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MG MGA - Moss Hood / Softtop too narrow Help ASAP!!!

Hello,

I've purchased a new soft-top from Moss and having trouble fitting it.
It seems to be too short across the header rail, so much so that the ends of the header rail are exposed.

http://freespace.virgin.net/marka.hester/MGAHood.JPG

It measures 106cm across when stretched a little and 78cm across for the centre section.

This picture from Barney Gaylord's site clearly shows the top covering and going around the header rail. Something that would never be possible with the one I have.
http://www.mgaguru.com/mgtech/top/tt29.htm

What should I do ?

Also has anyone else seen this problem.

I'm off to Le Mans... this weekend, so leaving it abit late I know.

Cheers
<MARK>
Mark Hester

Mark

I have a problem at the moment with a new header rail from Moss too. I hvae mailed and am waiting for an answer. On mine, the holes are in the wrong position to fit the pegs on the top of the windscreen, so it may pay to match the header rail up to the windscreen before you go too much further, just in case.

The ears that you have are supposed to wrap round from teh side, but there does still seem to be an awful lot of wood, and not much to cover it with....
dominic clancy

Dominic,
Is this what you are describing ?
http://www.mgaguru.com/mgtech/faulty/ft015.htm

I too had this problem and then choose to ignore it, as I'm having other problems now.

Cheers <MARK>
Mark Hester

I recently purchased a top and header rail from British Racing Green (Moss distributer):

http://www.brgparts.com/index.html

Both the header rail and top installed easily per Barney Gaylord's instructions.

This company was very easy to work with and prices were slightly lower than ordering directly from Moss.

Don Carlberg
D. R. Carlberg

Mark,

Can you send me a picture of the way it does not fit? I would post this in the Faulty Parts section of my web site. Did this come from Moss/UK or Moss/US? Moss/US is goos about fixing such things.

Barney
Barney Gaylord

Barney,
I will get some more pic's tonight.

It came from Moss UK and has a batch number which I can reference also.
I have sent this post to my guy at Moss asking him if I was just unlucky with a bad batch.

from the pictures you can already see does it look short in the width to you ?

Cheers <MARK>
Mark Hester

This thread is reminiscent of one I started last year about Moss wooden head rails. I had purchased one about 20 years ago and found the fit poor and cross section profile to be more squared than the tapered OEM wood. At that time, several BBS members assured me that they had used the Moss head rail with good success, so I took the plunge and ordered another one last year. When it came in, it had exactly the same problems as the one I purchased 20 years ago.

I then contacted Classic Wood Manufacturing in Greensboro, NC [(336) 691-1344]. I ordered one of their head rails and it fit perfectly and the contour profile is tapered exactly like the original that I still have. Also, judging from the weight, the wood is more dense than the Moss unit. Based on that experience, I ordered all of the remaining wooden parts, cockpit rails and floorboards, and found them to be equally excellent replacements.

As more germain to the top fit question, the Moss head rail with its blocky cross section takes more material to wrap and with its squared off (relative to the OEM style) ends takes a wider width to cover.

I have a new Moss head rail that will go on eBay once I get around to it.

By the way, I like Moss a lot and have purchased many of their products, including a supercharger. Also, Kelvin Dodd is an excellent technical recourse. However, the head rail issue is one that has simmered for sometime with me. For an issue to go over 20 years with no changes and still producing negative customer experiences is a bit much.


Steve Brandt

I also ordered the Moss head rail with the same results that Steve B. got. I ordered mine 3-4 months ago and did use it with the original top. Really had to stretch the top and was about 1/8" short of a good wrap.. the wood being not very dense reminded me of balsa wood. One of the nails that holds the seam cover strip triangular metal pieces did pull out when I put the top down.. Hopefully I'll not need to use the top.. I plan on during the winter months to replace the top and wood strip anyway. my 2 cents.
Mike
mike

Hi

I posted a thread describing my problem to fit a new top about a month ago, although I tried to fit the top to the old header rail, which is in fairly good condition. I noticed that the overall dimensions of the top (Moss) were too small, having problems to make it fit in a number of areas. I brought this up with my distributor who ordered a new top which I received last week. This, however, has more or less the same dimensions as the previous one. The information I have got so far is that it needs a lot of warming up and long time stretching to get it right. The beginning of June has not provided the best conditions for this here in Sweden, so I have to wait for a nice sunny day for the next try.

Regards
Christer
C Lundgren

I gave the hood a good stretch last night, but still came up about two inches too short across the header rail.

Summer here is London is not much better so I'm having trouble too.
I think this is defiantly a two man job.
It's a shame there's not some basic fitting instructions with these that outlines the pitfalls.

Cheers <MARK>
Mark Hester

Mark

Yes.

I will call and see what they say:

OK I called, and reported the feedback here to Darlington, and have been asked to return the part for a full refund (still leaves me out of pocket for the shipping though, and still no hood frame to repair the one that a**ehole bodyshop guy broke!)

I think the comment that the problem goes back 20years had quite an effect.

I'll mail a link to this thread to Darlington.

I can, however, say that the guys in Darlington have as always been very helpful and great in how to do this.

Dominic
dominic clancy

Thanks to Steve Brandt for the tip. I just contacted teh guys in NC, and what a marvellois bunch of people they are (I just hope they can ship to Switzerland, as that seemed to be a bit of a problem)

The price (without shipping) is also 40% cheaper than Moss UK

dominic clancy

This thread was discussed between 13/06/2005 and 14/06/2005

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