Anyone got any suggestions? Pictures are always nice too, you know!

TIA.

Best wishes,

Jeff
Temecula, California

Have a look on eBay for "hard top rack". Lots of ideas for a free standing rack that you could DiY, Like Jeff, I'd go for one that hung on the wall, but these designs could be applied for that too.

JOhn

In the mean time, here's a couple of pictures of the hardtops restoration. The dents have been filled, it's been painted to match the car (BRG), and it's been buffed out. These pictures show none of that! The headliner is just held in with the suspension bars and paper clips for now. I'm going to let it set for a while so maybe the wrinkles will easy out some. I'm pleased with the progress so far.

David Hughes
Toronto,Ontario,Canada

The hard-top fits in three places:

1. To the top of the windscreen - two bolts go up through the top of the windscreen frame and thread into captive nuts in the hard-top. Bolts need to be the right length so they thread in enough, but don't bottom out before the heads are tight. Sorry, I can't remember the correct length, but I bought bolts specifically listed as for the task from a Triumph parts supplier.

2. To the top of the B-pillar - as you surmised, the brackets that dangle down bolt into one of the holes on the threaded plate that otherwise holds the soft-top frame.

3. Along the back edge, using the same captive nuts as are used for the plate holding the rear of the soft-top. You can re-use the same bolts.

On my car it was tricky to get the hard-top fitted properly at both the front and the rear (although it's possible she'd sagged a little over the years!). I'd get the rear properly located, then get help from my wife, standing each side we'd simultaneously push forward firmly on the windscreen top and down on the hard-top, and it would clunk into place. Frankly, once on, I doubt it would come off even without any bolts holding it down!

Richard

Joe

Quote

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I loved the look of the hard-top on my car. It was great - every autumn I'd fit the hard-top, and it felt like I had a whole new car to look at and admire. Come the spring, off it came, and I got that feeling all over again!

The hard-top fits in three places:

1. To the top of the windscreen - two bolts go up through the top of the windscreen frame and thread into captive nuts in the hard-top. Bolts need to be the right length so they thread in enough, but don't bottom out before the heads are tight. Sorry, I can't remember the correct length, but I bought bolts specifically listed as for the task from a Triumph parts supplier.

2. To the top of the B-pillar - as you surmised, the brackets that dangle down bolt into one of the holes on the threaded plate that otherwise holds the soft-top frame.

3. Along the back edge, using the same captive nuts as are used for the plate holding the rear of the soft-top. You can re-use the same bolts.

On my car it was tricky to get the hard-top fitted properly at both the front and the rear (although it's possible she'd sagged a little over the years!). I'd get the rear properly located, then get help from my wife, standing each side we'd simultaneously push forward firmly on the windscreen top and down on the hard-top, and it would clunk into place. Frankly, once on, I doubt it would come off even without any bolts holding it down!

Richard

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Thank you Richard for the fast response to my questions. I feel a bit more confident in switching roofs. A few more questions arise....

1)Does it matter in what sequence the hard-top is installed ? Do you position it in place and then fasten the rear portion to the car and then fasten to the B piller and finally to the top of the windscreen ?

2)What is the best way to store the soft-top when I'm using the hard-top during the fall season ?

3)When putting my car in storage over the winter months, am I best to re-install the soft-top to prevent shrinkage (do they shrink?) ?

4)Is the hard-top meant to sit directly on the car's body or is there some sort of padding or rubber to prevent damageing the paint ?

Again I thank you for your help and patience with this newbie (me).

David Hughes
Toronto,Ontario,Canada
1978 Spitfire 1500

Answers to your questions:

1) Get the hard-top properly in place before putting in any of the bolts. Once it's in place, it should fit pretty tightly, so it won't move and it doesn't matter which order you do the bolts up.

2) I guess ideally the soft-top would be laid out flat. Given that we don't all have the space to do that, I'd just advise folding it in such a way that the windows aren't folded at all, and put it somewhere it'll stay dry.

3) I used to run my Spit all through the winter (which is no doubt why it developed so much rust that it is no longer with us ), so the soft-top stayed stored all through the Scottish winter. Never did it any harm, or caused any shrinkage. This was a vinyl top.

4) It's been a while, so I can't remember exactly what was on the rear to protect the paint, but it wasn't metal-to-metal contact. At the front I think there was a rubber seal between the top of the windscreen and the hard-top. The main risk to the paint is when you are fitting/removing it, when it could be easy to scratch the rear deck. The top is light enough for one person to fit, but two makes it much easier to handle carefully to avoid scratching!

To answer Joe's comment - the roof rails attach to the chrome rain gutter, so don't contact anything painted. All points contacting the gutter should be rubber or plastic coated, so won't cause any damage.

Richard

David Hughes
Toronto,Ontario,Canada
1978 Spitfire 1500

I'm very pleased with the results. The top isn't perfect but since I've never done a new headliner before, I think I did pretty well. There are a couple of mistakes that I can correct - the passenger side window seal that I accidently cut too short, for one!

The trick to getting the top mounted that it took me a couple of hours to decode, was to get the front bolts (through the windshield frame) started first. I needed to move the top further towards the rear to get the bolts started, mostly because of the angle of the bolts. Then I could push the top forward and looking down through the rear glass, line up the rear mount holes and get the rear bolts started. Finally, the B post hold down clamps (but I need to get to the hardware store to finally finish those). So that's what it took to get the hardtop on Mr. Spit. Having figured out how to mount the hardtop, am I an official member of the club now?

I'll try to get some outdoor pictures today but here's the first shots I took last night.

You're making me miss my old Daffy again (much as I love Sammy the BGT that I have now)...

Richard

I used to store mine either stood on the back two corners resting against a wall or hoisted up in a similar way to Jeff's (but less clean and pretty). I would agree that the way the straps were routed puts added compression into the structure but mine coped and it wasn't a steel one like yours.

My top had very squashy rubber seals around the back edge where it sat on the deck, watch out where it come sinto contact with the fuel cap, mine picked up a few scrapes here from removal and fitting.

Something else I did was fabricate brackets that allowed me to put the hard top in place over the folded down soft top. I did this as at the time the car was kept on a less than desirable street outside my shared rented house at university. I could fold the roof down and put the hard top quickly over with 4 bolts (window frame and B-posts) for security.

Car is looking very nice indeed.
Regards,
David

1972 MarkIV Spitfire (2000 - 2008)

I completed this project a while ago but didn't get around to posting about it right away. No problems, just life - the holidays and events that take up time and energy. Also, there is still one thing I want to change about this but it's minor and can wait until I remove the hardtop for the summer. Procrastinate? Me?

The following pictures tell the tale. I used boat docking line with a boat clinch screwed to the garage, heavy duty pulleys from the hardware store and a C-clamp and eye bolts, also from the hardware store. There are a couple of bungie cords on the corners to stabilize the top when it's suspended. I'm thinking about moving on of the cross bars from one end to the center with the line C-clamp to help support the weight.

Pulling the top up is really easy and the clinch device makes the task (wait for it!) a clincher! When the top is stored, it will be covered with a furniture blanket. Something to keep the dust and dirt off but not trap moisture. I think this is going to work out just fine.

Cheers.

Luckily she's been converted to electric, so there's only a transmission and differential to leak that badly.

I feel much better about parking Mr. Spit under the hardtop, now.

I did not realize how incredibly heavy it was and how difficult it would be to hoist it up there. I tried rigging up a block and tackle and that sorta worked but left it too far from the ceiling to be out of the way.

What I ended up doing is installing a couple of large hooks about 2 feet from a wall and by using some scrgo straps with ratchets, I was able to get it suspended vertically. It is close enough to the wall to be out of the way and easy to get up and down.

Joe