Soft top pinch point and repair?

[Old Dude]

Hey Tien
With the new top your getting, have you put a plan in place to stop this happening to your new top?
Cheers
Old Dude

[BadBong]

does anyone have a photo of roughly where they are referring to?

I can feel that there is a thinner part appearing on the roof right behind the seat on the passenger side...

I think it's the bit that gets tucked away under the demister when you 'drop' the roof down...


hm... need... to....take...care...of....car...

[TieNN89]

Hey Tien
With the new top your getting, have you put a plan in place to stop this happening to your new top?
Cheers
Old Dude

yes and no

well people have an extra bit of vinyl or something stuck behind there so I'll probably do that too

if someone could take a pic and put it up it would be great

[Old Dude]

does anyone have a photo of roughly where they are referring to?

I can feel that there is a thinner part appearing on the roof right behind the seat on the passenger side...

I think it's the bit that gets tucked away under the demister when you 'drop' the roof down...


hm... need... to....take...care...of....car...

Hi Badbong

Its behind the seat and roughly in line with the seat belt towers. I have taken some photo's and will post them once I load them on the computer.

[Old Dude]

does anyone have a photo of roughly where they are referring to?

...

Here's a photo badbong I tried to get better photo's but they were to large, I will keep trying but at least you can see where it is in reference to the top spring.

PICT1610.JPG

The lighter colour is not wear its just from the light I used. but I think you can see where the problem is.
Cheers
Old Dude

[BadBong]

Yep, that’s exactly where I can feel a bit of ‘thinning’ inside my roof.

Will a simple cloth sticky tape do the trick? Or will the adhesive damage the roof in the heat.

[Old Dude]

You would probably have to use contact adhesive and suitable material. I am still trying to decide what to do with mine at present..!! Garry had a piece of softop material glue in on both sides and hasn't had a problem since. The piece was as big as the whole "C" panel.
I was going to talk to the "leather/vinyl doctor" and see what he could do.

And maybe see what other ideas come up on this thread.
Cheers
Old Dude

[BadBong]

Hm… rather than covering the whole C pillar, wouldn’t it be easier to just thicken that section of the roof that gets pinched on?

My problem is that I still haven’t figured out WHAT is actually pressing against the inside of the roof that is doing this damage…

[Old Dude]

Ok when you fold the roof down, you will see that there is a stop there to support the top when its down (just below the spring in the picture is the top part of the stop). What can happen as did to mine the roof gets caught between the top and bottom stop, and it pinches the fabric.

When Garry had the entire "C" panel done it changed the way that the top folded and it no longer went into the stops. I also thought about glueing a piece of fabric maybe 100mm diameter into that area.

But I'm still waiting to get feed back from those that know better than I. In the mean time I make sure my top doesn't get caught in this spot..!!!

Cheers
Old Dude

[Benny]

You can pick up some suitable material from Clark Rubber.
You'll only need relatively small pieces, so look in their offcuts bin.
Virtually any fabric-backed, soft vinyl will do the trick.

[BadBong]

Got cha.

Thanks guys – I’ll go look for the ‘stop’ tonight and at least get a piece of tape on the inside of the roof for now.
I’ll go to Clark over the weekend and see what they’ve got that’s suitable for patching the whole section so I can stop worrying about dropping the roof down.

[Old Dude]

Would you use Contact cement Benny?
Do you think that it would be benefitial doing the whole panel or just say a 100mm diameter patch on the offending area?

Cheers
Old Dude

[Benny]

You would only cover the whole of the "C" pillar interior of the roof if you are really worried about what the inside of the roof looks like, but personally, I would just use a patch.

A good contact cement would be the best glue to use, but you could also use a PVA or latex glue - which are easier to use, but may eventually peel away.
If using a contact cement, make sure the areas you are going to glue are clean and free of any dirt or oils.
Give the section you are going to glue a good wipe with metho (NOT kero) and let it dry for a minute or so, then apply the contact adhesive to both the area of the roof and the patch piece, allow them to dry a little, until they become "tacky", but not dry, then press the 2 pieces together and hold some pressure on them for a few minutes, if possible.
If when you are putting the glue on, one piece becomes a bit too dry, you can re-activate the glue by heating it with a hair dryer set on hot or put a little more glue on that dry section.

In shoe factories, when they are gluing the sole to the upper, they actually glue them some time before they are to be stuck together and allow them to fully dry.
Then, when they want to join them together, they put the pieces into a heat tunnel, and heat the pieces up then put them together to get the best bond.

[Old Dude]

Thanks Benny I owe you a beer or ten, do you have a background in this sort of stuff?
Cheers
Old Dude

[Benny]

Thanks Benny I owe you a beer or ten, do you have a background in this sort of stuff?
Cheers
Old Dude

I have a lifetime's worth of experience in making handbags, belts and cases out of leather and synthetic materials.
Started working in a leathergoods factory from the age of about 18 months!
It was my parents business, so child labour laws didn't matter!

I've been through every facet of making leathergoods of all sorts, as we used to do a lot of custom made work.
I spent many years as the designer/patternmaker and ran the factory here, and in China, looking after over 600 employees at times as well as fixing machines and re-designeing other peoples machines too.
I've also had a lot of experience with die casting metal, injection, vacuum and blow moulding of plastics too, as well as plating of metal and plastics.

I used to love working in the factory, as I love to make things with my hands.

Now I'm stuck driving a desk all day.......................