Folding of hood querie

[moggymankev]

I have not had my car that long, and as yet I don't have a handbook, could somebody please advise on the folding of the hood, my hood is a little tight through shrinkage over the years I think it is original , my querie is: ...When you fold down the hood are you supposed to pull the material out /rearwards or leave it inside , I have tried both and if I pull it rearwards it's difficult to raise the hood because it catches at the rear decking area , if I leave it 'as it folds' I find it difficult to squash around the rear of the seat area, I think the hood frame works quite well, it latches ok when you raise the window section.....I intend having a new hood shortly which may cure my problem......any suggestions would be very welcome.
Cheers Kev

[malc4d]

I always tuck the bottom overhang under the hood. It stops the bottom sticking up when you put the top back up.

[pcoleman]

there's not a lot of room in the storage well for the hood so it is a bit of a squeeze, I tend to unzip the rear window and make sure its stored as vertical as possible as I fold the hood down and it all folds in ok, just !!

peter

[V Mad]

It depends on the hood cover material. If it is thick you need to push it back out of the frame so that the frame can fold down completely. On some of the thinner ones you dont need to do that.

[moggymankev]

Thank boys ,I have just found a you tube presentation with a fella taking someting like 23 seconds to raise his hood....it seemed to move remarkably easy, it takes me longer than that to get it out of the storage well particularly if it detaches from the front main part of the frame,I'm out in the car tomorrow so I'll have another go.
Any other suggestions from anybody else very welcome.
Cheers Kev

[jleyton]

Hi Kev,

The Youtube will probably be Malcolm who comes on here sometimes.

I suspect you may well know this but the one critical thing is to ENSURE that both of the latches are firmly secured - if not, the hood can get well and truly jammed.

The rear seat back is only held by two 7/16AF bolts, through the two vertical supports. If you remove these and then lift the backrest upwards it will release and give you much better access to the folded hood so you can see what's going on. (However, you will need the hood out of the hoodwell to do this first )

Good luck.

Cheers

Julian

[darrellprice]

The air temperature also plays in to the mix, it was +4C in the garage this week when I was trying to move the hood around to install the T Bar; I look forward to warmer days!

[V Mad]

The air temperature also plays in to the mix, it was +4C in the garage this week when I was trying to move the hood around to install the T Bar; I look forward to warmer days!

Warmer days, yes I bet your are. Not sure if I would swap our mild but very very wet weather with yours. One of the companies I use was under 4 feet of water last week. Now waiting for it to drop enough for them to get back in and start pumping.

The effects of cold on hoods, yes thats a good point too. The back windows vary, and some of them become very rigid in the cold. Can crack if you are not careful.