• 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

Tonneau Install Question

Share this page

CessnaTPA

CessnaTPA

Jedi Hopeful
Offline
I received a new stiffener bar set and rail for my 57 100-6 BN4 from Moss today and want to confirm the stiffeners should rest on the rail where the red arrow is at in the pic. I installed the rail support pins in the original bolt holes in the fender wells and not sure what the problem is. Any tips or pics of what it should look like would be greatly appreciated. Top.jpgTop.jpg
 
You are correct, the stiffeners should rest where your arrows are so the flap sewn onto the bottom of the tonneau can wrap around the bar and reach the turnbuckles.
However, mine did not have the factory pins so I had to make some and therefore I don't know what the factory ones looked like. My guess is that the pins just need to be bent to a more vertical position and the bar will rotate forward.... However, I'm sure someone on here has more specific details, and perhaps pictures.
 
Don't know about a BN4, but the stiffeners on my BT7 rest on to of the crossbar between the turnbutton and the front of the stiffeners, not behind the turnbuttons as you show. Of course, my cross bar is anchored by a hole in the side panels so it can't be installed in any other position. That may not be the case with a BN4.
 
Sorry, I must not have had my glasses on. Yes, the cross bar rests exactly where the red arrows are. At least that how my BT7 works.
 
Ok guys I think i figured it out. When I install the stiffeners under the bar the tonneau is held snug in place. But I still would like to know if this is the proper way. Like I said I used the original holes to install the rail support pins and wouldn't think Moss would sell the pins not bent correctly.
Tonneau.jpgBar.jpg
 
If you look on the Moss Motors website, "tonneaus and stiffener bar", they provide a visual as to how the tonneau bar and stiffeners are supposed to fit, and yes, the "flattened" end of the stiffeners sit directly on the tonneau bar. As Rob Glasgow points out, this allows the "female" side of the turnbutton to line up with the "male" end, which comes attached to the stiffener. Just installed one from Moss on my BT7 this summer and it fits well. I had to trim/grind the ends of several stiffeners to make them fit nicely into the stitched pockets of the tonneau top towards the trunk side.

D.
 
CessnaTPA said:
Ok guys I think i figured it out. When I install the stiffeners under the bar the tonneau is held snug in place. But I still would like to know if this is the proper way. Like I said I used the original holes to install the rail support pins and wouldn't think Moss would sell the pins not bent correctly.
View attachment 51812View attachment 51813
Click to expand...

Do you have the stiffener bars resting on top of the cross bar? The picture looks as if the stiffeners are beneath the cross bar.

Jack
 
The stiffeners should rest on top of the bar where your arrows are so the flap sewn onto the bottom of the tonneau can wrap around the bar and reach the turnbuckles - that is why there is a flat portion at the end of the stiffeners. The bar appears too far rearward by an inch or so for some reason which is why I suggested rotating the bar a bit by bending the anchor pins a bit.
Dave
 
davidb raises another question - are the stiffeners inserted far enough into the tonneau to rest on top of the rear cockpit trim pieces?
 
Red 57 asked the right question, and it was a good point - on the outer stiffeners I had to trim about a half inch or so, on the trunk side of the stiffener (and an angled cut to boot) to get the stiffener to fit nicely in the pocket at the trunk end, and ensure that the flattened part of the stiffener rested on the tonneau bar, otherwise it was too long. Remember that if you've replaced your tonneau cover or the stiffeners with aftermarket stuff, these are generically made, and have to be "tailored" sometimes to get a good fit on your car because there are slight variations from car to car since these cars were essentially handmade. In fact on my tonneau cover, the Tenax buttons weren't attached so I had to punch the holes and mount them myself, so my cover might not properly fit another car.

Dave.
 
Just another comment. The cross bar, at least on the BT7 was painted a light grey. The same color as the hood frame. Looks like yours is bare metal. Being painted doesn't make the car work any better, but it's the way they were made.
 
The stiffeners are pushed all the way in. I'm going to remove the bar pins and bend them. I was wishful thinking this would be a no modified install. Thanks for the input.
 
Back
Top