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MG MGF Technical - Hardtop Adjustment

Bought a second hand hardtop from a very nice chap in County Durham yesterday. Seemed to fit very well and so drove the 160 miles home with no wind noise problems. Washed car with a hose when I got home - no leaks - even better. However, I took the top off this morning since I don't want to keep it on just yet and found that the bottom of the hood was slightly polished (nothing to really worry about) on the drivers side and the plastic rim round the bottom of the hood on the passengers side was slightly scuffed. Could it be that the front clips are too tight and pulling the top forward?

Next problem is that I didn't realise that it took up so much room when off the car. What is the best way of storing it? I've seen brackets advertised and note that in the archives some owners have even hung the top from their garage roofs. The garage roof idea appeals to me but what configuration of ropes an pulleys are used?

Last but not least the top has a couple of small scratches on it. Can you polish scratches out of glassfibre?

Thanks,

David
David Clelland

>Next problem is that I didn't realise that it took up so much room when off the car. What is the best way of storing it?

Try the new MGF/TF FAQ with regards to hardtop storage (amongst other things)....

http://www.dotcomoff.demon.co.uk

Also home of the MG Dealer Guide and F'ers Gallery. :)
Paul Lathwell

Check the sealing rubber on the back of the hard top - if it is a foam strip it needs to be replaced with the tubular section seal and also check that the hard top has the large 'buffer' pads to lift the rear clear of the hood and body work.

Ted
Ted Newman

>check that the hard top has the large 'buffer' pads to lift the rear clear of the hood and body work.

Mine has them, though I found scratches from rubbing hardtop on the paint work near the door where the catch pulls down the hardtop. I think I'll have some works on catch adjustment at the co-driver side or change them to the newer design with support bracket. Scratches where not deap and a good polish removed them nearly.

@ David, you should IMO adjust the front catches only as tight as required. This means, minimum scuffed seal, but still sealed at the front window and at the rear seams of the side windows.
Dieter K.

Thanks all,

They hardtop is between one and two years old and has the new seals and catches. The front ones were pretty tight (much tighter than the ones on my softtop)so I think that might be the problem. No damage to the paintwork, just slight scuffing where the top sits on the lip at the bottom of the hood.

Paul,

I'll have a look at the FAQ for storage ideas.

Thanks again,

David
David Clelland

>I'll have a look at the FAQ for storage ideas.

Just updated the article with a couple of images showing the MG branded cover and the wall brackets. Especially for you naturally. ;-)
Paul Lathwell

What a guy - thanks Paul.

David
David Clelland

If you get the brackets, don't do like I did and put them too high, you can't get it up on them then as you need to get the catches open half way to egage into the hooks.

Steve
Steve

Steve,

I lifted the top by myself yesterday and was surprised how heavy it was. So, don't worry I won't be hanging it any higher on the wall than I have to.

You might also be interested to know that when I phoned my local dealer to see if they had the brackets in stock I was told that the new Heritage top is only £750. They say that it is comparible in quality to the factory one at double the price and that's what they fit to new customer's cars. If that's the case then the bottoms about to fall out the second hand hardtop market.

David
David Clelland

This thread was discussed between 29/09/2002 and 30/09/2002

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