Distance hardtop/ top positioning guiding sleeves

[germanmichel]

Hello @all in the world,

I hope you all doing well in the time of the world soccer games.
However my restoration progress has to be pushed.
Actually I try to fit my BT7 hardtop on my BT7. But unfortunately the distance of the positioning sleeves at the body does not match to the positioning pins at the hardtop. The pins at the hardtop has a distance approx. 15mm bigger as the sleeves on the body. I think about an old accident on the door side....
To fit the hardtop on the car I have to compress the hardtop...and there is a risk to get cracks on the glasfiber or on the rear plexiglas window.
Have someone a distance of the sleeves at the body for me ? A sketch or a measurement on your car body please ? Thank you in advance for helping.

Bye michel- who enjoyed actually the world cup and the funny north corea fans

 

[germanmichel]

Hello@all,
the german soccer team lost unfortunately the game against serbia.
And actually unfortunately nobody has this for me important information.
Why this is for me so important ? I don`t know which part is the right reference. The distance on my car body is 1240mm and the distance of the male pins on my hardtop is 1255mm .
bow: Please spend 5 minutes for me to measure very easy the distance on your car.(sleeve axis to sleeve axis)
Thank you in advance.

Bye michel who hopefully wait for a feedback

 

[Michael Oritt]

Michael--

Have you tried putting the top on the car and, while one pin is in the sleeve, pushing in on the hardtop so that it bends a bit? 15 mm equals just over 1/2" and should be within the realm of flexing. Also, the pins can be bent in, out, forward or back to reposition the top a bit and give a better fit.

BTW what kind of top do you have--is it a factory top or aftermarket?

 

[Genos2]

13 mm is just over 1/2 inch,14mm-just under9/16, 15mm is just over 9/16 inch, 16 mm is roughly 5/8 inch,17mm-11/16,19mm-3/4 inch. I'm sure you get the picture, cheers Genos2

 

[germanmichel]

Hello Michael ,

thank you for feedback. I`m having a original factory hardtop.
The distance of the sleeves is 49,40945 inch. At the hardtop it is 48,8189 inch. ( Difference 0,59055 inch) In my opinion it is not only an issue of the pin position or pin bending, because the seals of the hardtop also did not follow exactly the aluminium rail. Clear if I pushing the hardtop, everything wil fit very well because it is flexible. But I have concerns that the stress on the top meanwhile driving, will produce cracks in the paint of the hardtop. Additional I would like to do it well.
So please give me your distance....I dont`want your money... only 5 minutes of your life for measuring the distance.... :laugh:

Thank you all in advance for answering.

Bye Michael- who like this forum

 

[Michael Oritt]

Michael--

I just reread your initial post where you say you are trying to fit a BT7 top onto a BN7--I don't know why I did not pick that up on first reading. In any case there is no way in the world that is going to work--the issue is not the distance between the sleeves and pins--it is that the shape of the scuttle is entirely different between the two cars and you simply cannot make it happen because the BT7 top is too short and has a totally different shape along its bottom edge which will never conform to the shape of the BN7's rear deck.

BTW the distance between the sleeves on my wife's BN7 is exactly 49" which converts to 124.46 cm's. But again that is your problem which is that you simply have the wrong top for your car. Unfortunately two-seater hardtops are hard to come by but they do show up on ebay once in a while.

Good luck.

 

[SideShifter Tri-Carb]

Michael O,

His first post says BT7 top to BT7 body. Assuming this is correct, he does mention of an earlier accident that may have misaligned things a bit.

G Michael,

Are you sure you do not have a BN7 top? How many seats are in your car? You need to find the s/n on the trim and if I m not mistaken, the first number indicates whether a 2 seater or 4 seater. What is your s/n?

Olin

 

[Michael Oritt]

His first post says BT7 top to BT7 body
-------------------------
Olin--

You are correct! My vision or brain must be failing as I would have sworn I read BT7 to BN7! Thanks for the correction.

 

[germanmichel]

Hello @ all,
thank you for posting.
Thats clear I have a four seater and also the normally matching BT7 hardtop. It is only a mismatch from the door side not on the length of the car.
The difficulties challenge is that I don`t know which part are right , the hardtop or the car body.

Bye michel- who is actually not so activ with the car because of a conflict with the work quality of a room painter....

 

[Michael Oritt]

Michael--

I'm not clear on how your car and top "mismatch" and a few pictures would probably be helpful.

Some variation from car to car (and top to top) is normal. As an example, I purchased a two-seater top for my wife's BN7 from a fellow who had a gold level BN6 and the top fit his car very well but is not quite as good a fit on my wife's car. Though is within the range of acceptable if I wanted to get the rubber seals to fit perfectly around the rear deck I would have to do a rebuild of the aluminum moldings which would entail removal of the rear window, etc. etc. which is mnore work than I inclined to do given the small misalignment and gap.

 

[Duane_Rhynard]

Michel,

I have two original factory unrestored hardtops. My 2-seater top (serial number starting with a 6), has a dimension of exactly 49” from outside pin to outside pin. My 4-seater top (serial number starting with a 4), has a dimension of 50.25” I cannot measure my BN6 since It is at the paint shop, but I will be able to measure it next week.

Note that the original hardtops were individually fitted to each individual car and the locating pin placement has significant leeway in positioning since it is screwed to the wooden block. I have included several links below that may help a little.

Duane
’58 BN6

https://www.capitalhealeys.org/Assets/Miscellaneous/LHRose%20Hardtop%20Restoration.pdf

https://web.mac.com/linwoodrose/My_AH_300...op%20Repair.pdf

 

[Duane_Rhynard]

One more try on the attachment!

 

[germanmichel]

Hello guys,

thank you all for giving me informations.

Actually I`m busy, so I can not hang around all days in the forum.. sorry.
I understand that the parts ar matched in the factory. I think my mismatch is a little bit caused on an old accident and that my hardtop is the correct one, but not the originally who comes with the car.

Bye- michel who is happy that we win the football game against argentina 4:0