Hi,
Sorry these instructions have been so long in the making I am having a stupidly busy time at work. I also apologise for the poor quality photos, I am clearly pants at taking pictures.
In the pack with you new hood strap are:
- The new strap with new wings
- Two Velcro strips
- Two new poppers.
On my hood I knew that one of the poppers was squashed and should be replaced (had been previously bodged with a cable tie). I called up a local car upholsterer and they were prepared to fit the new popper. 5 minutes and £5 later my hood had two working poppers.
I then set about removing my old strap. You should first take note of which tunnel (in the hood) the strap goes through. There are two tunnels, a large (really obvious) one and then inside that a smaller (harder to find) tunnel, you should pass the strap through the smaller tunnel. Also note which parts of the hood the strap attaches to, the "ears", and how the ear passes through the hood frame.
To remove the old strap simply unpop and pull the strap out of the hood. The instructions advise that you should attach cord to the old strap and the new strap. When you then remove the old strap it will pull the new one into place.
I was too stupid to read these instructions and hence just pulled the old strap out. It is possible (although not easy) to push the new strap into the tunnel. I found it goes a fair distance before starting to fold up. There are a couple of little windows in the tunnel where you can feel the strap; I used these to pull the strap along inside the tunnel.
You are advised to clean the ear material before sticking the Velcro; mine seemed plenty clean so I didn't bother. Now I stuck the Velcro strips to the "ear" attached to the roof. These strips should be attached to the popper side of the ear i.e. the side to which you will connect the strap popper. I found the strips were a little wider than my ears so trimmed them to size.
Ready to stick (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.farrar100/mr2/hoodstrap/126_2686s.jpg)
Stuck
(//http)
Now you should be able to attach the strap popper to the hood popper then fold the wing part of the strap so it sticks to the new Velcro strip. Once you have done this at both ends the strap is fully installed. The roof should now close with no ears sticking out. In the photos below I haven't threaded my strap in yet, you wouldn't see the popper bit if I had.
Ready to put wing down (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.farrar100/mr2/hoodstrap/126_2689s.jpg)
Wing is in place (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.farrar100/mr2/hoodstrap/126_2690s.jpg)
Those are all the instructions I can think of, if you need further help just let me know.
Unfortunately I still have ears on my roof and I think I know why.
Offside ear (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.farrar100/mr2/hoodstrap/126_2691s.jpg)
Nearside ear (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.farrar100/mr2/hoodstrap/126_2692s.jpg)
Even though the nearside picture is terrible quality I think you can see the difference between the two. The offside ear has clearly torn away from the hoodlining at some point. You can see the frayed bits of elastic. This means that the offside ear still sticks out and that there isn't enough enough tension in the strap to pull the nearside ear in fully.
I wonder if TiMr2 has the same problem? I am going to take my car to an upholsterer place and see what they can do for me. Either that or sew the thing back together myself.
Cheers,
Fraz.
Fraz,
I have run across this problem before, and you are correct. If the webbing on the "flap" has torn away it must be re-sewn to the, uh, hood? (Please forgive an American learning English...)
TiMr2 might be having the same problem, or might have missed the "sleeve" through which the strap must pass.
(http://webpages.charter.net/dorseydd/StartingPointSML.JPG)
In this picture, my thumb nail is touching the "sleeve", which is slightly torn from being snagged.
Hope this helps!
I will double check all that but I did follow your instructions to the full (unlike Fraz s:wink: :wink: s:wink: )
I tied cable to my old strap before removing it and then tied the cable to the new strap and pulled it back through from where the old came. Of course I can't guarantee that the original strap was in the right place to start with but it certainly went through one tunnel. I will check to see if there is another sleeve lurking inside the tunnel that I have missed.
I can see the language confusion - for you 'sewing the flap to the hood' (bonnet) would not make sense! s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
Ah that explains why theyre pop studs not fixed connections, its so they can break free if needs be and not rip the hood connections.
Quote from: "odub"Ah that explains why theyre pop studs not fixed connections, its so they can break free if needs be and not rip the hood connections.
I will claim it was ripped before I put a cable tie in to secure the other end, although I could be mistaken s:oops: :oops: s:oops: .
Quote from: "odub"Ah that explains why theyre pop studs not fixed connections, its so they can break free if needs be and not rip the hood connections.
Factory solutions usually have a reason, especially if they do something like this that costs more and takes longer to assemble...
Hey what do you know - my original strap was NOT passed through the inner sleeve.
I fed my strap through the correct sleeve by taping it to the end of a straightened coat hanger - worked a treat.
Thanks Argiope - it does make a big difference, but it's still not perfect.
The ears don't stick out anymore but they don't fold down neatly. It is much much better than it was and may be even better when the hood is warmer and more durable.
I think due to the amount of times the hood (top) has been lowered without the strap installed correctly it has trained itself to fold slightly incorrectly.
Thanks for your help here guys.
Quote from: "TiMr2"Hey what do you know - my original strap was NOT passed through the inner sleeve.
I fed my strap through the correct sleeve by taping it to the end of a straightened coat hanger - worked a treat.
Thanks Argiope - it does make a big difference, but it's still not perfect.
The ears don't stick out anymore but they don't fold down neatly. It is much much better than it was and may be even better when the hood is warmer and more durable.
I think due to the amount of times the hood (top) has been lowered without the strap installed correctly it has trained itself to fold slightly incorrectly.
Thanks for your help here guys.
I'm glad your strap is working (mostly).
I've put in the Wing Kit to avoid the "ears" problem arising in the future, though I don't have it now.
Certainly tightens up the hood when you are closing it.
What I did find with the ears was that one side was not folding quite right (ex-factory), and it took a bit of effort to refold "properly" and get the folds in the right place.
Definitely the hood "remembers" the folds, so IMO its worth the extra time and patience since the kit will not refold them into the correct position if they have been elsewhere for any length of time.