The flap on the top fits inside the door glass, otherwise you wouldn't be
able to open the door without rolling down the window (there is another
sort of flap that extends upwards and serves as a drip rail). The fact
that this flap connects with a snap to the inside of the windshield frame
would seem to make it obvious. In my previous post on this subject I
speculated that the top bows (at least the front one) may have become
"flattened" over time, with the effect of extending further to the
outside than desirable. This seems logical considering that the force of
the top fabric resisting being stretched would tend to have a flattening
effect on the bows. Then, when you consider the slip joint in the middle
of the bows, you can see that it wouldn't take much of a deflection to
flatten the curvature considerably.
Anyway, I'm willing to put my money (well, used equipment) where my mouth
is, and attempt to see if the frame bows can be bent in such a way that
the return seems to fit properly inside the door windows. Although I must
say that I have noticed that the tubing used in the top bows is immensely
thick-walled and pretty much impervious to bending wih bare hands. I was
planning to employ a bench vise and either a large pipe lever or a
sledge. Hopefully I won't pull my garage down. Or does anyone have
anything to say which would dissuade me from this rash experiment?
In the spirit of empirical inquiry...
Larry Hoy had this to say:
>Interesting comment. I have always wondered about the proper fit of the
>front bow. I have had cars that the bow extended to the outside of the
>windows, the inside of the windows, and one car had a "combination".
>
>Of course this means that the top either fits on the outside of the glass or
>the inside of the glass.
>
>So what gives??
>
>Larry Hoy
>http://home.cwix.com/~larryhoy@cwix.com/
>> *The front bow on the frame has a curved return which seems to push out
>the
>> window sealing flap, so that when the door is closed, the window touches
>> the frame. The upholstery guy was affraid the top material would be
>> damaged over time as the window pushed the flap up against the
>> bar end. Is this common to all stow-away installations? The upholstery
>guy suggested
>> not rolling the windows up all the way!
>
>
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
Runs great,
looks particularly bad since some SUV clown backed into it.
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
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