Did the factory ever use press-studs for hood?

[tjb0274]

I have a "bitsa" DHC that appears to have been put together from a couple of different cars. The shell is S4.

The car came with a bunch of random things in the boot, including a tonneau and two soft tops. One of the tops is cloth, has tenix connectors, and fits the car well. It's in good nick, but definitey worn - I'm guessing it's maybe 10-15 years old.

However, the other hood looks really old and also appears not to have been used in a long time. It has a plastic exterior and a white cloth interior lining. The curious thing about it is that the connectors at the rear are press studs, not tenix.

I'm wondering if the factory ever used press studs, or whether this would have been an after market thing at some point. The car currently has tenix male connectors installed, but I guess it could have had press studs at some point.

[USA64]

I believe the Tenax were at the back and snap fasteners at the sides. I don't know how many of each I'm not there yet.

[tjb0274]

Interesting - I'm new to the nitty-gritty of Elan specs, so might be wrong, but I thought that on S4s at least the original spec was all-Tenax, just that the centre five (I think) male connectors were longer, and went through the female connectors on the hood so that the hood cover or a tonneau could go over the top once the rest of the hood was folded into the hood tray.

[512BB]

I have no clue as to what you mean by press studs. Perhaps others are in the same boat re lack of response to your question. Please post a picture of a press stud.

I recently bought a car where the hood was fitted as per the factory, ie fastened with 5 - 7 long male Tenax to the hood tray. The first thing I did was replace them with short studs and fit female Tenax to the hood to make it fully removeable. I then store it in the boot when not errect !

In my experience, folding, rolling and squeezing the hood around the hood frame ruins the clear windows and will definately shorten the life of your hood. I am fairly sure that the hood you describe as having a white underside, is in fact light grey, and will be an original Lotus supplied hood, which is what I still have on my every day Sprint. With careful use, original hoods last a long time.

Leslie

[tjb0274]

I have no clue as to what you mean by press studs. Perhaps others are in the same boat re lack of response to your question. Please post a picture of a press stud.

Oh, interesting - they're quite common in Aus, and I seem to remember them from the UK in my childhood, but maybe there was a different term over there that I've forgotten.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SNAP-PRESS- ... 1296130548

My no-roof non-Lotus car uses them to secure the tonneau cover.

snip...
I am fairly sure that the hood you describe as having a white underside, is in fact light grey, and will be an original Lotus supplied hood, which is what I still have on my every day Sprint. With careful use, original hoods last a long time.

Leslie

That's what I suspected, but the different type of fastener gives me pause.

[Elanman99]

Having an S4 from new I can say that mine did come with press studs in the hood, only two of them though. They were either side of the top windscreen rail holding the front corners of the hood. As others have said the rearmost Tennax fixings permanently attached the hood to the car.

If the supplied original hood was folded carefully following the Lotus instructions the rear windows suffered minimal stress and outlasted other parts of the hood. On mine the stitching failed over a long period of time before eventually 'blowing off' whilst I was showing off! (flat out on motorway)

Ian

[jimj]

Leslie, I`m amazed you`re unfamiliar with the term "press stud". They`re commonly used on, say, leather jackets and, indeed, there are 2 on dhc Elans, one either side at the front. "Tenax" is a brand named used generically, I`ve heard them called "pop studs" which isn`t very descriptive. Thinking about it, Leslie, I know you`re old enough to have had press stud fastenings on the waist of your jeans and maybe to secure pocket flaps too.
Jim