Discussion
The back window more or less fell out a few weeks ago because the stitching had rotted, a common problem judging by posts here recently. I hate spending money unless it makes the car faster so rather than spending hundreds of pounds having it repaired or replaced professionally - I thought I'd have a go at fixing it myself.
The good news is that it turned out to be quite straight forward to sew it up with the hood on the car, and it doesn't take any special tools or skills. The bad news is that it takes bleedin ages, eight hours so far and I'm less than half way finished.
If you fancy having a go yourself, here are some tips:
Do it before the existing stitches completely give way, it's *far* easier and quicker to do this if the window is being held in the right place by the old stitches.
The thread I used wasn't quite strong enough, it needs to be *really* strong stuff to take the tension. If you can snap it with your bare hands, it's too weak.
I've been learning as I go, but the quickest and most effective technique I've found is to mimic what a sewing machine does, punching a needle half way through from the outside, catching the loop of thread with a second thread and then pulling the needle out again. This is a lot quicker than conventional manual sewing, because you can do most of the work from outside the car.
If you fancy having a go yourself, let me know and I'll try to explain the technique a bit better. It's quite simple, but hard to describe without pictures. Don't underestimate how long it will take though!
and needs replacing completely. 
No, it isn't like conventional manual sewing where you push the needle through both ways. My approach is to put the sharp end of the needle into a chuck and push the *blunt* end of the needle through the holes made by the original stitches, catch the thread on the far side and then pull the needle back out. It's far easer than normal sewing, but still very slow work.
>> Edited by GreenV8S on Thursday 5th May 23:32
>> Edited by GreenV8S on Thursday 5th May 23:32
I read somewhere on PH recently about a guy who took his hood to a camping/caravan shop who repair awnings etc.
This guy had a new window sewn in for £15 including materials... I intend to try this approach myself. Still have to remove the hood from the car but better than paying the £150 most people seem to charge.
This guy had a new window sewn in for £15 including materials... I intend to try this approach myself. Still have to remove the hood from the car but better than paying the £150 most people seem to charge.
clive f said:
do you also repair socks and put knee patches on jeans?
No!
The worry about the £15 repair is that most professionals want to take the roof off and machine stitch it. I can't really take the roof off because one of the pivot bolts seems to have seized and pulled the captive nut loose, but even without that it seems to be quite common for the hood to rip rather than peel off the hoop, so suddenly you need a new rear hood section at £350+. And now those faded targa panels don't match it so it's another £300 to have those recovered. Suddenly it all looks a bit expensive. 
I was thinking of taking the rear section including the hoop to get the window replaced. Another idea I had is to fit a zip type rear window as this is quite common on other cars. It makes changing the window much simpler in future. It also allows you to remove the window before collapsing the roof, which seems to be what causes the damage.
I spotted that mines gone in a v.small way @ 1 corner so this is an intersting thread....boom boom...sorry...had to be done...amazed I was the 1st !
Anyway....getting back on topic....please tell what sort of thread then and where to get it.
Thanks
>> Edited by Chuggaboom on Saturday 7th May 18:35
Anyway....getting back on topic....please tell what sort of thread then and where to get it.
Thanks
>> Edited by Chuggaboom on Saturday 7th May 18:35
The stuff you want is heavy duty sewing thread. I should be too strong to snap with your bare hands. Most department stores have a haberdashery department that will stock this stuff. A polyester based thread was recomended because it is more durable. Obviously you will need to pick the colour to match the existing stitching. Mine was white stitching on a black roof, but because I'm re-sewing the whole thing I have gone for black this time so hopefully my crude stitching won't be quite so obvious.
If you're seriously thinking about doing it yourself (and there's no reason at all not to) then don't leave it too long because it is much harder once the original stitching has given way. Once it has started to go, the whole thing can go quite quickly. Mine went from a few broken stitches to no back window in one journey.
You can do most of the job from the outside and you don't need to take the hood off the car, but I must warn you it's a SLOW process. I would plan on about an hour per six inches of stitching.
If you're seriously thinking about doing it yourself (and there's no reason at all not to) then don't leave it too long because it is much harder once the original stitching has given way. Once it has started to go, the whole thing can go quite quickly. Mine went from a few broken stitches to no back window in one journey.
You can do most of the job from the outside and you don't need to take the hood off the car, but I must warn you it's a SLOW process. I would plan on about an hour per six inches of stitching.
Gassing Station | S Series | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff