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Michael Oritt

Michael Oritt

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What with Fall in the air I decided to reinstall my hardtop today and finish the job that I began several years back. Dave Russell and I had both purchased hardtops from NICAL engineering for our 100's and were working more or less parallel to make the top and side curtains fit.

Dave, being Dave, did a great job from all the photos I saw and his top fit very well around the squab. I, being me, took it to about 90% and decided I would rather drive the car than sweat the details.

This winter I plan to do some sweating--it will really be a matter of taking the top off and on about 50 times, making small subtractions esp. around the wheel bulges so that I wind up with thinner gaskets and a tighter fit. You don't have to look too close to see the black rubber above the right wheel arch--that is about 1/4" thick gasket that I want to take down to 1/16" all the way around. The top does fit the windshield well and that is watertight--the goal would be to have it light-tight all the way around the squab.

Then on to the side curtains--which will probably involve some rewelding as the rubber gaskets are very thin and in order to look good the curtains must fit the opening better than they now do. Plus the brackets are not so hot and I think I will wind up using SS as AL is not stiff enough.

Anyway, that's what is going on here, so while I am working on it I will use this as my new image.
BTW I miss Dave--let's all remember to submit nominations for a Dave Russell Award recipient.
 
Dale--

This IS the top with the air vent, the one you are thinking of and that you have seen. The vent is shown open just above the line of the conduit and just to the left of the black thing.

This top is higher than the one Salter has on his car and does not need bubbles though if I were wearing a helmet it would be bumping against the inside surface, but since I do not race this car it is not an issue.
 
It must be heck to have an old friend pass. My Dad passed last month, he was the guy that helped me with all my car projects, he was the real mechanic.
Your top looks fine.
One of these days I need to get some kind of top for
my BN6. Right now I just drive in the rain.
 
"It must be heck to have an old friend pass."
----------------------
Baba--

I never met Dave in person (or for that matter even saw his cr)--I knew him only through this forum and the autox emailer list to which we both subscribed. Dave lived in Idaho and I in MD and we had cooked up a few schemes to meet somewhere out west an go to some event together (Conclave in SD was the last thing we talked about) it never came to be and when Dave fell ill in 2009 it was a concept that just never happened.

As many will tell you Dave was just the best--a prolific contributor to both the Healey forum as well as others--I guess that is why there is going to be an award given out sometime later this year to honor his contributions to all of us.

Tops for two-seaters are indeed hard to come by but occasionally they do pop up on ebay, etc. I was fortunate to come by one for my wife's BN7 a number of years back when a fellow who was selling an AACA Gold Level BN6 found that his customer was not interested in the top. Fortunately the seller knew of my interest and I was in the right place at the right time.

In the meantime enjoy your car--getting wet is part of the experience isn't it!
 
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