Cabby manual roof adjustment

The mohair hood was replaced by the previous owner a few years back, but when refitting it the method of opening and closing has never been the same.

The problem is that the b-pillar seals and roof rubbers are getting destroyed as when the roof open/closes the hood arms foul really hard during that point of the sequence. I am currently replacing all the seals so I don't want to fall down the same route.

I need 2 people to open/close the hood so no pressure is applied to the b-pillars, which shouldn't be normal surely?
I have tried slackening the fixing bolts (either side of the rear bench seat) and re-aligning it but I think I'm making it worse.

Anyone had this similiar problem?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

have a look inside the roof frame near the b pillars, there is an excentric round metal bung thingy that adjusts the fit of the hood to the roll bar, that might help?

I think I know what you mean as I was twiddling with this wondering what adjustment it will have on the closure.

I will give it a go this weekend and update you with progress.

Cheers very much

This eccentric only adjusts how it sits over the roll bar.

it shouldnt be that difficult to open and close. should be able to do it with ease.

I would oil the hinge points and check to see what's going on.
Is it the origional frame as was with the car or did he get a secondhand one on a frame allready.

The 2 gas struts should help with operation.
A picture of the set and problem areas would really help.

The roof sits very snug over the roll bar so I can't imagine theres much need for adjustment.

The hinges are well oiled so that shouldn't cause too much friction with this type of roof closure problem.

Its the original frame as far as I'm aware as you can tell from the age.

Are the gas struts a modification from the electric roof? Sounds like an idea….do you know where I can get hold of these?

I will get some photos up this weekend so you can see where my problem is.

Cheers for the wise words!

Confused now?
Cabbies after 91 were fitted with power tops.
Is yours a power top?
If so why are you not operating it electrically?#

Gas struts are fitted to manual roofs.

I ask abot the frame as there has been a number of instances were folks have put different frames on cars that do not fit. There are 3 different sizes year dependant.

Therefore early frames to 81 don't fit later as VW lengthened the cabby by 2 inches.

Manual swap to power car is ok. Just need to remove pump etc.

Power to manual no, not without modifcation and set up welded in.

The locking levers on early frames are different to post 81 manual frame.

On power tops the hydraulic rams hold the top in  the down position. Without these you have the full weight of the roof to open and close manually plus the top can bounce up and down as it's not locked.

There is two blanking plates in the side rear seat pieces for the release arm tabs to  come through on swapping manual frame over to power car.

This is a whole new kettle of fish I didn't see coming….

My apologies I should have mentioned that its an 89' model with a manual operated roof.

The roof fits fine its just when closing it rubs a lot on the top of the b-pillars. The roof handles lock in no problem.

I can close it by myself but with someone else -  both can lift the roof slightly when closing to avoid the roof arms coming down so hard on the b-pillars.

I will get some pics Saturday so you can see my situation. The roof is definitely not 2" too long/short though.

Have your side tension cables snapped?
They run through the hood to 2 springs located behind the last two rear arm frames. The rear window side flaps off the hood glue onto these.



Eccentric

I'm not certain so I will check this weekend.

Can the roof still operate with the cables snapped? As far as I'm aware mine are still intact.

Thanks for the diagram - really helpful.

Yes the roof will still operate, but the cables do take some of the strain of the roof weight in part through the springs on the rear arms.
A usual indicator is the roof bagging slightly where it runs across the windo tops. In stead of being pulled in tight.

It may well be that the eccentric needs adjusting to keep it off the pillars. But it shouldn't ususlly be able to slam down or be that tough to put up.

Try disconnecting the gas rams and see if that helps in putting the top down. These rams can got duff.

check the brackets on the bottom of the rams too, on mine the rams had obviously failed and both lower brackets were siezed and totally bent out of shape thanks to this. or maybe it happened the other way round

Forgive me but where are the gas rams?

All mechanical joints are free and moving.

If weather holds out I will take a look tonight if not tomorrow.

they're behind the internal a pillar fabrics, if you open the roof and open the boot you can unhook/peel them from the bottom of the parcel shelfs, then close the hood again and lift them out the way and you'll see the ram either side

OMFG its sooo cold out. I just nipped out and whipped the cover off to get some pics. Every time I open/close the roof more damage is being created.

This pic is the OS b-pillar damage. I have removed the b-pillar/door seal since as it was super damaged.

This pic is the NS b-pillar damage.

I released these 3 bolts either side to attempt to adjust this misalignment but since their was little clearance in the holes I didn't achieve a lot.

Looking on the NS you can see how the roof bracket is heading downwards when travelling over the b-pillar.

I must admit over the winter the joints could do with more lubrication. Not sure if the gas strut is doing a lot but all the brackets both sides seem straight. 

Both sides share the same clearance in relation to the b-pillars.

My only theory so far is that the gas struts maybe causing the friction when opening/closing the roof.

But looking at the damage caused to the top of the b-pillars its evident that metal to metal has caused this damage over time.

What dya think? I panicing a bit cos I don't wanna replace any more bleeding seals never mind the roof.

Nearly forgot….the cables are ok.

hmm maybe, if theyre not extending at all then they could drag the back. its been too long since I worked on mine to offer any helpful advice here I think!

main thing is whip them off and make sure they extend fully, if they just stick or are very weak then theres ya problem

I hope that's the problem. I would've whipped them off today if it wasn't for the dam snow. Argh! 

Do you know where I can source these struts for a good price? Gsf?

Right looking at the pics of the seals it looks like they are not correctly fitted. The bit that has a cut out should fall over the B pillar.

So they all lay flush.

In your picture the cut out looks to be far over to the right of the B pillar has he got the opposite seals mixed up or back to front?

cheers

chortle

The picture isn't very clear but when the is closed the cut out in the seal sits snug over the b-pillar so there's no trouble there. Still scratching my head why its rubbing so much when opening and closing.  

ok, but the seal should just cover the outside edge too, not the inside if that makes sense.

if your near Derby pop it over and I can have a look at it.
failing that you need to have a look at another one and compare.