Hardtop fixing adjustment

[[k]arl]

It's that time of year again - off with the hood and on with the hardtop

Unfortunately, I've come up against a small problem whilst fitting my roof this year. It's always squeaked a little, and I've finally managed to track this down to the hooks & receivers which hold the back of the roof down. This is the earlier Elise R roof which doesn't have the centre fixing point, by the way.

Essentially, even if I fully tighten the Torx bolt, there is still quite a way to go before the hook is fully home into it's receiver on the roll bar cover. I've effected a temporary fix by packing the gap up with plastic strips, but does anyone know of a way of adjusting either the roof clips or the receivers?

Thanks in advance!

[k]

[Herman Toothrot]

The mounts by the bar went from alloy to plastic on the VX220, I found the same problem when I boughta hardtop for my car the later plastic mounts allow the roof to be tightened down much more. They are a common Lotus / Vauxhall bit, under £15 for the pair from Lotus, £50 a pair from Vauxhall (

[junks]

Having been through this a few times on my Exige the answer in the end was to coast all the rubbers in a smear of silicone grease, never had a problems again!

• works for all hardtops btw

[minor5]

Essentially, even if I fully tighten the Torx bolt, there is still quite a way to go before the hook is fully home into it's receiver on the roll bar cover. I've effected a temporary fix by packing the gap up with plastic strips, but does anyone know of a way of adjusting either the roof clips or the receivers?

I have the same problem i think its a case of (T.A.D.T.S)

silicon grease will cirtainly stop the squeaking though.

[Boggy]

So do I

Boggy

[junks]

Boggy said:

So do I

Boggy

You stop the squeaking Stew??

[[k]arl]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I have been using silicone spray on the seals for a while now, and whilst it certainly helped, I still get the odd annoying creaking noise from the roof, which appears to be related to these loose fasteners. Like I said, packing the gap with plastic seems to pretty much eliminate the problem, but it struck me as odd that there is no mechanism for adjustment, like you have on door striker pins and suchlike. Oh well, so much for a more elegant solution!

Thanks everyone for the responses

[k]

Edited by [k]arl on Monday 9th November 16:50

[Bombjack]

I had the same issue, which I fixed in much the same way (I used a 10mm cut of electrical cable to pack the bracket/hook).

Since the hardtop used to fit, I wonder if it changed shape while off the car.

[Boggy]

junks said:

Boggy said:

So do I

Boggy

You stop the squeaking Stew??

Hiya Phil,

No sir, there's too much play between the bolt and the top of the bracket, it seems to be loose even thou the bolt is tightened up to the max, think there's an Issue with the driver's side bracket to be honest

Boggy

[Herman Toothrot]

minor5 said:

Essentially, even if I fully tighten the Torx bolt, there is still quite a way to go before the hook is fully home into it's receiver on the roll bar cover. I've effected a temporary fix by packing the gap up with plastic strips, but does anyone know of a way of adjusting either the roof clips or the receivers?

I have the same problem i think its a case of (T.A.D.T.S)

silicon grease will cirtainly stop the squeaking though.

As I said you need the updated mounts, the old mounts are different from the new ones, the new ones are bigger so your hard top clasp gets to the mount sooner and so the torx bolt doesn't get towards the end of its travel.

[Herman Toothrot]

http://www.elise-shop.com/bracketrear-cantrail-lh-...

The bit in question from Elise Shop.

[junks]

Herman Toothrot said:

minor5 said:

Essentially, even if I fully tighten the Torx bolt, there is still quite a way to go before the hook is fully home into it's receiver on the roll bar cover. I've effected a temporary fix by packing the gap up with plastic strips, but does anyone know of a way of adjusting either the roof clips or the receivers?

I have the same problem i think its a case of (T.A.D.T.S)

silicon grease will cirtainly stop the squeaking though.

As I said you need the updated mounts, the old mounts are different from the new ones, the new ones are bigger so your hard top clasp gets to the mount sooner and so the torx bolt doesn't get towards the end of its travel.

Cool - I didn't know that Herman, but you might have told me BEFORE I had ordered & received a load of stuff from Yvo!! lol