hard top

[coldstreamer]

hi guys ,

does anyone know if there is a repair part for the bottom rail on a hard top, minehas almost rusted through , the car has gone for a complete respray and found that the only rust is around the bottom rear rail , i,m getting quite fired up now ,a couple of weeksand i can get the engine in and theshiny bits on ,its been seventeen years since she was on the road ,cant wait .



andy

[DJT]

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coldstreamer wrote:

hi guys ,

does anyone know if there is a repair part for the bottom rail on a hard top, minehas almost rusted through , the car has gone for a complete respray and found that the only rust is around the bottom rear rail , i,m getting quite fired up now ,a couple of weeksand i can get the engine in and theshiny bits on ,its been seventeen years since she was on the road ,cant wait .



andy

Hi Andy. There are no hard top repair panels available. However this part is fairly basic, so any competent body man should be able to replace the lacey bits. If you need the bottom s/s trim piece let me know - I have at least 3........

Dave

[coldstreamer]

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hi dave , thanks for the reply , i will be in touch when i have the car back ,i have bought about three on ebay but not happy with the quality , will pm as soon as it comes home,



andy

[jleyton]

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Yeah, as Dave says, no repair panels available. Mine was pretty rotten but my bodyshop was able to fabricate sections. They said it wasn't that easy but didn't charge me too much (Just wish I could do bodywork like I can do mechanical work :?)

Cheers

Julian

[coldstreamer]

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i know what you mean julian , i would like to do bodywork like i build extensions and the like ,



andy

[V Mad]

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I love doing those little repair jobs. Its not difficult but it does take time making up cardboard templates,then turning them into metal pieces ready for welding. Worst bit is cutting out the rust and cleaning back to weldable metal. Sometimes you cant believe how a small hole ends up three times the size.

I once decided to cut out and remake thewhole front section of the hard top. ManyWeetabix packets later, and lots of cutting and welding turned a colander into something resembling the original and just as strong. When I thought about the time it took Ivowed never to bother withsomething that bad again :shock:. There are plenty of fair to good ones out there which are a much better proposition.

[Guest]

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jleyton wrote:

Yeah, as Dave says, no repair panels available. Mine was pretty rotten but my bodyshop was able to fabricate sections. They said it wasn't that easy but didn't charge me too much (Just wish I could do bodywork like I can do mechanical work :?)

Cheers

Julian

How much did they charge you Julian?....did you take any pics?

[jleyton]

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Hi Ian,

I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to help you much . At the same time as I had the hardtop done I got the same people to put a floorpan section in the car and some other work and I'd agreed a figure of £1,000 for everything, so it's impossible to give a figure for the hardtop alone.

In fact, the hardtop turned out to be more work than either they, or I, had expected but they stuck to their original quote. At aguess maybe, I'd say £400 each for the hard top and floor and £200 for the rest but it was one of those jobs where I didn't push them to finish it and they did the work when they had spare manpower.

Also, I hardly tookany real pictures apart from this one when I was just taking the hardtopto the bodyshopp - but you can't really see its condition. I've got a couple of others and, if you PM me your email address I can send those to you just in case they're any help.

Cheers

Julian