Flying Roof Panels
Discussion
A word of warning, fellow PistonHeaders
I have read on this very Gassing Station of a few cases of the (targa) roof panel on Chimaeras and Griffiths disappearing at speed.
Happened to me last Thursday evening. Was travelling at
mph on the M40 near Oxford when I noticed a gap between the top of the driver's side window and the roof. Before I had time to think there was a whoosh! and the panel clean lifted off. Very unnerving! It was pitch black and I could see no sign of the panel: it is probably still causing trouble to air traffic at 30,000 feet.
I called TVR in the morning who were quick to blame me for not fitting the panel back in properly. So be warned! Always make sure it is firmly in place. I should say that the struts were engaged but maybe an idea to give it a tap with you hands on both sides where it meets the windscreen.
The cost of new one (together with fitting, apparantly they have to be fitted to each car individually) is eye watering. But TVR Guardian Angel David Batty has already rung around and sourced me a second hand one! Give that man (at least) a pie and a pint!
David.
I have read on this very Gassing Station of a few cases of the (targa) roof panel on Chimaeras and Griffiths disappearing at speed.
Happened to me last Thursday evening. Was travelling at
mph on the M40 near Oxford when I noticed a gap between the top of the driver's side window and the roof. Before I had time to think there was a whoosh! and the panel clean lifted off. Very unnerving! It was pitch black and I could see no sign of the panel: it is probably still causing trouble to air traffic at 30,000 feet. I called TVR in the morning who were quick to blame me for not fitting the panel back in properly. So be warned! Always make sure it is firmly in place. I should say that the struts were engaged but maybe an idea to give it a tap with you hands on both sides where it meets the windscreen.
The cost of new one (together with fitting, apparantly they have to be fitted to each car individually) is eye watering. But TVR Guardian Angel David Batty has already rung around and sourced me a second hand one! Give that man (at least) a pie and a pint!
David.
I've noticed the roof on my Griff lifting at speed as well.
>120 a gap appears between the drivers window & the panel. Once the gap has appeared it doesn't increase with speed.
I allways make sure the leading edge of the panel is well tapped down whilst engaging the struts.
Guess it just shows that a significant amount of lift is being generated by the roof.
>120 a gap appears between the drivers window & the panel. Once the gap has appeared it doesn't increase with speed.
I allways make sure the leading edge of the panel is well tapped down whilst engaging the struts.
Guess it just shows that a significant amount of lift is being generated by the roof.
would be a mild distraction wouldn't it 
i've always been intrigued by this two piece chimaera roof... http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/shpub/wcat18.html
Only £400 (prolly gone up) which I think is pretty good... except only comes in black or blue... which might explain why TVR needs to make one individually to match the roof colour!
i've always been intrigued by this two piece chimaera roof... http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/shpub/wcat18.html
Only £400 (prolly gone up) which I think is pretty good... except only comes in black or blue... which might explain why TVR needs to make one individually to match the roof colour!
My Chimaera roof appears to lift a bit at 120+ too. Girlfriend uses it as a signal that I'm going quick and stops sleeping/snoozing/reading and watches for obstacles instead. At the same time my door glass strut thingys start to vibrate - didn't used to do this.
I'm paranoid about it flying off, but I guess when it goes there's not much I'm going to do to stop it (maybe tie a rope to it like a surfboard?).
Has anyone devised a better seal for the top of the door glass? (Door glass is adjusted the best it can be BTW, any higher and it stops the door closing). I replaced my seals with those from a newer model Chimaera which seemed to make zero difference. I think I need to work out a way to angle the seal and position it slightly further out so that the door fits to it a bit more tightly. Any suggestions?
T/.
I'm paranoid about it flying off, but I guess when it goes there's not much I'm going to do to stop it (maybe tie a rope to it like a surfboard?).
Has anyone devised a better seal for the top of the door glass? (Door glass is adjusted the best it can be BTW, any higher and it stops the door closing). I replaced my seals with those from a newer model Chimaera which seemed to make zero difference. I think I need to work out a way to angle the seal and position it slightly further out so that the door fits to it a bit more tightly. Any suggestions?
T/.
Unlike the Tuscan, which has bolts that can come undone, the Griffith/Chimaera/S/Wedge system cannot allow the roof panel (BTW "Targa" is a Porsche trademark) to fly off if it is properly fitted and the rear header rail is jammed forward correctly with both over-centre struts locked over. The lips on the forward and aft ends just cannot come out of the slots - period.
quote:
Unlike the Tuscan, which has bolts that can come undone, the Griffith/Chimaera/S/Wedge system cannot allow the roof panel (BTW "Targa" is a Porsche trademark) to fly off if it is properly fitted and the rear header rail is jammed forward correctly with both over-centre struts locked over. The lips on the forward and aft ends just cannot come out of the slots - period.
While agreeing that it should stay in place, if the windscren flexes enough it can come undone. Common to see after going offroading or where the car has hit something. The screen flexes and the roof pops. The Griff/Chimaera are more resistent to it though. The amount of flex then depends on how good the fitting is. Tightening up the struts too much can simply move the windscreen BTW.
Steve
Steve
quote:
I've noticed the roof on my Griff lifting at speed as well.
>120 a gap appears between the drivers window & the panel. Once the gap has appeared it doesn't increase with speed.
You are a braver man than me Leadfoot, 120 plus I'm usually like this
not enough time for me to go looking around the cabin for gaps!quote:
quote:
I've noticed the roof on my Griff lifting at speed as well.
>120 a gap appears between the drivers window & the panel. Once the gap has appeared it doesn't increase with speed.
You are a braver man than me Leadfoot, 120 plus I'm usually like this
I was a bit worried at over 130 (indicated, so probably 115-120) that the door tops were flapping about quite a lot.. anyone else experience this at all ??
Cheers
Matt.
As far as I remember, I have only once been a little mental and was doing an indicated 140ish - probably about 63mph knowing the accuracy of the speedo's.
All was well with no funny noises (as for visual inputs I refer you to my earlier post) the only thing I did notice was the front went very light at 115 - 120 but strangely seemed to stabalise around 130.
'96 model no front splitter.
All was well with no funny noises (as for visual inputs I refer you to my earlier post
) the only thing I did notice was the front went very light at 115 - 120 but strangely seemed to stabalise around 130. '96 model no front splitter.
quote:
quote:
quote:
I've noticed the roof on my Griff lifting at speed as well.
>120 a gap appears between the drivers window & the panel. Once the gap has appeared it doesn't increase with speed.
You are a braver man than me Leadfoot, 120 plus I'm usually like this
I was a bit worried at over 130 (indicated, so probably 115-120) that the door tops were flapping about quite a lot.. anyone else experience this at all ??
Cheers
Matt.
Yes, I said it. You can 'drive through' this though ... at 150 you're more worried about the next bend in the road than what's flapping I can tell you
Of course you can remove the roof yourself ... it being a convertible y'know
Added 'cos I love this smileyquote:
This worries me as I have read of tihs before as you say.
Were there any other clues, funny noises prior to lift off etc?
Imagine the consequences if the road behind was busy
The only noise beforehand was the rush of wind through the gap between panel and window. But at
mph there does tend to be a fair degree of wind noise. Then pop! Off it went! Could have done serious damage to life or limb had it landed on the carriageway, hence the posting to be careful! I must confess that I thought that I had put the roof on properly; certainly, the rear struts were both engaged (and continued to be after the roof went AWOL) but presumably I had not properly married the leading front edge with the windscreen.quote:
Unlike the Tuscan, which has bolts that can come undone, the Griffith/Chimaera/S/Wedge system cannot allow the roof panel (BTW "Targa" is a Porsche trademark) to fly off if it is properly fitted and the rear header rail is jammed forward correctly with both over-centre struts locked over. The lips on the forward and aft ends just cannot come out of the slots - period.
...I am absolutely sure that the rear header rail was correctly aligned with the roof. Also (as I said in previous post) the struts continued to be stressed against the rear section after the roof panel exited the car. The problem was with alignment of the front section against the windscreen, I think.
Had this happen about two months ago while travelling at xxxmph, blowing an impreza into the dust. I looked up and noticed a huge gap between the roof and the windscreen..
Slowed down to watch Mr smug in the impeza come past me, he must have thought the engine had blown!! Thought it more important to save the roof....
It hasn't happened since but I'm always checking now. I thought I had secured it properly, but maybe I didn't and it was my fault??
Slowed down to watch Mr smug in the impeza come past me, he must have thought the engine had blown!! Thought it more important to save the roof....
It hasn't happened since but I'm always checking now. I thought I had secured it properly, but maybe I didn't and it was my fault??
quote:
It hasn't happened since but I'm always checking now. I thought I had secured it properly, but maybe I didn't and it was my fault??
Flash,
I too thought that I had secured the roof properly - this is what has made the episode so worrying. God knows what would have happened if it had hit the windscreen of a car on the other carriageway: I spoke with the factory in the morning who keenly pointed out that the roof could only fly off if it had not been secured: that is, there is no intrinsic design fault in the system.
I sort of got some comfort from this but will now be extra vigilent when I put the panel back on after some top down action. I am sure that the problem is with the front edge that butts up against the windscreen. Worth banging a fist on the top of the roof just to make sure it has settled flat.
David.
quote:
i've never noticed it when i was at 150mph... on a track that is... can't think when else I'd do anything near 120mph so this isn't a problem for me... maybe i'm just a big girl's blouse... or like my license to stay completely clean?
Both
You've never driven in France then? Those autoroutes are soo tempting.
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