Phil - about a year ago I replaced my TR4 top which was also original.
1st the color - Robbins will make a top with cream color inside - no extra
charge just takes a little longer - so u might want to swap out. TRF was the
one who placed the order for me.
2nd the front (top/side of windscreen) hooks. The Robbins hooks are fine but
the rivets supplied to attach them could not be installed by the shop who I
had do my installation (he didn't have a tool to compress them, so he used
pop rivets which I had to trim). You might want to check about that. Be
careful not to install the hooks until the rest of the snaps are done and the
top is correctly fitted. I made that mistake and had to move the clips
around thus ending up with several more holes than I wanted.
3rd the sealer around the back. Marine top suppliers have an identical
groummet which comes in different colors. Because I did not think this out
and was therefore in a hurry (top was off and rain was coming and no place to
go inside) I had to settle for white rather than the original black. BUT -
it works fine, he just cut a piece the same size as the original and sewed it
in the same place on the new top as it was on on the old.
4th - be sure to properly fit the top on the car before you put on any snaps.
The guy who did mine did not exactly match the two sides - the top is sort
of twisted so that there is more overlap on the passenger side front than on
the driver's side. Reason for that was that the snaps cannot be installed
while the top is under tension and when we released the bow tension the top
shifted counterclockwise (looking down on it). The snaps are a little off
(maybe 1/8th inch ) in their placement. This means that the rear of the
driver's window just covers the downpart of the top while the passenger's
side has almost too much top downside underlap. Also the original top had
stiffeners on that downpart - if the original top u have has them u can cut
them out and use them on the new top. I didn't because I kept the old top
intact.
5th - be careful how u put on the lift-the-dot part of the snaps. Look at
the original top - u will see that the "dot" part should be placed so that u
can pull from the outside of the car centerline rather than upwards when
removing the top. This is important because it is hard to get a grip on the
skirt of the top to pull up - there is not enough material below the snaps.
I managed to catch him before he installed it wrong. It was more difficult
to install the snaps and so he was taking the easy way out not realizing the
problem it would have caused me later. I wish I had known these things
before I had the top done - although no-one else would probably notice the
small glitches, I do and it ticks me off because it can be done right.
6th be sure the top is tight. The 1st few times I put the top on it it took
about 25 minutes to get it on because I had to keep pulling and stretching
BUT now it has stretched out by itself and fits quickly and easily. So if you
fit it loosely it will stretch and be baggy later.
7th concerns the part which snaps across the bow on the inside of the cockpit
and holds the top down. On my Robbins top there was too much cloth and when
we installed it the top really bowed up at speed. The answer was to cut some
cloth off and reinstall the snaps (3 or 4 - I think) until the top was
tightly secured to the cross bow.
Can't think of anything else now but if u want it done right and have ANY
other questions please ask.
Art Kelly 64 TR4 CT33118L (Original owner - !st car ever owned and still a
daily driver)
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