Replacement Hood Advice

[swyper]

Hi All,

At the weekend someone decided to slash my girlfriend's MR2 hood.

I'm looking for some advice about what to do next.

1)  Insurance - it is convered, but with a £500 excess and loss of ncb, I'd prefer not to go down this route;

2) Breaker - been offered a hood for £475.  Seems ok, but are they easy to fit?  I saw the guide on here and it looks like a tricky but do-able job;

3) Any other suggestions??

[JudoKilli]

This looks like a great option - http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=29386

[uktotty]

You can get them for less, its NOT an easy fix but cheaper than the £900 for a Robbins top

[swyper]

After looking over the tutorial again, it doesn't look very easy at all.

Does anyone have any recommendastions for anyone in Glasgow / central belt that could supply and fit a hood?  Trimeline are quoting £1100,

[uktotty]

Contact these guys and ask them
 m http://www.robbinsautotopco.com/contact.php m

[Mike68]

If you go down the breaker route then avoid dewsbury auto salvage, very poor customer service, they supplied me with a MX5 roof for my MR2   s:roll: :roll: s:roll:  and took weeks to get a refund

[swyper]

Funnily enough, drewsbury came back with a price of £400 from one of those breaker sites.  Advice taken though, cheers!

[Dyn-Evo]

Get a hardtop...?   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Seriously, though, I have often wondered how feasible it would be to get hold of some vinyl material (something VERY similar to the OEM stuff), and simply glue it over the roof, covering the section...?

If you used Evostick Impact adhesive, or similar, it would certainly effect a decent , waterproof repair......

OK.....it wouldn't look OEM / 100%....

...but its certainly cheaper / easier than a full replacement, short-term..?   s:? :? s:?

[JudoKilli]

If you used Evostick Impact adhesive, or similar, it would certainly effect a decent , waterproof repair......

OK.....it wouldn't look OEM / 100%....

It would also look tacky, cheap and crap!

[Dyn-Evo]

No, it wouldn't if it was done right.......  s:roll: :roll: s:roll:  

I mean doing a section across the whole width of the roof, between the frame........

...not just sticking a square patch on......!!   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

if you had the right material, I doubt you'd notice from any more than 10 feet away, either......?

[swyper]

Luckily we have a hardtop, so its on just now but it defeats the purpose of having this car!

Not keen on the Blue Peter approach.  I can see your thinking but 2 panels have been cut so it would look a bit like a homemade effort I think.

Does anyone know of a guide to fitting a hood?  Got one on here for the removal but would like to see a fitting one (and yes, I know it would be the same in reverse).

[Dyn-Evo]

 s:D s:D  

yeh...but be honest:   how many days during the year will you actually have the soft-top down?

...and when you do, its DOWN, folded away...?!

So, its basically a question of how often you actually NEED the soft-top UP, is it not?

Its only then gonna look shite when its parked up and you're not actually in the car....?




...besides, the MK3 looks far better with the hardtop fitted...!  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

I get your point about the "blue peter" approach........but that depends on how much a new roof means to you, considering its been slashed: imagine if the same toerags see the new roof and slash it again...?

These roofs are mighty pricey, plus the cost / grief of fitting, etc......

If mine gets slashed, I'll defo be doing the Blue Peter: some have stated its gonna look rubbish...if thats not a gauntlet thrown down, then what is!?   s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:  

My creative skills are often underestimated......  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Hopefully, I wont need to ever do it, but I'm 100% sure I could do a half-decent job if the need arose...!

[Dyn-Evo]

Hey..had an idea:   s:idea: :idea: s:idea:  

Let me have your slashed roof, and I can "have a play"....?

I've been looking at Kevlar materials: there are some that are basically impossible to slash with a knife......  s8) s8)  

perhaps a roof covered in something along these lines would both look cool and serve a purpose....?

[swyper]

The problem is, we live in a flat so have to store the hardtop elsewhere, so the car usually has the hardtop off for the duration of the summer.  Its not like we can put it on/off as we see fit.

[Dyn-Evo]

I know what you're saying: I don't have a garage, either...!


...and the missus just HATES having it leaning up against the fireplace in the lounge..!!  s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:     s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[swyper]

its my missus' car, so she doesn't complain!!

[Dyn-Evo]

 s:D s:D   Nice one!

[swyper]

Ok, so I got this sorted today.

Managed to get a new roof from a breaker - £150+ vat + delivery - steal if you ask me!!

Manged to fit it today - not so much a hard job, just time consuming and tricky!

Initially the hood had 'ears' but soon sorted that.  One remaining issue tho, is that on one side the roof material doesn't go as far into the rubber seal as it does on the other side.  It rests against it and is weather (and power hose) proof, but I would prefer it to sit as far into the seal as the other side.

Any ideas?

[swyper]

anyone....

[normanh]

To be honest you did a good job to get this far, its not a job I would even think of attempting and that applies to a good many Mr T's as usually its a bit of a f*** up. Regarding the ears, did you fit the strap correctly which runs from side to side? There is a instructional thread on how to cure ears on the forum if you search. I discovered after chatting with a few on the Southern Softee run its likely that there is a pre and post facelift roof now I suspect the roof frames are identical but my roof appears to be a post one and I get ears , the likely cause is that the strap lengths between the two are different and I have the wrong one fitted. I gave the other to a guy in Darlington years back after finding it in the car.


norman

[swyper]

Hi Norman.

The hood I fitted came with the frame (and was a pre facelift like my girlfriends car) so that made it a bit easier to fit.  It isn't actually that hard a job to do, just a bit tricky.  

When I first got the hood on the ears were really obvious but I adjusted the strap correctly through the frame and that all but cured them.

My issue now is the fabric of the hood at one side just doesn't quite fit into the rubber seal as well as it probably should.  it doesn't leak but I would like to sort it out - just a bit puzzled as to how to go about it....

[normanh]

When I put my roof up sometimes i have noticed that the cover doesnt always sit perfectly into the plastic trim around the windows, we usually just push the cover up over the trim and in firmly pops in . I get a feel for when this happens from doing up the catches inside the care and then I check the cover, could it be this your finding? Other than that I am in the dark sorry.


norman

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Brand new to this site, i see this is an old thread - but last weekend i replaced my roof (with a salvaged in one £115, result!), any way it took me 5 hours and i have photo'd most of the steps.  So if anyone is after some help,  i can pretty much give step by step instructions.

Cheers,
S.

[Mark A]

Off a yellow Mr2 Bury St Edmunds way?

[kentsmudger]

Stevesstuck - Definitely be nice to have a 'how-to' for replacement - It is a question that comes up from time to time on here - Welcome to the club too!