Finally, the roof fits in the boot!

[brogenville]

I've had my Tamora for 2 years now, and whilst I love the car to bits, as we all know they aren't without their ergonomic idiosyncrasities. One of which was the boot lid that never quite opened as wide as you would have like for getting the roof in and out. You would invariably have to struggle with the rubber strips on the roof panel rubbing agains the boot lid and becoming unseated. I had heard there was aa way of adding washers or soimething, but to be honest I think this is a simpler and more effective fix. Anyway, it only actually took about 10 minutes to ajust it so that you get a little more opening width.

Basically, what I noticed was that the boot travel was being limited by the length of the gas strut- unhooking this revealed that the hinge does allow the boot to go right back towards the rear screen. Initially I was thinking about sourcing a new, slightly longer gas strut, but then I realised that the ball joints on either end of it are screwed on, and that there was enough excess thread to unscrew them a few turns, and still be securely fitted. So, I removed tha ball joints, screwed a nut on either end to act as a spacer, then screwed the ball joint on tight up againt the bolt with a little thread lock for extra security. Because the strut was never being fully compressed before, there was no problem closing the boot safely either. And thats it, the boot now opens out an extra 2 inches, and the roof goes in much easier. If you have a tamora and you've yet to modify the boot, then I highly reccomend this little fix.

Edited by brogenville on Saturday 25th June 11:03

[LaserTam]

That's what I did, but inserted the washers on that thread rather than just loosen them.

Amazing how much of a difference an inch or two makes - well that's what I say to Mrs LT

[brogenville]

I didn't just loosen either; I screwed on a small nut on either end to act as a spacer that I could tighten up against.

I'm just annoyed it took me so long to get round to doing it!