brown trousers moment.....must share

[silverback mike]

Barrelling along the motorway on the way home from work. Probably the only time the roof has been on, literally ever.

Lane 3 mph

Bang

Off goes roof



Foooooooooooooooooooooooook I think, off at my exit (which was next junction) straight into traffic HQ to report the fact that a rather large piece of fibreglass may have gone through someones windscreen....

Call up comms and ask for a unit to whizz to J16 Northbound exit slip to look for carnage, and hopefully a roof.......

Long wait.......

Onto blower to speak to one of my boys in the tx car, he's set a rolling block, and amazingly finds it in the central reserve, no damage, didn't hit anything, about 200 yds away from where it flew off.........lucky or what.

Confucious say, never leave roof on.

[gandalf]

wooeeerrrrr glad it all came up roses Mike, could have caused untold carnage!
Just like I always say always drive with the hood down in any weather its much more fun and safer too by the looks of things.
Mind you bloody handy being able to get "your man" to go and collect it for you.

[rev-erend]

I was checking out Beastie's 400 SE the other day and spotted his bonnet was loose - was just loosely attached on one side.. brown trouser moment avoided

[dickymint]

They all do that Sir.

Maybe they should have a leash on them!

[firefox1712]

Wow - I must remember that one. I've never done any REAL speed with the roof on - it's nearly always down anyway.

Hope your roof is all OK.

[dixiebabes]

Happened to me once that but the roof didnt fly off it just hit me and our lass squarely on the head. The morale of this story is never ask your woman to put the roof on her own. When i questioned her why she didnt push the locking bars back her answer was what are locking bars SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tallbloke]

Check the alloy bicuits in the edges of the targa panel and their plactic recieving sockets in the windscreen and hood edges for wear and wiggle. Also the lower rear edge of the hood for loction into the rear bulkhead, the self tappers can rust through...

[grahamw48]

I've just got home from picking up my car from Richard Thorpe's in Sheffield, using the M1/A1.

The hood was already up and I was too lazy to put it down.

However, I must admit that I was a bit nervous about the top blowing off on those blustery motorways, and it definately slowed me down.

Perhaps I'm just a bit jittery anyway, what with OTHER things flying off.

Richard has given the car his blessing, which is nice, not to mention a virtual total rear suspension re-build and replacement.

[silverback mike]

Everything is pretty firm on there as it's something I routinely check. However, I think the problem lay with the fact I opened both windows thereby causing a form of vacuum which literally lifted the roof enough for wind to get below it, and bang, off it went.

All joking aside, if that had blown the other way, it could have gone right through a windscreen, the results being something that I see day to day.

Makes you think.

[leorest]

So to prevent this from happening to anyone else. Is it sufficient to make sure everything is in order and adjusted properly or is it a fundamental design flaw, which requires some modification?

[silverback mike]

Personally I think it's a design flaw, my seals, connectors, well, everything is firm, not chipped and tight. If it was the fact I dropped both windows whilst driving that caused a vacuum, then it's a serious flaw, and shouldn't happen with that factor alone.

My old S3c had clips on the front as a safety measure (along with the struts and lips on the leading edge) This would seem a logical step.

I most certainly won't go making progress with the roof on anymore.

[dickymint]

Mike, did both struts undo or were they still popped shut and the roof come off leaving the rear section up?

[silverback mike]

No, both struts were still in the locked position. With the rear section still in place.

Edited by silverback mike on Tuesday 11th July 18:32

[James MK]

Or just get a wedge with a roof!

[tallbloke]

silverback mike said:

No, both struts were still in the locked position. With the rear section still in place.

Edited by silverback mike on Tuesday 11th July 18:32

how much effort is required to lock the struts? Maybe the pivot pins are worn...

[thegriff]

dixiebabes said:

Happened to me once that but the roof didnt fly off it just hit me and our lass squarely on the head. The morale of this story is never ask your woman to put the roof on her own. When i questioned her why she didnt push the locking bars back her answer was what are locking bars SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

must of been a thursday

[mikeb]

The grifff struts I got in mine are a far better design.

The black wedge jobbies seem to pivot to a maximum and then when the arm clunks into position seems to relax the pressure a little. Especially if the lugs on the leading edge are worn and the pivot pins are loose.

The griff ones lock in position with a bloody good firm clunk and put maximum pressure in the locked position. Top modification.

Chimps however do the same thing! and they got the same alloy struts.

MikeyB

[TVR-NUT]

Bloody hell Mike. Glad to hear that there was no damage to yourself, the car or anyone else.

Mark