Help with newly fitted hood/window seal

Hello all, I have a 1990 Clipper with a power hood.  Within the last couple of weeks my mechanic has replaced the hood, inner liner, headliner, gasket seals, new cables all round and a new metal window frame at the rear.  The vehicle is still letting rain in around the front a pillar, and around the roof handles…..I have noticed the window does not meet with the seal; it's only a matter of 1mm or so but obviously there is no seal working….I have electric windows.  Any advice please, it's happening on both o/s and n/s

theres foam seals between the metal channels and the hood, plus at the very front there needs to be a bead of sealant from the front to about half way along

Thanks for the above!!  I had new foam seals fitted with the hood; I have adjusted the "j" hooks and the rubber seals now touch the top of the window so all sealed up!  I have a slight issue with the fitting of the hood at the point of the top of the windscreen on the passenger side, I will post pics in next few mins

I have attached a few photos below….The lifting is obvious to see, and only about 2" in length

needs reseating on that side, hes not quite pulled it tight enough in the corner over the front hood lip. no big deal though undo the metal strip along the front endge peel the hood off and pull it a bit tighter, restick with contact adhesive

Thanks for your help John

Hi,

Unfortunately it's been poorly fitted, I would ask for the money back and have a go yourself.

Apart from the corner roof issue as you mention.
Your Mechanic has left the boot tabs off so you have nothing to attatch a tonneua cover to. These would of been put on prior to fitting the cable in the entry slots on the hood.

He has not aligned the roof properly at the rear so this will throw the hood out. The rear cable is not fitted correctly nor the hood material drifted in properly. This will need redoing, it may involve taking the rear window out to re tension the material in that area as its rippled.

The area around the boot snaps are rippled and out of shape, due to the relief cut not being made, before fitting.

You have dips and humps in the roof too, this really should not be a problem if a new interliner has been fitted as this holds the pad in place whilst you fit the hood, either that or the top pad is worn and he has added stuff to bulk it out, thats why I reccomend a new one.







Did I send you a message to ring me to send you some info over, it rings a bell with me?

Ah! thought your name looked familiar, just checked my Message box.
Unread sent messages, 27th October.

Deffo ask for a refund mate or take it to a hood fitter to get an idea on cost of doing it correctly and putting it right, then you can ask for compo towards the costs.
What did he do with the boot tabs?

Shame your not nearer to Derby.

Thank you so so much for the above, not nice to hear but I'm glad you have pointed out the above!!!  To be fair I had a nightmare from the very start…..I managed to source everything I needed but then the guy due to fit it could not do it till after Xmas, so I had to give her to a re-trimmer in Maidstone (although he has done mk1 golfs before)……and he had the car TWO WEEKS!!!  They broke the nearside roof handle, and replaced it with some random part rather than the original….I was aware of the front lip needing sorting, but do you know what I never even noticed the boot tabs missing!!!  This is important….the hood I got off ebay new and I am assuming they would have been attached when I received it???  I have to wait until new year to speak with the garage but your points will be forwarded to him!!

Again I really am grateful for your help….and yes I wished I lived closer to Derby!!!  No one down on this south coast fit hoods!!!

Not a good job at all.

Bit concerning as you say he has experience in hood fitting on MK1s and yes the boot tabs come with the new hoods, so they are lost somewhere then.

Just noticed this too.



Just out of curiosity where did you get all your stuff from?

As you know the Top Pad kits I do are complete with every thing you need to re do the centre section inc all the smoothing strips, rivets, backwashers and the pads are moulded to the OEM shape and are fire retarded to current specs too.
I supply a fittting guide with DVD too.

As far as I know I am the only UK supplier (I have the Mould/Tooling rights for the shape) that offers the full kit, the ones from Europe are more money and are not complete either.

I know that my stuff isn't cheap but, it is a waste of time and money not using the proper stuff as now it's going to cost more  in time and money to put this right. If you bought stuff by mistake I would of thought his experience would tell you the stuff ain't right, instead of fitting it and it not looking right.

What did you use as the pad?

It makes you mad to see members let down like this too.

If you were nearer Derby I could of given you a hand on re- fittting this and you could of taken pics to point out what he hasn't done right.

Should add the boot tabs are loose bits of material in a loop, usually looped together or in a bag so you don't lose them. They slip onto the rear tensioning cable before you fit that.

I may have a spare pair in black vynil knocking about, not sure id I fitted them to another members car though will need to take a peek in my spares box.

They are not attatched to the hood it's self.

Cheers

chortle

hi guys.
ive got a gloriously scabby cabby with rather too many "issues" to mention…but living in scotland, the roof leaks are a bit of a problem. Any ideas if there is a reputable place to take it to get the roof fettled down properly?
Sprokit.

Hi sprokit,

Try these tips.

Adjust the j hooks on the latching handles.
These pull the roof tighter against the header seal.

Renew foam gasket seals and apply sillicone around the front screw hole once the rubber seals are removed.

Look at the long header seal that runs across the windscreen frame. Run a stip of wide masking tape just touching the bottom edge to cover the paint work. Apply a non setting mastic under the seal working from the outer edge inwards by 7 inches.

Make sure your windows are aligned properly so they contact the glass properly, along the top edges.

If you find the j hooks are fully adjusted in then the roof has stretched so your option is to replace it.

The hoods become porous over the years especially when they are neglected. If they are porous your only option is to replace.
There really isn't a quick fix, what works for some, may not work for you.
If you have any tears, rips, splits change it. Vynil lasts around 5-7 years maybe longer if treated right.

Mohair can be re waterproofed but again rips, splits change it.

Finally this is my 3,000 post so happy new year to all who read this lol.

Cheers

Chortle

You can do all the above yourself sprokit.
If you struggle send me a PM and I will send some more in depth info.

Chortle

Chortle, following further investigation of my hood (and a huge amount of rain), water is getting in on the driver's side, above the window.  The "j" hooks have been adjusted and a seal between the rubber and window is made, but half way along this seal (where the two parts of the seal meet) there is a small gap.  I have tried to simply push the seal up to align, but no good!! Please help!!
Also, a small amount of rain has been getting in on to the parcel shelf.  It looks as though it is seeping in through the bolt heads which secure the window frame (if you look from inside the car back toward the window frame, bottom of window frame each side.  Please help again!!
Thanks

Hi,

it's tricky really as I haven't got the car in front of me.
But here goes.

Here's some questions.
the answers will determine what info I can give you to help.

1) did your fitter redo the sillicone around the front screw hole on the front side metal seal retainers?

2) did they renew the mastic under the front header seal?

3) did they use the correct thickness foam gaskets?

4) have you a good seal between the drivers windows and the rubbers?

5) did the fitter reseal the rear window before and after it was fitted?

6) was sillicone applied inside the hood seam across the front before being put on?

any info you have on how and what he did will help.

Cheers

chortle

Bump !!!!!!

the leak at the back will 99% be from a badly sealed rear screen. i had exactly the same problem as you where it looked like it was coming thru the frame screws but if you look closely you'll see its coming past the seal and pooling on the bolt heads. the screen needs good flexible sealant around it after it has been fitted, theres no way the rubber seal alone can seal against the rough texture of the hood material. this part is the most tricky to get right as you have to judge exactly how much sealant to squeeze in blind as the nozzle is shoved between the hood and rubber so you cant see!

have a look at the hood fitting pdf guide, this and all the comments above should hopefully guide you through till you have a waterproof car

sproket: you may be able to reseal the vinyl roof depending on the design of your hood and where the leak is. on my cab it would leak both sides towards the outer edge, after some investigation I foudn the problem was due to a flap on the inside becoming unglued. on my roof the outer strips were seperate from the middle pad and it has a sewn seam along with a flap along the inside of the roof to cover the seam. all the glue had gone here so in theory if i had peeled the roof back i coudl have cleaned out this section and re-glued to get it waterproof again. but the roof was too far gone to be worth saving so i just fitted another one. the replacement roof didnt have this seam on it, so as i say it depends on the design of your roof

Agreed Johnny,

just trying to find out what has or hasn't been done.

Castleview may not even know what was done, relying on the expertise of a fitter to do a proper job for him.

After all he is paying the Pro bloke to sort it so he doesn't have to DIY.

I have seen new fitted hoods where the cuts to the corners have been done too close to the edge and the material has ripped, so there is a chance that a tear or rip could be present near to the seal etc.

But it's tricky to send the right info untill you get a response from the fitter.

The clues are really in my questions and castle said he will be contacting the fitter to find out what he has or not done.

If he didn't do the stuff outlined in the Q's we have a starting point at least.

Another issue could be if he interferes with the hood now, the fitter may say that the faults are down to his doing. the "shoulda bought it back to me mate" mantra.

To be fair castle could of probably of done a better job himself.

But he has spent his hard earned money on a new headliner upwards refurb, not cheap I would suspect. I would quirey the quality of the rest of the install personally.

If it was me I would strip it back to the headliner and see how that's been fitted, then sort the interliner and pad out properly then redo the hood.

It would be a shame to fettle the hood only to find the headliner isn't right and the interliner and pad are all new, so they need sorting so the lumps and bumps are smoothed out. I have asked what has been used as a top pad too. If it's no good, no amount of fettling is gonna give the smooth finish, especially the ridge across the front.

The fitter shouldn't really have taken the job on if it's beyond him and it took him 2 weeks.
I could do a full refurb with the proper stuff in place in 2-3 days or less and I am an amatuer.

It must be annoying after shelling out money.
LOL I am annoyed looking at what castles been left with.

Like I say it's a pity he is so far away from Derby.

yep exactly right couldnt have put it any better!

if i was castleview i would take the car to you to get it sorted. if i was me i would make a new interliner pad and the hood skin all off again and redo it for a proper fit. actually thats if i was me a few years ago. if i was me now i would buy one of yours instead as I dont think i could face making another one
but unfortunately as I'm me now i dont have a cabrio any more so i dont need one anyway.

confused yet