soft top and tonneau help

[scruffy56501]

hi all, been awhile.it's finally warm up here yeah! driving time. question; has any one installed a top and tonneau on a midget? i bought them from moss and the detailed instructions said take it to a upholstery shop.any help would be greatly appreciated,thanks for the help in the past and i know future.this is a extraordinary site with a lot of great people,thanks again

 

[William]

I did the top on my Midget, and have installed a tonneau on an MGB. Neither task is especially easy, even though it looks it. In the case of the Midget top, mine never fit correctly, mostly becaue the frame was busted on one side, but the actual top material never fit correctly either. Part of the problem is accurately measuring where all the holes for the poppers and fasteners go, but much of the problem (for me anyway) was getting the thing to fit right in the first place-the material is too small, and must be stretched a bit to fit (I believe this is how it's supposed to be, not a defect of the top). I never worked out how to stretch the material to fit. As for the tonneau, its an easier thing to fit, but still requires a lot of care. Same thing-the measuring for all the lift the dot fasteners and whatnot has to be absolutely spot bloody on, or else the thing bunches up somewhere and looks bad. In the case of the MGB tonneau I did, it looks all right till you look closely, and can see how it does not quite fit right around the headrest pocket for the drivers seat (bad bunching up, partly due to the position of the seat when installing the cover), and ove by the driver's side, where you can plainly tell that the whole cover was mounted a little too far to the left-lots of excess material.
I suppose, installing these items is not too hard, in a "where do these bits go?" sense, but it takes an awful lot of time, careful measuring, and frankly intestinal fortitude to be able to cut holes in a big several hundred dollar piece of vinyl.
-William (not that any of this would stop me trying again!)

 

[scruffy56501]

Thanks William, which way do you start on the top front to back or back to the header? and how do you get that **** seal slid in there once its all together,any suggestions? thanks Rick

 

[William]

Well, it was over ten years ago that I did the Midget top-yours should be permanently attached at the back by that chromed trim strip with snap fasteners on it, correct? I seem to remember starting at the back, making sure that I had all the Tenax fasteners lined up and marked for their holes, then attached that trim strip. I've no idea what sort of measurments are needed-if you have your old top still intact, measuring the locations for all the holes and Tenax fasteners (those fasteners around the edge of the top, you pull up on a button to release them) before trying to mount the new top would be a good idea, then double checking them after it's attached (and before you cut any holes!). After attaching the top at the back, I did the front. The top's held in by the aluminium piece that holds the rubber header rail seal-the ally bit's held in with pop rivets, and screws won't work for this application, so if you don't have a pop rivet gun and some small-ish rivets, stop reading, jump in your Midget, and go over to Sears and buy one (they're not terribly expensive, and can be useful elsewhere). Once you've attached the top up front, and have the rubber strip back in (I just popped mine in there for this step-when you're truly done it helps to glue it in with something-I forget what I used), put the top up and latch it at the header rail (NOTE:at this point you should not have any of the Tenax fasteners fitted yet!). Roll up the windows and take a look-does it fit okay around the windows? Is there obviously a gap around one side window and more than enough material around the other? Then the top's not lined up correctly and you have to start over. The beauty of it is-the holes you need to punch for the attachments at the header rail and at the back under the trim strip are hidden, so if you have to do it again, nobody needs to know. NOTE: don't Swiss-cheese it and put thousands of holes in the top just to get millimeter perfect alignment-you stand a good chance of weakening the material! After you get things lined up, you can put in the Tenax fasteners. If the holes you marked earlier (you did mark them, didn't you?) still work, go ahead and install, otherwise re-measure.
Hm, one final note, out of order of course, is the snaps INSIDE the top-those straps that hook onto the top frame, and the snaps that go to the winshield frame. These should be installed before you put the top on. Use your old top as a pattern, because even if the top's not exactly lined up like the old one, there's an awful lot of wiggle room for these. My only other tip is to do this on a nice hot sunny day out in the driveway. It'll make things a bit sweaty and unpleasant, but will make the top material nice and soft and pliable, and it's easier than trying to use a hair dryer to heat things up.
Good luck!
-William

 

[scruffy56501]

Thanks William,it worked. i got her on and it looks good to me.the header was a bear to get snapped down without the weather strip on so i'll probally have to wait for 80 degree weather for that.now a couple of brandy's and on to the toneau,thanks again

 

[William]

Excellent! Glad I could help-top stuff is one of the few things I have any real experience with, that and basic oil change types of things.
-William

 

[scruffy56501]

that's another thing ,i just changed the oil,i'm going shopping for a spin on oil filter adapter. it took me two hours to get the filter back on and what a mess.and the wife wonders why i sneak a little of the grape once in awhile.ha! Rick