Hoods again!

[SADLOTUS]

Me again with hoods!

Just received my new hood from Prestige. Apart from not being quite 'wide' enough at the hood rail - where the poppers are (going to heat the garage to see if the vinyl will stretch a little more), the 'lip at the front that sits in the ali rail is of the stitched variety that I'm convinced causes the hood to pop up.

I've attached a few pics and a diagram to try and show the differences.

I'd love to know what people have out there, more comments to add to my previous post, and if poss where they got their hood.

Prestige say they've always done the hood like this and don't have problems. I'd like a bit more info from the great informed out there before I start stretching, pulling, putting holes in it.... and can't send it back.

Ta, Paul

[gjz30075]

Paul, my hood was purchased about 30 years ago and it has the stitched front lip. I never liked it; I think it looks ugly and is certainly not original however, it has never popped out. The lip is pushed up now due to 30 years of wind resistance, I'm sure, but it has always held in place.

And yours looks a lot more streamlined than mine ever did.


GregZ
'72 Sprint

[nebogipfel]

Paul, my stitched hood (Susan Miller supplied) is a good tight fit and I'm certain it will not pull out.

I agree the rolled edge is neater but I don't think it's a significant factor on the hood pulling out of the rail. I have always believed that it is the negative pressure caused by the flow of air over the hood that lifts the hood out of the rail at speed, unless it is a good tight fit and not pressure on the leading edge.

I suspect that the stitched design does contribute to wind noise - my hood is not what you would call quiet.

The only hood I have had which pulled out regularly was a rolled edge with a narrow metal insert; neat but useless!

[1964 S1]

Greetings,
IF you can get the hood to fit properly at the (rear?) rail, I'd try trimming down the inserted tab at the front. It should then fit more snug into the slot, lowering your seam/stitch.
After reviewing your photos, I'd return your top and buy one made by Robbins.
Good Luck, Eric
(whose S1 front tab is literally a piece of rope fitting into that slot, but hey, it works.)

[spanner]

Hello all,

Here is detail of an original grey 1965 Elan S2 top. The rubber insert is 13/16" wide. The vinyl was glued and wrapped around it, with a single stitched row behind it.

The first photo is a cross-section of the rubber insert, designed to grab.

To install the top, the front corner fastener was snapped on and then the front lip was slowly "walked in" on an angle into the windscreen recess from one side to the other. This was an extremely tight fit and the top stayed put!

To remove the top, unsnap and pull out at an angle from one side to the other.

I'm very happy with my new (10 year old) top from Robbins. The fit is perfect and every seam and window detail is just like the original top, right down to the same small pucker near the passenger side lower snap! The plastic insert however, is smooth, only 7/16" wide, and the top's front lip literally falls into the windshield recess. Room for improvement?

My fair weather car never has the top up and since I don't drive as fast as I did 40 years ago, it hasn't been a problem.

[spanner]

So I got curious and took a closer look at the shape of the windscreen recess. It's obvious someone working for Lotus back in the early '60s paid significant attention to this little detail!

[1964 S1]

Hello to any other S1 owners out there,,,, mine has rope not rubber, what does your's have? Eric

[RotoFlexible]

Hello to any other S1 owners out there,,,, mine has rope not rubber, what does your's have? Eric

I have an S2 but it's probably the same arrangement. The original hood has long departed. The aftermarket hood came with a thin, wide plastic strip stitched into the front edge. It allowed the front edge of the hood to tilt up and catch the wind. I recently had the strip replaced. The shop chose to use a thicker, narrower length of pliable aluminum. It is not as good as the original, but with some effort it can be made to fit snugly in the recess along the windscreen top frame. It got us back from northern Vermont, three hours on the highway and a brief but intense rainstorm, without drama.

Spanner: Thanks for posting the cross-section of the original insert. I hadn't seen that before - looks like some sort of door weatherstrip.