its own and seems to need two people to put it up as it fights all the way.
The issue I have is folding it down! I have followed the MGGuru advice and the Handbook suggestions but what I find is that the frame collapses back into the space under the metal tonneau area and the lower ends project forward fouling the seats. If I push these back I am forcing the frame upwards but on letting go gravity wins and it just drops back almost horizontal again. I am currently using a couple of straps into the boot area to hold the frame more upright, which seems to sort of resolve the problem.
Am I missing something somewhere? Is there a better way of keeping the frame into a more vertical position to keep its "elbows" in?
Graeme Williams

The spare tire has to be locked in standard position in the boot. Then the top frame sits on top of the spare tire so the legs will not protrude so far forward or dig into the seats.
Barney Gaylord

I've yet to see one that looked good while up, and neat and tidy while down. Drops of blood can sometimes be found on the carpet.

Following the TF, I think they got to designing the hood quite close to release date and gave it the 'ol 'good-nuf' and shoved them out the door half baked.

But it IS a roadster after all.

.....

MAndrus

Graeme
I had exactly the same complaint when I first got my roadster, the first time I folded the hood down I tore the beading on the side of my brand new seats!
I used to put a towel or some padding over the folded frame to try to prevent it happening again.

Then a few months later on a visit to Bob West I asked their upholsterer Les about the possibility of making up some special leather covers to put over the projecting hood frame to see if this would help.

Les gave me a sort of sad, pitying look and then,strangely, he asked me to pull the boot release handle.???

So, very puzzled, I did and he opened the boot lid and looked inside. Then he said "You need a spare wheel clamp" and he pushed hard against the spare wheel to move it firmly into the slot in the rear bulkhead.

He then said, "Try folding the hood now"
and when I did, miraculously, the hood frame folded neatly into its proper vertical position against the chassis behind the seats! I couldnt believe it.

Apparently, the folded hood has to rest on top of the spare wheel where it projects through the bulkhead and this is what holds it in its proper position.

The MGA hood is different from any other sports car in that it folds completely away under the rear bodywork, I think this is probably as a result of the body being designed first and the hood as a sort of afterthought.

It was a really clever piece of engineering though, to actually make it fit at all.

I suppose it would have been easier for them to cut back the bodywork behind the seats but then it would have not have looked as it does now.

Hope that helps

Colyn
c firth

Ah, that's interesting! My tyres (wheels?) are apparently oversize so the spare hardly protrudes which explains the problem then!

I obviously need a "faux spare"! Bit of wood then?

For the moment I have placed the long jack handle in spring clips mounted on the boot side of the dividing panel and run a couple of straps around the handle, though the gap between the panel and the underside of the metal tonneau panel and then round the hood frame. This supports it in a higher position and keeps those elbows back!
Graeme Williams

A big block of foam?
MAndrus

I have 6" alloy wheels fitted to my car but the spare wheel is a steel one which avoids this problem.

My alloy wheels are so wide that they actually prevent the boot lid from latching and so using the standard wheel solves that problem too.

In actual fact I recently swapped my standard spare wheel for an old Saab spacesaver wheel fitted with a very narrow 135 x 15 tyre. This frees up a lot of extra space in the boot but still supports the folded hood in the correct position.

If you don't mind carrying a standard spare wheel Graeme then this would be an easy fix.
( I have not had to fit my spare wheel in the last 8 years of MGA motoring which has averaged between 2 and 3 thousand miles per year )

Colyn
c firth

I can back up Colyn's comments. My wheel was also not deep enough into the rear bulkhead. I deflated the tyre to about 10 psi and in it went. I then re-inflated the tyre in situ as it's easier to pull an inflated tyre out of the slot than push it in. Alternatively, provided you carry a pump, you can always inflate it when you remove it.

The other option is to remove the hood and side screens and use the the car as it was designed - topless. That's the way I have gone with the sports windscreen. It also saves weight and improves performance/mpg.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Compared to the POS soft top that came with my 2001 Jeep, the MGA hood is a miracle of convenience and elegant design. I guess it all depends on what you are used to.

-Del
D Rawlins

Twice I have not carried a spare wheel. Exactly those two occasions were the only times I have ever had a puncture..... Whether the spare wheel is needed for soft top positioning or not it is staying in the car from now on!
dominic clancy

How involved is it to open up the aperture in the panel to let a larger wheel through?
I've only had the car a couple of weeks so i am finding my way around.
Graeme Williams

In the event of not having the support of the spare wheel, has anyone tried fitting a separate method of support? At the moment I am using a couple of straps but it is a bit crude although it does the job. Could a bracket on the back panel be used to drop the frame into? Or could it be supported from the top-hat section struts which run under the metal tonneau panel? Were they intended for seat belt mounting - why the two captive nuts?
Graeme Williams

If you enlarge the slot in the rear bulkhead to fit the wheel you will have to similarly modify the the spare wheel cover and its frame.
Easier to fit a standard wheel as a spare.

Or you could very simply fix a block of wood to the front of the bulkhead to rest the hood onto when it is folded.

I personally would find it difficult to bring myself to cut a bigger hole in the bulkhead. My car has quite a few modifications but they all can be undone by the simple application of the correct spanners and some elbow grease and I am very comfortable with that.

Colyn
c firth

I remember that before I learnt about getting the wheel fully forward to create adequate hood support I made a Heath Robinson contraption as shown in the attached schematic. I attached a strong piece of cord to the centre bolt holding the rear cockpit capping. At the other end was a length of wood which supported the hood.

I have a feeling the cord is still dangling there!

Now that I have got rid of my hood I have the permanent extra storage space that you guys only get when you have the hood up. To make it usable I have fixed expandable 'cargo netting' across the whole area, attached in the corners to the seat belt anchor brackets

Steve


Steve Gyles

Steve: I agree with your comments but feel with UK weather removing the hood is a bit drastic (almost as drastic as Colyn's idea to carrying a standard spare wheel which doesn't match the other four).
On both Sprites I have found the shelf behind the seats useful for spare coats, steering lock and so on. The A is a bigger car but with less convenient space! Saying that, you can stuff a lot down the passenger footwell without complaints.

In four years on the Mk4 sprite I had the hood on once and never in 12 months on the Frog. I'm sure Steve is now saying "well, there you are then!"
Graeme Williams

Graeme

I just carry a pair of water proof leggings and a towel in the boot. Also I have an MGA register umbrella that is the size and shape of the cockpit. I have only once needed to put it up in a traffic queue. Other than that I just get damp occasionally. Nothing wrong with that, you soon dry off when you get indoors! When moving most of the rain goes over the top, so not normally a major issue. In the past I used to get wetter stopping to put the hood up than if I had kept moving.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve: stopping to put the MGA hood up should ensure that anything but really persistent rain will have passed over before it was done. Single handedly? No chance.

Ive found I can loop a strap through the top hat section steels under the tonneau cover panel and that by pulling these up after threading them around the hood frame I can support everything in a near-vertical position, enough to keep the elbows back.

I did ask before but perhaps it got missed - what are these channel sections for?
Graeme Williams

Using a standard spare wheel is not so drastic Graeme, you can still drive it at any speed you wish, it will let you continue your journey without you having to worry about how the car will handle and there are no safety issues.

The only thing that will be affected is the appearance.

You can carry on driving and then get the puncture fixed when you get home.

My alloy wheels are the Racemettle ones that look like the twin-cam wheels and so if I did ever put the standard spare wheel on, it looks much the same.

I agree with you about the hood though, if we had gone to the Pyrenees last year with no hood, the rain was so extreme that the car would have probably filled up to door top level!

Cheers

Colyn
c firth

Not sure what you mean by the "channel sections" Graeme, you will have to send us a picture so we can see what you are looking at.

Colyn
c firth

Colyn:

I can take a pic but it might be a bit dark under there so here's a detailed description. Bear in mind that this is a 1600 Mk2 so if, as I suspect, these are something to do with seatbelt mountings, they won't exist on earlier cars.

On each side there is an inverted "top hat" section channel (imagine a U with ears on!). This runs from the front edge of the metal fairing behind the seats (I think this is referred to as the metal tonneau cover panel) directly backwards to the boot dividing panel where it stops. Each has two captive nuts about 1/2" unf but they are a different thread to unf.
They are positioned below the point where the panel curves down to the wheel arch, probably about 6" across from the inner line of the door. Imagine where you might want to find the top attachment for a seat belt.
Graeme Williams

Have a look on mga guru website, specifically at article
INT 120.
It shows pictures of the original mk ll seat belt mountings.
Hopefully they are what you have on your car.

Colyn
c firth

Colyn: thanks for that. I had seen it but missed the significance of one of the pictures. The red paint job shows the brackets I was talking about that I have recycled for holding the hood up.

They seem very weak for seat belt mountings!
Graeme Williams

My route around the 165 spare space/panel issue was to retain my last decent 155 as the spare. After all it is now established that spares don't need to be the same size, and a 155 is a lot nearer to a 165 than many new cars spares are to their other tyres.

Steve - My wife was back in the A after 3 months from a hip replacement (and on skis in 7). One thing we learnt was not to park too near to kerbs as she really needed to get her feed down to road level, not pavement level, when getting out.

Paul
Paul Dean

Steve..fascinated about your wet weather procedure..sounds like you get ready to fly fish in a river.. I occasionally get caught in shower /storm here but no so many red lights so water goes over my head . You cut down screen also presumably gives you no option for hood. ...but I am extra fascinated by the MGA Register umbrella (specially sized for coverage of the cockpit). Can you advise where they are available?
Neil Ferguson

Neil,
You can order an umbrella from the MGA Register.

Contact George Dutton on;
george519@o2.co.uk

regards
Colin
Colin Manley

This thread was discussed between 28/04/2015 and 14/05/2015

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