MGB: Folding Hood

I've had enough. No matter how had I try or which directions I read, my folding hood is just a pain in the neck! I haven't driven the car in the rain and stop before it gets too cold. The hood interferes with the operation of the seatbelts.

I'm thinking about just taking it off! It will probably cut the weight and save me much GRIEF! Anyone else run without their hood?

Go for it, no rain, no gain!

Michael:

Just for the record, I suspect you mean "top" instead of hood or bonnet.

The thing that covers the engine compartment is the hood or bonnet.

Wow, I guess I'm finally integrated into the LBC. I saw Folding Hood and all I could think was wow...how'd he rig that to fold.

tfisher7621 Wrote:

Quote: "
Michael:
Just for the record, I suspect you mean "top" instead of hood or bonnet.
"

Nah, he's speaking British, I knew what he meant. :)

tfisher7621 Wrote:

Quote: "
Michael:
Just for the record, I suspect you mean "top" instead of hood or bonnet.
The thing that covers the engine compartment is the hood or bonnet.
"

Thanks Tom,

I was just quoting from Jay Tiltons article in the Library, "Instructions for raising, lowering and and folding the hood..."

I don't have one on the car at all. The top that came with my car isn't really a top anymore, and the frame needs repair. Oh well, it never rains here in the Seattle area anyway. I'm sure you will be fine in Zimmerman until December!

Just finished putting my car back together and decided not to put the top (hood) back on. It's now hanging in the garage. I like having the extra little storage space behind the seats.

73 B Wrote:

Quote: "
Oh well, it never rains here in the Seattle area anyway. "

Surely you jest! My wife and I were in Seattle for a week several years ago and it never rained the whole time we were there. I have since told about that and had people from Seattle call me a liar and, according to them, it rains all the time, there. :eyeroll:

Bonnet, Boot and Hood. I thought that, in British, the Hood was the top. Is that not correct?

mick-susan mgb74.5 Wrote:

Quote: "
Bonnet, Boot and Hood. I thought that, in British, the Hood was the top. Is that not correct?
"

Mick:

I think in British, the boot is the equivalent of what we call the trunk lid. The bonnet is the equivalent of what we call the hood. The top is the top.

LIB MR Tops. Thanks for getting me straightened out.

What ever you call it, I agree, the folding top is a hassle. I back dated my car to the removable two piece top frame that stows in the trunk along with the rolled up top. I haven't put it up yet this year but its nice to know that its there if it starts to rain hard. A hat and the tonneau work well enough for me.

In the meantime I like having the open space behind the seats and one less thing to deal with.

tfisher7621 Wrote:

Quote: "
mick-susan mgb74.5 Wrote:Quote:
Bonnet, Boot and Hood. I thought that, in British, the Hood was the top. Is that not correct?

Mick:
I think in British, the boot is the equivalent of what we call the trunk lid. The bonnet is the equivalent of what we call the hood. The top is the top.
"

Having been born and bred in England, hood=bonnet, trunk=boot, top=hood.

Brits put the hood down, they don't fold the top.

I thought this was a thread about folding bonnet/hoods. And before you say the bonnet doesn't fold, you should have told the PO of my B. Actually, it seems to have folded pretty nicely, it was the unfolding that didn't work that well.

But back to the real subject...
If you don't care about scratches on the quarter windows, you can fold the hood/top back easy as you please. Leave the back bar attached, fold everything back and into the space like you had a Miata, and it works just fine. The frame sometimes scratches the quarter windows, though. I can't see out of 'em anyway, so I don't much care. I fold the softtop "properly" when I have the time, "wrong" when don't feel like it.

tfisher7621 Wrote:

Quote: "
73 B Wrote:Quote:
Oh well, it never rains here in the Seattle area anyway.
Surely you jest! My wife and I were in Seattle for a week several years ago and it never rained the whole time we were there. I have since told about that and had people from Seattle call me a liar and, according to them, it rains all the time, there.
"

Years ago I was offered a job in Bellevue. Talking with the Real Estate guy, I asked how the summer really is. He said, "If it is a nice day, we have a picnic"
I stayed on the East side.

The Wiz Wrote:

Quote: "
Having been born and bred in England, hood=bonnet, trunk=boot, top=hood.
"

Hi, Mike:

I stand corrected! Learn something new every day. Thanks for cluing us in.

Mine's trained. I unlatch it and it pops back into position.

I wish.

Michael, my hood is new and it was a bit of a challenge to put it down the first time. I watched, again, the John Twist video and with the help of my wife we got it down. My original hood was folded wrong and made it ugly and unuseable. It also had holes in it. I went for about 3-4 months with no hood at all and I liked that best. Now that we are traveling farther these days I don't feel comfortable with out a hood. Wish I would have gotten a stowable.

As Larry said, I have an inexpensive top and just fold it back and down carefully, most of the time. Have had no problems doing this, although the quarter plastic does get scratched.

Mike

71 MGB OD & Wires
63 TR4 Surrey Top

Both my cars are topless. The 75 by choice as it's in socal and it doesn't rain and my 73 just doesn't have one yet but it's never been an issue and its been a daily driver for most of the summer. I'm about to order a top for it and I'm going to install it on a packaway frame as I hate the fold up one so I can keep driving it till the snow starts flying.

The Wiz Wrote:

Quote: "
tfisher7621 Wrote:Quote:
mick-susan mgb74.5 Wrote:Quote:

Having been born and bred in England, hood=bonnet, trunk=boot, top=hood.
Brits put the hood down, they don't fold the top.
"

Thanks Wiz!

I recall my first post to this forum was about a "blinker" problem. It soon turned into a discussion about "turn signals," "turn blinkers," etc. I gave in and adopted the book discription of "turn signal." Now I use the book discription of "hood" and it creates more discussion? You guys are great!! I have solved all sorts of problems with your help. You'll just have to put up with my Minnesnowta accent!

Maybe I can stir as much controversy as "danthefitman?"

As to my hood, it is new and very stiff. I think I'll just take it off?

AA318906 Wrote:

Quote: "

I recall my first post to this forum was about a "blinker" problem. It soon turned into a discussion about "turn signals," "turn blinkers," etc. I gave in and adopted the book discription of "turn signal."
"

Actually, the correct term is "indicator". :)

The Wiz Wrote:

Quote: "
AA318906 Wrote:Quote:
I recall my first post to this forum was about a "blinker" problem. It soon turned into a discussion about "turn signals," "turn blinkers," etc. I gave in and adopted the book discription of "turn signal."
Actually, the correct term is "indicator".
"

He we go again.

Then Blinker is not correct?

I've been running without a top for this season, but it's nerve racking on days where the weather turns iffy. I know what you mean about the seatbelts, wish there was another way to attach them so that the folded 'hood' doesn't interfere.

I am putting a new top on the frame so that I can continue to use the car.

Not sure why you are finding the top so frustrating, but this John Twist video might help you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3Zfdj9W2Y4

John Twist folded the top in 4 1/2 minutes, but his wife was helping him. Takes me a good deal longer than that! Some of the snaps are missing, and I don't have the tonneau bars anymore.

The big issue is that my top is a new Moss top, and no matter how hard I struggle, I can't fold the vinyl along the area between rear window and rear side windows like John Twist did. I could on my old top with no problem. Not sure why the new one's so hard to fold there. The rest works just fine.

I've also never understood why MG engineering never designed a simpler top for the MGB. My Fiat 124 had one in the 1970s. My TR6 did, too. Today Miata has an even better "one-handed" top.

The MGB's top is a PITA to put up especially if you compare it to the Fiat 124/2000 tops. You do not have to get out of the driver�s seat to put the top up or down in the Fiat. One arm, reach behind you and grab the center mounted handle and pull, it is that easy. No snaps! Quicker than a power top. I understand that the Fiat came out in 1966 so it was 3 years newer, but you would think that MG could have come up with something betterover the years.

I completely remove my hood/top from the car every April and bolt it back on in November. It does get a bit chilly here in the winter, at least to me. While off the car I store it inside the house in a large walk in closet and keep it treated with Ragg-Topp protectorant, especially on the stitches. The top never gets folded up or down while on the car. It's now four years old and looks just as it did the day it first went on the car.

I've had mine so long, I can fold it down completely and put it back up with all the snaps in less than 5 min. Practice, practice, practice.
It's a labor of love. It's a driver no matter what the weather!
RS

Whether it's blinker, or turn signal, or turn blinker...I don't care! my problem is, I just tonight picked up my car at the paint shop and on the drive home, I discovered that my turn thingie doesn't blink, or signal either one. I checked the connections and all seems to be in order, so my next move will be to begin checking bulbs. Further, when I drive at night and turn the ignition key off when I stop, the engine continues to run perfectly until I switch off the lights. It's always done that, even before the painter disassembled the car and reassembled it after painting it. That cannot be normal.....can it? By the way, I had a removable top/bonnet/hood, whatever, on my '63. I much prefer that over the folding iteration that is on my '79....for what that's worth!

Frank,

It's the ground in the trunk behind the license plate. Don't ask how I know...........

Undo the nut, and CLEAN everything before putting it back.

I was once hit on my Harley by an 80 something lady who told the cop "I had my flicker on, he hit me" (after she made a left in front of oncoming traffic-me)...

So there it is, it's a flicker....

snoski Wrote:

Quote: "
So there it is, it's a flicker....
"

James:

Speaking of the proper terminology for things, I once worked in a shop where wire cutters were routinely called "nippers" - and we used a lot of them. One day, we got a new Sales Mgr. (of Canadian extraction) and when he heard wire cutters being called nippers, he nearly had a heart attack! He made a big deal about it saying that was "all wrong."

Go figure.......... :eyeroll:

I love this forum!!!