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MG MGF Technical - Faulty hood - it blew down whilst i was driving.

Has anyone experienced their hood blowing down whilst driving (at70mph but good straight road, no bumps, not a particularly windy day)?

The catches were clamped shut and remained clamped shut after the roof came down. The mountings are still in one piece but one screw is missing - looks as if it sheared and fell out.

I am particularly concerned about the safety hereafter. The roof did not blow down entirely so there was a significant strain placed on it until i found somewhere to stop.

The frame was bent out of shape. Back windscreen shattered and a bit of wear on the hood material.

Should i replace the frame, cover or just back window? Any recommendations in the Birmingham area for a reputable garage who will give me an honest opinion?

Margaret Harrison

Owee
Never head of this before.

The MGF centre is your friend and they can fit you up with a second hand frame if you want.
Will Munns

this has happened to my 1997 mgf. one of the bolts in the cantilever ( a shouldered bolt) snapped clean thro. again about 60-70 mph . a volvo lorry was very close to me prior to the blow off but was nowhere to be seen when i got into the hard shoulder. mgr were no help...told me i had not closed the roof well. ( in fact some time later i found both parts of the bolt and there was a massive ammoumt of wear on it as with the one on the other side. at that time i always drove with the hood down , no matter the weather, so the hood was going up and down some days 9/10 times , depending on stops.
i have seen bad wear on other hood bolts that i have inspected . i bought a second hand hood and there was wear on the bolts also.
i contacted mgr and was told that the bolts were not available and i would have to by a new frame. as a temp i had some new bolts machined to size.

so watch out for second hand hood frame that have been well used and not lubricated, get some bolts machined and the hood frame straightened or buy a new one.
a friend

Which bolts exactly - I will check mine
Will Munns

Midland MGF are just down the road. They will have a good 2nd hand hood at a good price.
Geoff F.
G. Farthing

Happened to us a couple of years back - I always reckoned Jackie had not shut the roof properly but maybe she is exonerated! MGF Centre did us a s/hand hood and frame complete, even fitted it while-u-wait at Silverstone MG weekend for about £100 IIRC... usual outstanding service.
David S

will...the bolts that were effected were on the cantilever side hinges that allow the hinge arms to pivot. they are i think 10 mm approx and have a stepped shaft. they were worn down on the bearing face but had snapped where the shaft is stepped down for the screwed thread. unless you remove them you cannot see the wear. it is well worth checking . the second hand hood i got was approx 18 months old and showed wear.
a friend

>the bolts that were effected were on the cantilever
>side hinges that allow the hinge arms to pivot.

sorry - still not got it, are they the bots at the very base of the hood frame where it reaches the bulkhead/tbar?
Will Munns

no . they are in the middle of the frames side
a friend

http://www.mgfcar.de/TF_hood/TF_roof1.jpg
Here we are.

Anyway, the *flying* hood and serious damage to the frame is well known.
This happens when the the closure clamps get engaged in wrong manner.

It's possible to closing a clamp with clamp shaft _under_ the A-Frame bracket, instead of _behind_ this bracket.
Happened to me aswell several times when the hood was new. But I realised it just at low speed cause of unusual wind noise.

This will never happen when you _look_ to the the clamp bracket while closing the flap and check that the 6mm shaft gets behind the A-Frame bracket. Then close finally.

HTH
Dieter
Dieter K.

"This happens when the the closure clamps get engaged in wrong manner."

not always.


a friend

Yep, MGF Centre in Wolverhampton have replacement hoods available at a good price, they can also upgrade to a glass screen hood if you're interested in an upgrade.

Regards
Andy

Andy

That damned Dieter knows too much !

"This happens when the the closure clamps get engaged in wrong manner"

After 3 years I still managed to do the clips wrongly today - spotted the noisy whistle from the back top corner of the side window before I got to 30 mph and stopped to do it properly. Never got it wrong on the elderly hood on the F but the 12 month hood on the TF has done it a few times.

Shouldn't really blame my hood - it's probably it's aging owner.
JohnP

This thread was discussed between 21/03/2005 and 22/03/2005

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