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Section : Hoods and Hardtops
Posted By : Jean-Claude Knebeler, 13-Jun-2005,
12:59pm
Hi,
I recently got a new vinyl hood fitted to my 1979 Spitfire 1500. Upon inspection I found that the door windows are not sitting snug with the hood. In fact
there's a gap, widening to about 7mm at the back. Result : if its parked outside during a bit of rain, water gets in and accumulates in the footwell.
I don't expect the car to be as waterproof as a modern convertible and I don't mind a bit of rain getting in when driving. On the other hand, looking to
get the car under cover when a dark cloud appears on the horizon is not funny, especially if you have to dart out of the pub to do it.
My question :
Is that gap normal ? If not, was the hood incorrectly fitted or should the door window adjust when it goes up (it does not at the moment, but there might
be a part missing) ?
JC
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Posted By : Willie Cameron, 20-Jun-2005,
08:43pm
Hi JC
My 1976 spitfire 1500 also has the same 7mm gap at the rear top of the window and the glass also sits outside the lip and we had some unexpectant
showers up here in scotland, and believe it or not there was so rain that had entered in either side of the car,
i was gobsmacked to say the least,i was also at a show yesterday and there was a concours spitfire and it had the same gaps as mine , so i am not an
expert but i assume the gaps are normal.
regards willie cameron
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Posted By : Tim Everitt, 21-Jun-2005,
10:13am
Where exactly do you have a gap? Along the top of the window I got a much better fit by padding the outside of the frame a bit so that the hood was
pushed a bit further out towards the glass. But this does have the downside of lifting the "lip" of the hood a bit too high. I have never been able to
close up the gap between the rear edge of the window and the hood. Mine's now on its third hood. The only one that fitted properly was the one it left
the factory with. It's something I'm going to have a serious look at when my current project is a bit closer to completion. I think its probably a
question of adjusting the door glass, hood and frame all at the same time - hours of fun and foul language.