TR4 Listers,
I am having a problem with a new Robbins top from TRF. I
installed the new Robbins tonneau cover with no problems and it
looks great. It's so nice to have new deep black flexible
material again .
The top seems to be cut wrong. The first installation step was
the front edge where it slides under the aluminum capping. No
matter how I go about it, there was not enough width across the
front to reach snap-to-snap.
If I take a flexible seamstress measuring tape and measure along
the front roll surface of the capping from the center of the snap
post to the center of the other snap post it is 43 1/4". I
measured my very old Amco top that fits OK and using the same
flexible tape the distance from snap-to-snap along the front seam
is 43 1/4" exactly. When I measure the new Robbins top along the
same seam from the spot where the snap should go... to the spot
on the other side.... it is exactly 42 1/4". The fact that it is
off an "exact inch" make me believe it was cut wrong.
In the early spring I called the TRF tech line and was assured
that I should just wait for a hot day in summer and stretch it a
bit. No amount of stretching on a 92 degree hot in the sun would
result in gaining anything like an inch... maybe a 1/16 or an
1/8" There is double material and a seam binding with a pocket
for the metal band that slips inside... no room for stretching.
Need your help
When and if it is convenient... would you mind making that
measurement along front top of the cap, the part that rolls a
bit, where the leading edge of the top sits... to see if you get
the same 43 1/4". You need a flexible tape measure to do it and
lay the tape on the cap surface the same way as the top fabric
would lay. TRF will take the top back no doubt... but I really
want one that fits and need to know if my car is normal or the
top is defective. TRF seems to think it's me and recommends that
I go to a professional shop. I'm not put off by this
suggestion... a lot of folks would rather leave it a shop. So...
I stopped in at the local auto interior shop that has helped me
with my interior this winter and he agrees that the top seems to
have been cut 1" short across the front.
Thanks in advance.
Brian Sanborn
62 TR4 CT16260L - Groton, MA
My TR4 Restoration Web Site
http://www.net1plus.com/users/sanborn/Home.html
E-Mail: sanborn@net1plus.com
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