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MG MGA - Soft top mechanism

Just wondered if anyone had improved on the mechanics of the soft top frame? I used to have a midget and you could pull the hood up while sitting in the car. Has anyone modified their frame to make the hood erection process easier?
Ian Pearl

Shouldn't say hood, should I. Our bonnet is your hood, so please read hood above to be soft-top thanks.
Ian Pearl

Ian...a bonnet is a type of hat that girls would wear. If you were referring to an American-made auto...hood would be good. Referring to an English-made motorcar, bonnet would be good (like hood). The soft top on an English-made motorcar is best called hood.
I haven't used the soft top on the one here for over 20 years and it seems frozen in-place. I'd try to loosen it up, but I'm not sure where to apply pressure without bending something the wrong way. I didn't really get any help looking at Barney's website info. I'm not that great at folding maps either...
Anyone out there close to Pasadena in CA?
Jon Bachelor

Ian

The frame is probably worn, which gives too much play in the pivots, and makes everything out of square.

Has anyone bought a new frame - how easy are they to erect (why does that word start cropping up in posts in the last few days: I know it's spring and all that, but......)
dominic clancy

Jon,
A bonnet covers the engine bay. The engine bay makes a lot of noise, so a bonnet covers something which makes a lot of noise - which is why they used the same term for something on a girl's head. Hood sounds a bit gansta for an MGA.
Ian Pearl

Ian
This topic came up recently at a party as I was mentioning to anoher MGA owner that I was having a hard time getting it up. A non enthusiast friend overheard part of the conversation and gave me a wink and slipped me a little blue pill. Now my wife thinks I'm mental and my daughter thinks we are gross. Unfortunatly it didn't do a darn thing for the frame. It still comes in and out of it's resting area just fine but it's tought to spread the the top bows. Almost a two person job. It is fairly new so maybe in time it will get easier.
Kris
Kris Sorensen

Don't think you'd ever get an A top to open while sitting in the car--since it stows under the rear deck and behind the seats. I think it's a quite clever mechanism to be able to fold up and ander like that...however the design doesn't lend itself to quickly putting up the top in an unexpected downpour. I don't think any design changes would make it any easier to put up. I thought maybe if I tighetened up my well worn pivot points that it might make it easier--but Kris's post tells me it's just an awkward triple jointed bit of exasperation until fully opened...regardless of age. Closing is equally frustrating. My solution: leave it down--besides, it limits my vison considerably as I a m ratyher tall and almost look over the top of the windsheild. Got a tonneau for those sudden events, and if it looks like rain, I'd leave it home anyway.
R. L Carleen

If Ian left it home whenever it looked like rain, he'd probably never get to drive his car, rain's the reason Ireland is so green. Looks like the consensus is that there's no easier way or mechanism. Kris, that's unfortunate, but true MGA fans would never misunderstand your comment. ;-)
Bill Young

RL, the slickest top frame I've seen on an older car was on a Sunbeam Talbot roadster that was here for a big Sunbeam meet. The guy unhooked it, squinched it together, and the whole thing dropped straight down back behind the seats. Took him all of about 15 seconds. Didn't take much to remind me of what a PITA putting an MG top up or down is. Or, my buddy with the 124. He always makes fun of me, "top up, top down, top up, top down" he says as he does it over and fricking over with one hand. Sarkey bastich....
Wray

Hi Folks. I once saw an MGA with a full width roll bar welded in. This gentleman had modified the top bows so they attached to, and folded up against the roll bar. He demonstrated raising the highly modifed soft top arrangement, and it was much easier and much quicker than the stock soft top bow arrangement! Unfortunately, the modifications to do this were pretty invasive. The MGA in question was in Ontario Canada, and was painted Candy apple red! It had lots of other mechanical modifications also. Cheers! Glenn
Glenn

I remember hearing a story about a Miata and a BMW side by side at a traffic light when there was a sudden downpour. The Miata driver reached back and pulled the top up in a second or two...the BMW driver pushed a button on the dashboard and got soaked in the 14 seconds it took for the top to close.
I don't know if it's true but it sure is believable.
Still beats an MGA's "top up" time however.
MGA Joe

I am not at the top stage in my A restoration yet. Things must be a bit different than other MG's as I remember putting up the top on both my Midget and B with very little effort from a sitting position. Saved me from many soakings as well as allowed me to enjoy riding with the top down on lots of "marginal" days. Sounds like a good opportunity for a clever entreprenuer to improve the works and sell an adapter kit.
Ken

I got caught in a downpour. Decided the quickest solution was to close the toneau cover with me curled up on the passenger seat. (It was already half on.) The rain makes an interesting noise and the zip leaked.

If it looks like rain now I carry a large golf umbrella.
malcolm asquith

The problem with my top is that it tends to "buckle at the knees" - it's hard to get the top rails folded together without the whole assembly wanting to drop down. That makes it hard to fold up the fabric without help when putting it down, and hard to unfold the rails without help when putting it up. Too bad the MGA didn't have a stowable top like many MGBs. That was a slick arrangement.
David Breneman

Hi Ken. Yes the MGB and Midget soft tops are MUCH easier to raise and lower than the mga top! I have owned and driven many makes and models of sports cars over the years, and the MGA soft top stands out as the WORST soft top I have ever encountered, on ANY vehicle. I even wrote a poem about the dismal MGA soft top. It is viewable in the archives, if you haven't seen it and want to do so. Or let me know and I will post it to this thread. Cheers! Glenn
Glenn

Glenn, you have me anxiously awaiting my first run in with the beast! One would think it couldn't be too hard but most of the MG minds on this board are a bunch better than mine so I will have to just assume it will be a bitch! I will have to think of some ways to adapt the workings of a B to it. Glad your cabin fever is about over up in the great North!

Be good(and fast)
Ken
Ken

has anyone taken a top frame apart? Todd Clarke sells the steel rivots to put them back together but it looks like quite an ordeal. taking it apart sure would make refinishing the frame easier and also allow me to close up some loose holes... but putting it back together seems like a lot of trouble though as i have never dealt with that type of rivot. I sure would like to powder coat each piece though...
doug

The main problem wityh the A top is there is no well behind the seats that it could drop down into. It has to tuck under the rear deck and behind the seats...and in my case, the seats actually tuck under the rear deck by about 1/4 inch when fully back. Unless you're willing to chop about 12 inches off the rear cowl to make a hole for it, the top will continue to be a (insert your favorite expletive) to bring up or down. I would think that the only way to beat it, would be to build your own takedown frame and custom make a fold-up top, similar to those found on the MGB or early Sprites. Seems to be an awful lot of trouble to go through for a top that rarely fits well, and is barely watertight in any thing more than a light rain. Mine will stay down until the next owner decides to go exploring behind the seats...at which time he (or she) will discover a brand new top...never been used.
R. L Carleen

Well I have to admit that the top is down 99% of the time. But every once in a while it goes up!

It was 38 deg F for a high here in the beautiful Chicago area today and a local shop had its normal Spring get together. A short 15-20 mile drive away. The top went up and the tonneau up but the sidecurtains stayed home. I stayed quite warm.

Funny thing.... Only 2 other cars showed up. One was local town car and the other was a Mini. What's with these fair weathered drivers anyway!

Great get together anyway. Carl Heidemen from Eclectic Motors gave a short talk on welding. Well worth the effort.

Chuck
Chuck Schaefer

Hi Ken. Regarding your statement:One would think it couldn't be too hard (raising the soft top) Please let us know how difficult the top is to raise or lower immediately after the first time you try it. Please remember that having a passenger, or bystander assist you is cheating! lol. Glenn
Glenn

This thread was discussed between 20/04/2005 and 24/04/2005

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