Spitfire MK2 soft top hood - already have frame

[RichTeaBiscuit]

Just to confirm, I have the frame. I'm going to order the hood from here Triumph Spitfire Mk. I & II Car Hoods 1963-1967 (prestigeautotrim.com)

 

All I need is this Surrey Top Stiffener - Front Set of 3 - 806696MET | Rimmer Bros

Anything else?

[Adrian Cooper]

It's not clear from the website whether the rear bar is included and I would imagine that the 'Original quality fasteners included' statement refers to the poppers only. I'll go and take a picture of the bar you need and get the measurements. 

[Adrian Cooper]

If you don't get the bar with the new hood (I haven't with any of the hoods I've bought) this is what you need to find. There is a bend in the middle rather than it being a continuous curve and so it shouldn't be too difficult to copy. The original is 3.5mm thick and 19mm wide by about 72cm long although these dimensions are not critical. Just as long as it will fit in the jaws on the rear deck and span the gap between them.

[Peter Truman]

You’ll also need the 3 bars that fit in the sleeve at the front of the soft top and slip under the front of the aluminium windscreen top rail this hold the hood down.

The 3 bars are one each side and the long one in the middle they also have a slight curve in plan are relatively thin and only around 1/2in wide.

[DanMi]

I have always used the existing bar, it has never been supplied with the roof, so will need making, though I have heard of people just using a few extra poppers as they don't have the clips (hens teeth)

[RichTeaBiscuit]

Thanks, I'm stuggling to find those parts online. Might have to just get some metal and a hack saw!

[Adrian Cooper]

The Surrey top stiffener set you linked to is right for the front as the Mk1&2 Spitfires shared the windscreen frame and capping with the TR4. Very expensive though, and I'm stunned at the price of a new hood! 

[DanMi]

49 minutes ago, Adrian Cooper said:

Very expensive though

that is Rimmers so what would you expect, google the part number and it can be found cheaper eg Moss about £24 and Don Hoods are much cheaper £175 for a basic vinyl

 

Club shop also do hoods though I think they use Don hoods £190 inc VAT

[Josef]

Don Hoods’ lead times are pretty long at the moment (I’ve been waiting several months now, Alex has been promised his by next week but had also had the order in for a while). So I’m hoping they live up to their reputation.

[RichTeaBiscuit]

How useable will a soft top be without the rear retaining bar?

[Josef]

Probably not very. It’s the difference between the tension from the header rail to the rear deck being held over the whole width of the hood by the metal, or only at a few points where poppers or similar are fitted. Have you tried the breakers? Spitbitz, the Spitfire Graveyard and maybe Wins Ltd would be worth a call. Though from the looks of Adrian’s photo it should be relatively simple to reproduce/have reproduced. 

[RichTeaBiscuit]

I will try all those thank you. Wins is just down the road from me so I'll pop in there tomorrow.

[RichTeaBiscuit]

Got one 😁 - (eBay)

[RichTeaBiscuit]

So I picked up a used hood as it had the bar, thought I'd use it for a stop gap until I got a new one. The buttons are the same fitting each side, so they don't clip in........ let me guess, these are the wrong ones on the body?

[RichTeaBiscuit]

And I'm guessing this is the remains of the hook

[Badwolf]

I think that the screw heads might be fouling the fitting (just a guess). All of mine are flat rivetted. The 'male poppers are on the body, the 'female' on the hood.

[RichTeaBiscuit]

Thanks,

I think I have female both sides 

[RichTeaBiscuit]

Ordered a new set with rivets..........

[Badwolf]

Can't tell from the photo. Measure the external diameter of both. One should be smaller than the other. (Sorry to state the obvious). 

UPDATE

The male in both plastic and metal is 10mm.  The female metal (no plastic) 14mm. These are the external diameters measured with my digital gauge.  Hope that this helps a little 

[RichTeaBiscuit]

No worries, I bought a used hood because it had the bar, in one of the poppers was the male end so I can see what was supposed to be on the body of the car. 

Nice easy job hopefully. I will replace the capping on the windscreen when I get round to doing the windscreen glass too. Moss do a heated windscreen. Looks nice.

[Badwolf]

RTB - Please see the update to my previous post.

[NonMember]

BW - I can tell from those photos that RTB is correct and his car has the female part screwed to the body instead of the male part rivetted. Don't worry, he's got it in hand.

[Badwolf]

Just now, NonMember said:

BW - I can tell from those photos that RTB is correct and his car has the female part screwed to the body instead of the male part rivetted. Don't worry, he's got it in hand.

Yes, I should have realised after I had been out the measure them on mine.

[RichTeaBiscuit]

Cheers for all the help guys. Much appreciated.

 

Do you think I'll do ok without the little hooks?

[Adrian Cooper]

36 minutes ago, RichTeaBiscuit said:

Do you think I'll do ok without the little hooks?

It depends on how well the hood has been made (and some don't even come with the elastic tensioners fitted) but you should be Ok. I can't say that I often bother connecting up the tensioner straps on mine and the hood seems to be perfectly watertight anyway.

When you come to fit your new poppers you might find that the self tapping screws have made the holes in the body too big for the pop rivets to get a grip. To sort this on mine I used bigger pop rivets and filed the heads down so that they still fitted within the male stud. There was a discussion on here about this recently and someone, Colin I think, said that they had found bigger rivets with smaller heads from some supplier. No doubt he will be along soon to clarify or refute.

Adrian