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MG TD TF 1500 - Hood packing problem 3

When I fold the roof canvas, the whole thing is building more than 13 cm on top. The tonneau cover has a seem about 6-7 cm from where you hook in on to the car. It reaches far above the roof!
I just cannot see that this ever fitted!
I have asked three people who know about things like this, they could not understand either!

Raymond Wardenaer

Ray I think you need to pull the hood material out from under the sticks as well so they can rest on top of the inner fender and let everything fold down inside the tub.
MG LaVerne

Raymond - I think that the other thing you are fighting is that the hood material is vinyl, which can be very stiff in anything other than hot sun. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

MG LaVerne, I did that.
Raymond Wardenaer

Please take a look at Image 1 also.
Raymond Wardenaer

Sorry about my clumsy way posting three images in this post. They should of course have been posted under the same title, and as comments to the first one.
Raymond Wardenaer

The question is where does your hood bracket get screwed into the side panels? Take some measurements for us. I would suggest using the side curtain slot as one reference point and the top of the body where it dips to the door as another point.
Chris Couper

That's part of the reason why I did mine so that the whole canvas comes off and is stored separately - full sequence of pictures to follow soon.

Jud
J K Chapin

Jud

Very keen to see how you managed that solution.
G Evans

Just to confirm Raymond
You are folding the hood as per the manual?
Note the hoops all lay together - with no fabric between them. Undoing the fastener on the side behind the rear side screen to allow the fabric to pull out more easily.

It should allow the hood to fold down pretty small.

Rod

R D Jones

Note the hoops are all together - like touching

R D Jones

This should then allow the tonneau to fit.
I have not measured mine for height when down but it has always been this size

R D Jones

R D Jones, thank you for the images. Yes, I have been following the instructions! But when the hoops/roofsticks are all together, you mean on top of each other? And all of them on tom of the cars frame?
As soon as the rain stops, I shall take the car out and get some more photos.
The really strange thing is, I have done this for four years without problems. But now...
Raymond Wardenaer

I wonder. Why didn't the designers of the TD put the whole bunch of hoops/hoodsticks inside the car body, on top of the side side window box?
Raymond Wardenaer

...I fold mine according to the graphic shown in the OM... when i start lowering it down into the well, I pull out the fabric and the little strips of support canvas ... that way the metal ribs lay touching each other... I have one tonneau snap I can't get snapped but all the rest all fit fine and there is even space between the tonneau and top material when its folded....
gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

Raymond Wardenaer, Norway
I wonder. Why didn't the designers of the TD put the whole bunch of hoops/hoodsticks inside the car body, on top of the side side window box?

THEY DID.

I think your top bows are not fastened in the right place. See my question above about measuring where they are attached.

Note that the top bow frame should be about as far forward as it can be in order to be behind the sweep of the body bucket. If yours is further back than this then yes, the hoops will not fit into the well on top of the side curtain box.

Chris Couper

This is how they will lay if the frame is positioned properly and you have folded the top correctly. Note vinyl does have its issues but you should still be able to tuck everything inside the car body.

Chris Couper

There was room for improvement - as on the later TF, the top of the rear wheel arch is formed flat and allows the frame to sit lower - this was most likely due to the fact that the rear of the TF slopes downward to the gas tank (from the rear of the seat) more than the TD.

I have a problem with my TD frame as well it is bent somehow - making the folding a bit difficult.
DLD

You must be joking! Sorry, I know you are not joking.
Problem is: I have not moved the bows, and I have managed for four years! Well, this is one step further. If the bows are supposed to go inside the walls of the car, I can see that the fitting must be good. Can anybody show me even more images, and I shall look into the matter again.
Thank you, everybody!
Raymond Wardenaer

Raymond

You have been successfully folding your hood for many years and have made no changes to the mechanics of the hood bows except to leave them sitting idle.

I suggest that during the lay up period one or more of the bow pivot points have partially seized and not allowing the bows to fully relax into a collapsed position. Try a little lubrication applied to the pivot points.
G Evans

G Evans, thank you for your comment. However, I did lubricate the whole thing a few days ago. I think something is wrong with the frame mechanism, but at least I now know that the roof is supposed to go inside the body of the car. I shall take it from there.
Raymond Wardenaer

Chris Cooper, you nailed it! My son had a look, and discovered that the fastener was turned the wrong way! He turned then the right way, and now everything works.
One think is still unsettling me. I have not touched them, nobody else have, so I must have managed to put the tonneau coved on anyway. I shall take a photo tomorrow and show you.
It was your THEY DID and your image that led us the right way! Thank you!
Raymond Wardenaer

Yes. Pictures are worth a 1000 words and probably the same amount of hours of frustration saved. This is one reason I never cease to acquire and post as many pictures for the TD and TF sites as I can. Even after restoring over 40 T cars I still find myself checking the pictures sometimes just to be sure. I suppose that's also a sign of getting old :-(

Anyway I am glad we solved the mystery for you and you can now enjoy your flat tonneau cover once again.
Chris Couper

This thread was discussed between 11/04/2014 and 14/04/2014

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