• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

BN4 Hard Top

Share this page

A

au672000

Freshman Member
Country flag
Offline
Happy Friday! Guys I have a 57 100-6 Longbridge BN4. I picked up a hard top fairly decent price. Looks like a 60 by the code.
Doesn't fit at all. Is there a difference between 4 seaters? It's at least 2" off by the door. Yes, I know they have to be fitted.

Thanks in Advance
 
The hardtop isn't for a 2-seater, is it?

I have one on my '57 Longbridge BN4 that we bought separately and it fits ok. The hardtop should have a pin that inserts into the top supports for the later models behind each door. On mine, the pins are just inside the aluminum moulding, but don't go anywhere because the Longbridge soft top frame is different.

SAM_1286.jpg
 
You're correct, that doesn't come close to fitting, but I can't see where the problem lies. The photos are a bit distorted but it doesn't look like the roof section is warped and it seems to be sitting on the top of the wind screen correctly. Only suggestion I can think of is to find someone with another BN 4 or BT7 and see how it fits on their car. It's a mystery.
 
We need to see better photos, looking at the ones you’ve posted it doesn’t look like a real hardtop. Could be just the distortion, everything looks too ‘raked’. Having said that the curvature of the rear looks ok but it appears to be suspended above the rear rail. Is this being caused by the fitting of the front lip?
 
That is for a 4 seat car according to serial # "4" at beginning is 4 seat car Sept 1960 mfg date and number in sequence is the 2119 BTW begin with 6 is 2 seat car.
 
It looks like the rear lip is too far forward so it sits on top of the shroud. The rubber behind (when looking from the outside) the aluminum bottom trim piece should sit on the aluminum cockpit surround. Is the aluminum cockpit surround in place? It looks like it's not. The sides look like they follow the shroud curve fairly well
 
I can see the holes for the snaps so the top is sitting pretty close to where it should. If the surround were installed I think it would only make matter worst lifting the rear of the top higher and make the gap on the sides greater. I wouldn't think the fiberglass in the top could warp that much to cause this issue, but I have no real ideas.
 
I've heard that the fiberglass is pretty flimsy without the aluminum trim. At this point, if the rest of the body isn't fitted and aligned, I would hold off on the hardtop and wait until it is. If the problem still exists after the rest of the body is fitted, perhaps removing the rear window and then adjusting the rear aluminum trim piece so that it sits correctly would be the way to go.

On mine, if the top isn't fastened down tightly with the clamps, it sits way too high.
 
Is the windshield A- the correct one and B- installed correctly .
reason I ask is if the angle of the windshield is wrong then the top at the front will be too high and will subsequently be too high at the door shuts .
if the windshield was raked at a steeper angle it would push the top back and down .
I agree with JT once the body is all in place and the windshield try it then .
I have the original hardtop sold with my car (62Tri Carb ) and will hopefully be trying it for fit soon once the body panels have all been fettled and tweaked .
 
Another thought based on how flimsy the tops are without the aluminum trim . If the top was stored incorrectly without the trim then it’s possible it is now deformed from sitting on an edge , especially if it was stored long term through heat and cold cycles ?
 
Look at photos 2 and 3, does the front dip down toward the windshield? A sort of kink in the top where the side would sit?curtain
 
A very long shot here, but the BJ7 and 8 shrouds are different to the earlier cars by an amount that looks like the air space under the hard top, but then the pins are wrong I guess.

:cheers:

Bob
 
Bob, that's a good guess but the date stamp on the aluminum rail clearly indicates it was built for a 3000 M1 BT7.
 
Bob Hughes said:
A very long shot here, but the BJ7 and 8 shrouds are different to the earlier cars by an amount that looks like the air space under the hard top, but then the pins are wrong I guess.

:cheers:

Bob
Click to expand...
The BJ7 and BJ8 hardtops don't have the vertical support bars behind the rear window.
 
Back
Top