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Section : Hoods and Hardtops
Posted By : Christopher How, 28-Apr-2004,
11:26pm
Hi there.
The poppers on my hood are starting to 'tear' their holes.
I think, as the hood is such a tight fit, the pressure put on the immediate surrounding material of the popper is starting to tear and as a result, some of
the poppers can be completely removed through the hole.
I will try and post a pic if i'm not explaining myslef well, but does anyone have any good ideas about fixing this problem?
The best I can come up with is to sew a 'strip' of material to the inside of the hood and then re-fix the poppers to this.
Trouble is, i'm worried that the material may start to tear larger holes in the hood after a while.
Cheers for any help
Chris
(78' 1500)
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Posted By : David Styles, 29-Apr-2004,
10:11am
Wow...
that IS a tight hood, if its managing to tear itself...
I'd probably go with your existing suggestion...
It might be worth moving the poppers a wee bit when you do it, so that they aren't as tight.
They sound way too tight to me...
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Posted By : Christopher How, 18-Jun-2004,
10:28am
Just in case anyone is reading this for reference.
Halfrauds sell a soft top repair kit for about £25, it comes with a patch of material and some flexible glue.
I put a small patch over the holes and re-punched the poppers directly into it. It's held tight so far.
John Lewis sell the poppers and the punching tool in packs for about £10
Something that's worth noting is that the male and female poppers should be bought as a pair, my new female poppers wouldn't fit properly to the
existing male studs that are riveted to the car body.
So, i drilled off all the old plastic ones and replaced with nice shiny new ones all the way round.
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Posted By : Mark Stradling, 29-Apr-2004,
12:01pm
You could try lowering the hood frame slightly - you get some adjustment where the frame attaches to the B-posts. This might reduce the stress being
placed on the poppers/hood material.
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Posted By : Gavin McFarland, 29-Apr-2004,
12:53pm
How tight should the hood be? My frame is set as low as it will go, but the front couple of poppers at the B-post always take a lot of huffing and
puffing to fit. In fact, the front one on the driver's side is so tight, it broke recently, so I need to replace it.
Should the poppers take a lot of pulling to snap into place? The hood itself doesn't seem unduly pinched anywhere else. The hood is a replacement
from the mid 1980s, and I'm not sure if it's an OE type or not. It does have the correct pattern on the inside...
Just throwing another question into the mix...
Gavin
1972 MKIV 1300