Soft Top Weather proofing on100 4

[TonyR]

Are there any secrets to stop the rain coming in over the top of the windscreen when the soft top is fitted?
Do you guys fit a foam gasket? or something?
We have had the wettest summer for 100 years in the UK.....and don't I know it!

 

[Johnny]

I've heard that by affixing a double ended threaded 1/8" shaft from the top bow to the center of the dash works wonders. It's similar to what's on MGB's. They can be purchased from any good marine shop. For Healey's you just place a coachman's hoop to the top bow then a lever to the end of the threaded rod screwed into the dash. They even come in chrome or stainless.

 

[glemon]

If you fix the seal on the top you will soon discover all the other places it leaks...I never could get the rubber at the bottom of the windscreen to seal worth a darn. At highway speeds the water channels up the low spots on both sides between bonnet and fender and through the part that doesn't seal well on the windshield frame.

But I digress, I think if the top is too tight it tends to pull the header rail back and away from the windscreen, I put some of the square section foamy weahterstrip in there (on the header rail of the convertible top) and it kept out the worst of it.

Greg Lemon

 

[andrea]

Hi Johnny
My solution with my MG TD is when the bad whether beginning
put from the windscreen and the front top one long strong black
adhesive tape this avoid that water came in trough the split
aided by the car speed-obvious this is a extreme and temporally
solution but works
Cheers
Andrea

 

[bob hughes]

Have you got all the rubber seals in place and are they in the correct place and in good condition, I am assuming that it is much the same as the 3000s.

Having said all that, I have just put the soft top on my BJ7 for the second time in two years and I have not yet fully tested it in a good storm but last year the heavens opened a bit on my way home from the Goodwood Revival and all held well. - New rubber seals and I used silicone sealant under the aluminium against the bow and again to fix the rubber seal to the aluminium. The inner seal fixed to the back of the aluminium in the normal way.



Bob

 

[glemon]

The seals may be similar to the roadster six cylinders, but the clamps on the 100 are on the corners of the windshield, so don't provide much force to pull the header rail to the top of the windshield in the middle. If the wood warps or the top is too tight, or the top bows bent out of shape in some way it will not seal well, everything has to be just right to get a good seal if you aren't inclined to put some extra rubber or foam material in there.

 

[roscoe]

I used one of the captured nuts that secures the mirror to the dash and thread a forked clevis on. I made a thin cable out of stainless aircraft cable put a swaged loop on both ends and ran it from the clevis (held with, what else, a clevis pin) to the top bow where I affixed a small tab that the cable loop was attached to. I install it with the clevis almost all the way unthreaded and it takes just a few turns to tighten the cable. I didn't do this for a water tight seal, but rather as a safety because I never want to experience my top catches failing at 80 mph on the freeway (not that I would ever drive that fast mind you. I'm not sure if you can see it in my signature photo. I get water under the bottom seal, but not on the top with a foam weather strip attached to the bow.

 

[Michael Oritt]

My solution is somewhat similar to Roscoe's:

I started with a terminal that is attached to the center of the top bow by a wood screw. This connects--via an appropriate length of 1/8" diameter SS 1x19 wire--to a threaded rod terminal that passes through a 1/4" hole drilled in the scuttle just behind the rear view mirror.

After erecting the top I insert the threaded terminal through the hole, reach under the dash and tighten a knurled nut to pull the bow tight against the windshield. This stops the bow from pulling away from the windshield at speed and effectively prevents leaks through the seal.

I purchased the terminals and wire at a West Marine store and swedged the fittings onto the wire using dies and tools that the store provides.

 

[pan]

Hey, it's only water! You should try driving in Queensland's sub-tropical rain.
I will admit the seal on my soft top seems OK, it's the wet right knee that bothers me.

 

[Michael Oritt]

Pan--

It's not so much the water--plenty still comes in from other places-but rather, as Roscoe points out. it's about keeping the top from flying off at speed.

BTW if you guys drove on the correct side of the road your right knee would be dry.

 

[pan]

Touche, Michael!

 

[TonyR]

I have slotted brackets fitted to each side of the windscreen stanchions with plates containing a small diameter hole fitted at each side of the soft top frame. These must interface somehow.
There is a flat plate with a hole in the centre of the frame also. I figure these are used as extra security but fixing pieces are missing. I will try to post photos but unsure how to do that!

 

[TonyR]

Michael,

Would you be able to post pics of your device, knurled nut etc,

Thanks,

Tony