Hood and hood stick problems

[theDreamer]

I had a list of items I wanted to get done on the car and true to “Life with a Seven”; every one of them is giving me fits. I won’t bother you with all of them but I will talk about the biggest problem right now. Those damn hood sticks, the straps and getting the hood on. You can see in the photos of my sticks that the holes are on the wrong side. Using a small diameter bit I drilled through the internal fastener and out the other side of the tubes. Then I drilled a clearance sized hole from that other side. I wasn’t sure that the threads of the internal fixed fastener were undamaged so I decided to purchase longer 10-32 cap screws and nyloc nuts. I get the drilling done on one side and the power goes out. This is around 10:30 am last Sunday. First Hydro posted that it would be fixed by 1:00 pm which became 2:00 pm. When they posted again it was going to be 3:00 pm the wife and I went into town to pick up supplies and grab a bite. She had been shining up the bright work, cleaning/polishing the paint (the rear panel of the car behind the spare is nasty) and was going to detail the interior.

We got back at 4:30 just as the power came back on. From then until 8:00 ish we fought with the hood (roof). Turns out after looking at a half dozen videos and pages of photos I learned that older S3’s like mine have the hood stick mounting tabs welded flush with the outside skin. New Caterhams have that same tab welded on the inside of the frame tubes. Hence, my brand new hood sticks are for a newer Caterham S3 and not the older style like mine. Too late now as I have already drilled and test mounted them.

Next was attaching the straps. No instructions anywhere to be found. Lots of videos on how you can put up the roof in about three to five minutes. None on how to affix those straps. I was horrified when I read in a build blog that I had to drill and use self-tapping screws to anchor the straps. Then what do you know, I found two holes in the boot of our car that would have been used for that very purpose. OK, what size screws should I use in these used holes? And, how do we attach the straps to the secondary tube. The wife figured it required a larger loop at the adjuster. It took two attempts on which way was up.

We tried a test fit and that’s what killed it for us. We fought for over an hour, tried everything we could think of but there was just no way we could get the main tube to line up with the Velcro section in the roof. We can get it to within about a ½ inch but that’s it. The roof at this point is under so much tension and the main tube where it bends is pushing out the plastic side windows yet the area around the door is slack. It’s as if that main tube is too tall for my hood. Or, my hood isn’t tall enough for these sticks. I’m quickly learning I have no tolerance for things like this anymore. After fifty years the wife is very patient with me. But, only to a point. Once I start to stutter its downhill from there.

The car sat for a few days as I had to take the wife first for a scope on Monday. Then another angiogram on Wednesday. Thursday she had cataract measurements and today she had to see our cardiologist. All things seem good with her so we went back at the hood after lunch today. Nope, still won’t fit. I’ve parked the car out in the sun hoping that the vinyl will heat up and we can stretch it that little bit more that we need to get all the fasteners done up.

Well that worked and we got the main hoop into the Velcro but… The secondly tube will not move back into position. I’ve come to the conclusion that these sticks are to clear a taller roll bar and therefore the hood needs to be taller as well.

My car had hood sticks for a long time as the paint is worn off around the mounting holes. Where they went, why they were not with the car now is a mystery. Also, this roof looks new and had the zip out rear window. Did Caterhams in the early 90’s have that feature?

Anyway I included a photo of the wife working on the exhaust cover. It is covered in marks, tar and/or dried on rubber marbles.

[Vovchandr]

My only advice in regards to OEM hood is rather crude but it's simple and consists of two steps

 

1) take it off

2) throw it out

 

Never had one for my car and can't imagine a situation where'd if need it where half hood doesn't provide the same results but better 

[IamScotticus]

Exactly.

Forget about the hood.  

If the outter hood stick is on top of the boot frame tube, it is correct.  Have it there to fill the boor cover.  The difference is some sticks have a bend in them to accommodate the FIA bar hoods, etc.

 

From 1995

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another situation are differences between DeDion and Live Axle chassis. It's possible you could have mixed parts.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 27 by IamScotticus

[theDreamer]

Back and forth I went looking through the Assembly Guides and checking on-line photos, diagrams and videos. Meanwhile the wife kept playing around. The longer the hood sat in the sun the easier things got. In one build thread the guy mentioned that unzipping the rear window made it all work. Before I got outside with this info the wife came into the computer room and told me she had it on and all buttoned up. She said the trick was UNZIPPING the rear window.

So, we fitted the spare tire back in place, (removed it to clean and reposition the cover) put the doors on and then spent ½ hour testing different methods of ingress and egress. The wife uses a butt first, legs in after approach with the reverse to exit. I tried a couple of different techniques and haven’t settled on the best one for me yet. However, happy with ourselves we took a little 50+ mile drive to fill up with gas then took the shorter 40 mile route back home.

It was actually quite comfy in there with the hood up. It was about 10 degrees C (50F) outside but very windy. I had on a light sweater and the wife had on her heavier sweater and rabbit fur hat. Now we have rabbit fur all over the interior and the underside of the hood. Well, that’s her job to clean and also remove all the bugs off the windshield.

A couple of new problems “popped” up. We both got out at different times and without realizing it we hit and unfastened the first popper behind the doors. Both times I drove off and once up to speed that side of the hood would start to sail off. This is not something that can be popped back on while moving.

I will bring up other issues in new threads. But for now I think the hood and hood stick issues are sorted. Although as I type this I realize I still have to screw the strap ends to the back of the boot. Ah, it’s getting late, I’ll wait until tomorrow.

[das76]

half hood is another option and one that most people seem to use nowadays 

[theDreamer]

Half hood is on my list, (see parts for sale/wanted).