Spitfire Mk3 Hood Frame

[Jonah]

Does anyone know if there are any differences between the hood frame on a Mk3 to a Mk4 apart from the locking handle arrangements? 

I bought a new hood from Prestige Autotrim for my Mk3 some years ago which has the lever handles, the problem is that the cover won’t reach down to the B post covers so I’ve raised them covers up to meet the hood 

im also not sure that the hood stores as it should when collapsed as it fouls the seats if they’re pushed back 

id like to sort this out properly now but not sure where to start, is it the hood frame or maybe the hood itself?

thanks Julian 

[rlubikey]

Julian, looking at the pictures on the Rimmers site there seem to be many detail differences.

Cheers, Richard

[Jonah]

Thanks Richard

From the drawing and a quick look at the car it looks like I’ve got a Mk3 frame with the lever arrangement that was fitted to the later Mk3’s

The bigger problem is that when the hood is folded away the seats can’t be pushed back without rubbing on the frame and damaging the seat cover

more detective work needed here I think!

best Julian 

 

[Josef]

Send us some photos of your frame, and the positions of it when you’re having problems!

[Jonah]

Here’s a photo of the frame folded and the drivers seat quite a way forward to avoid rubbing on the cover 

the second photo shows how high I’ve had to raise the B frame caps to secure the hood clip

hope they makes sense

julian 

 

 

[thescrapman]

The hood frame digs a hole in the back of the seats on a Mk3, seems to be a normal thing. I screwed a metal plate on the back of my seats.

You do seem to have your hood folded wrong mind, though hard to be sure from the pictures. Did you lay it out on the rear deck whilst stowing it?

having to lift the b-post caps I have never seen, just need to drop the frame down a bit? Or hood is wrong. 

Or is it a Mk4 hood frame on a Mk3?

 

[Jonah]

Thanks for letting me know the ‘digging a hole in the seat is normal’

i paid £700 for a Mk3 hood a few years ago , although the car has hardly been used since, I assumed the hood was correct, if that’s right then the frame would be wrong. I’m beginning to think it’s a Mk3 hood on a Mk4 frame

the windscreen capping is for the lever arrangement so I assume I need to find a Mk3 frame with levers, do you think that would be right?

julian 

[Josef]

That’s quite odd. If you can get a photo of the hinge on the b post when the hood is raised that should be diagnostic. The hood not being long enough might suggest that you’re right and you have a squaretail frame. I think the windscreen rake was changed slightly when the body was face lifted to increase headroom. 

[Jonah]

I’ll take some better photos tomorrow morning which might help 

thanks Julian 

[thescrapman]

Only the very early Mk3 Spitfires had the Vitesse style hood catches, they were too dangerous in an accident even for Triumph I suspect. They changed to the Handles after a few thousand cars I think.

 

[Peter Truman]

I always assumed that the Mk3 hood frame was specific so it fitted the curvature of the Mk3 side window vs the squared top corner of the MkIV's window.

I'll check in the garage later when it's daylight as I have all the bits to convert a Mk2 removable soft top to a fitted Mk3 with over centre securing catch's that I've picked up over the eons to upgrade the daughters Mk2, but the different inner B post panels have beaten me up to now!

[Jonah]

Here are a few more photos that show the drivers side hood hinge and some of the hood in position

i also wondered whether the B posts are from the wrong model requiring them to be raised

hope these help 

julian

[Jonah]

Here are a few more photos that show the drivers side hood hinge and some of the hood in position

i also wondered whether the B posts are from the wrong model requiring them to be raised

hope these help 

julian

[Jonah]

Scrapman mentioned that I might not be folding the hood properly which is very possible 

I did fold it back onto the boot lid and then in half but it doesn’t seem to sit properly

The hood cover has three elasticated straps with poppers that come down into the car to retain the cover but I can’t see where they attach

heres a photo of the hood ‘stored’ and the cover 

thanks Julian 

[Josef]

Looks like the right one to me. There is adjustment on the frame brackets so could be you need to drop it down a little. Also you might just need to do up your poppers and then complete the rest of the hood raising operations. It could just have shrunk a little if it’s spent a lot of time folded. 

[Jonah]

The strange thing is that the poppers match except all around except for the ones on the B post caps which is why I had the raise the B post caps to make it fit

if I adjust the frame down the poppers become too slack 

[thescrapman]

Looks like your hood bag is an aftermarket one. Orginals have pockets for the frame to tuck inside, reduces the damage to the back of the seat.

The originals also have elasticated straps that hood onto the frame to hold the hood up away from the rear shelf. I have left 1 dangling top show.

[thescrapman]

They also have a tag with a popper to attach to top of B-post.

I really can not work out what you have done with your cappings. 

😞

p.s.the door glass goes outside the hood, seems wrong, but it does.

Edited May 30, 2023 by thescrapman

[Jonah]

The only poppers on the hood that wouldn’t reach were the B post ones, all I did with the cappings was to make a resin mould to raise them off the post enough for the popper to work

[Jonah]

Thank you everyone for your help here, it looks as though I do have both a Mk3 hood and frame, perhaps the problem with the poppers not reaching the B post caps is a hood manufacturing flaw