When I bought my Tiger it had new top installed a few years
previously. The PO told me he could never get the top down and
thought it might have something to do with the material on the new top
being higher quality and thicker then the original. I tried different
methods with lots of pulling and tugging and succeeded only in ripping
it. I was pissed off to say the least. Looking closely where the
top was attached to the body, I noticed four flat aluminum brackets
screwed to the body with the top trapped between the bracket and
bodywork. Removing the two pieces closest to the bow hinge loosened
the material enough to allow the side bows to fold further into the
body. Now the top folded and the panels closed with no problem. Who
ever installed the top stretched the material too tight on the sides
to allow it to fold easily. Check out photos of Tigers with the
original top and you see wrinkles on the side close to the body. My
suggestion is to remove the side pieces and see if that fixes your
problem. If it does, then loosen the material in all the brackets and
the top should go down easily.
Jeff
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Lowering top on early Tiger
Author: "Elea & Jeff" <jfeit@enter.net> at INTERNET
Date: 12/27/97 10:48 PM
Hi all, I'm a fairly new Tiger owner. The car is a '64 MKI, with a hard
boot for the convertible top. Although the car is mostly original (85K
miles, unrestored), I think that the top is fairly recent. It's been in my
wife's family since 1970, but the person who would know is no longer
around.
Anyway, after our best attempts, we can't get the top down far enough to get
the hard boot to close. The center section (hoops, header rail, window)
seems to stow well enough, but we can't get the side rails to fold down far
enough for the side covers to flip up. It's far enough that we can drive it
with no problem, but I'd like to be able to get the boot closed. It seems
like the problem is more in the frame than in the top material itself. I
don't want to risk tearing the top, so we haven't tried to force the frame
any further.
A fellow Tiger owner, with a soft boot, says that he has a hard time
getting his down even far enough to put the soft boot on.
Any help would be appreciated!
Jeff & Elea Feit
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