MGB Stow-away Top
MGBs with removable tops (not the fold-down-in-place type), with 3 bows as part of a tubular steel frame designed to come apart into halves and fold for storage in the boot (trunk!), incorporate, perhaps inadvertently, a simple means for fine tuning tension on the fabric.
Inside the top, on each side immediately above the door glass, are a pair of braces extending between the front and middle bows. The lower brace is hinged at the center for folding the bows together. Projecting out from the hinge point is a peg which acts as a stop against the brace ahove it. If the distance between the stop peg and the brace it contacts is increased, the front bow is pulled slightly backward and raised. By rising, it lifts and increases tension on the top material it supports.
1/4" thick slice (a doughnut) of 1/2" I.D. heater hose (same as under the 'Bs bonnet) fits like original equipment over the stop peg and reaises the bow about 1/8".(One to each side, of course.) A movement that slight can make the difference between a top that remains taut and smooth after a hundred miles on a windy day or flaps and whips annoyingly. If more lift is needed, glue an added layer of rubber to the outsides of the hose slice with rubber cement or a product such as Goop.
Not only does this assure a smoothly tensioned top, easily adjustable, but the cushioning effect of the rubber padded stop pegs eliminates any possible vibration noise at these points, and creates an added 1/8" of headroom!
Kenneth Wilson
Panama, NY
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