Fitting New Hood

[oldelanman]

Anyone done this job recently ?
Just got a new hood for my S4 and it doesn’t look like it’s going to fit. Slotting the front into the channel over the windscreen and pulling it as tight as I can over the frame it’s a long way short of reaching the Tenax studs at the rear. I know from reading through previous threads on the topic that this job needs to be done on a hot sunny day, with possibly additional heat applied to the fabric, but how much will it stretch when hot ?
Probably worrying unnecessarily but any thoughts or advice welcome while I wait for warmer weather.

[TBG]

Been there done that. Probably will never fit and if you get it to when you next need to put it up it won't reach the windscreen slot. I got through two hoods that I returned and eventually got a hood not finished and got a trimmer to fit it. Bloody annoying it all was. D

[gjz30075]

Roger, what brand/type is the hood?

[oldelanman]

Roger, what brand/type is the hood?

It's everflex material from Sue Miller

[Spyder fan]

Roger,
Did Sue include the fitting instructions? I had a new hood from her about 7 years ago and there was a very useful A4 page of tips and instructions for fitting.

It took a leap of faith, but fitting wasn’t that difficult. I seem to remember that the hood frame should be in place but that the rear hoop shouldn’t be under tension, a heat gun on its lowest setting is useful (not in the instructions) and can be used to gently warm the whole of the hood by spending a few minutes giving it an all over blow dry.

Connect to the screen, centralise and then mark the position of the two most central Tenax posts at the rear, put heart in mouth then cut the hood to allow the fasteners to be fitted, check everything again, then fit the rest of the tenaxes

Get the hot air gun out or put the car outside in full sunlight to warm it all up again and tension the roof. If Sue still uses the same supplier it will definitely fit.

Good luck

[reb53]

Hope I'm not insulting your intelligence but you are leaving the centre hoop down whilst you fit it aren't you ?
Then when the hood is up you push the , ( moveable), centre hoop into position and it all gets tensioned up.
Does need quite a push and I can't imagine it's possible if it was up when you put the hood over it.
I've replaced a few hoods and never had any problems apart from having to really push the front of the hood into the lip on top of the windscreen sometimes.

Ralph.

[Spyder fan]

Hope I'm not insulting your intelligence but you are leaving the centre hoop down whilst you fit it aren't you ?
Then when the hood is up you push the , ( moveable), centre hoop into position and it all gets tensioned up.
Does need quite a push and I can't imagine it's possible if it was up when you put the hood over it.
I've replaced a few hoods and never had any problems apart from having to really push the front of the hood into the lip on top of the windscreen sometimes.

Ralph.

I definitely agree with that, you explained it better than me. That’s what I meant about not being under tension.

[oldelanman]

Gentlemen, thanks for your responses.
I do have the fitting instructions and the tensioning hoop was down when I offered the hood up to the car. I do have a roll bar fitted but that is lower than the tensioning hoop and shouldn’t make that much difference to the installation, I don’t remember it being a problem when I fitted the previous hood but it was about 40 years ago! I guess I need to wait for a really hot sunny day to find out if this hood is going to fit or not but at the moment it doesn’t look promising.

Alan, I assume your hood has the one piece, full width plastic lip at the front edge .. how do you get on stowing it when the ends don’t fold in like the original?

David, Can I ask who made and fitted your bespoke hood and what was the cost ?
Regards,

[Spyder fan]

Roger,
Yes, I have the one piece full width plastic lip. However I made the hood fully removable rather than stow it under the rear tonneau. It lives in the boot in a large bag when the hood is down. I just fold it gently so that the windows don't get creased.

When laid out flat the hood measures 1350mm ( 35 inches) from the centre of the leading edge (lip is underneath) to the centre of the rear of the hood, quite a small item really.

Sue used to supply a hood storage bag, and for some "special" customers like Pharriso she occasionally makes one up in her sewing room...... I'm still waiting for mine, I'm obviously not a special customer

[oldelanman]

When laid out flat the hood measures 1350mm ( 35 inches) from the centre of the leading edge (lip is underneath) to the centre of the rear of the hood, quite a small item really.

Alan,
Thanks for the info.
My new hood measures exactly the same at 1350mm. The corresponding measurement on the car over the fully erected frame and tension hoop to the centre rear Tenax stud is 1360mm and to where the edge of the hood would be is 1375mm .. so it needs to stretch approx 20-25mm. If you have the opportunity I wonder if you would mind measuring your hood from side to side at the foremost Tenax stud position following the line of the main roof bar and also the corresponding measurement from Tenax to Tenax on the car. The hood has a stitched and welded seam at that point so is probably more difficult to stretch side to side than front to rear. I'm wondering now if my hood frame is out of shape
Thanks. Regards,

[pharriso]

Sue used to supply a hood storage bag, and for some "special" customers like Pharriso she occasionally makes one up in her sewing room...... I'm still waiting for mine, I'm obviously not a special customer

Jealousy will get you nowhere!! And a very nice bag it is too...

[Spyder fan]

Hi Roger,
Sorry, I won't be able to do any more measuring until after the weekend. Do you have the old hood that you can check against? or is this a totally new setup?

There is a surprising amount of stretch in the hood material, I doubt you will have any issues fitting it.

[oldelanman]

Hi Roger,
Sorry, I won't be able to do any more measuring until after the weekend. Do you have the old hood that you can check against? or is this a totally new setup?

There is a surprising amount of stretch in the hood material, I doubt you will have any issues fitting it.

Hi Alan,

Yes I do have the old hood .. should have thought of checking that before It's not been on the car for many years, ever since I could no longer see through the severely discoloured rear window. I just dug it out and compared it to the new one and the key dimensions are pretty similar so I think I can probably stop worrying and just get on with it! Don't worry about doing any more measuring.
Thanks again for your advice and reassurance.
Regards,

[tonyabacus]

No need to wait for a sunny day and if using a heat gun take care as they can damage the material unless you move the gun around constantly. A better idea is with the hood loosely in place, get a fan heater and place it in the car and let the heat build up evenly across the material. It can be left in place whilst you work so that the material does not cool too much.
Tony

[Spyder fan]

Good news Roger,
Let us know how you get on.