Hard Top fitment issue

[MonstaS4]

I'm starting to look at fitting the hard top and found that that it doesn't fit well at the rear, where there's an 18mm gap between the body and hard top.

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I've ground all the mould parting lines back but this is as good as I can get it to fit as is.
It seems as though the LHS body is too high just behind the door. The pic doesn't show this but the door style line is aligned with the body style line and you can see that the top of the door does not meet up with the top of the body.

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It looks to me like I need to take a small fillet out of the body to drop it 5-10mm so it aligns and is parallel with the door. This would also drop the hard top down the same amount and would close up the gap at the rear.

Am I on the right track? I can't recall seeing anyone else having to do this so I'm second guessing myself.

[Blade]

It's kind of hard to tell but it seems there is a large hunk of material right at the door hinge area that seems out of place. I don't think I had that on my hard top. It seems to be part of the roof.

[wallace18]

Don't forget there is rubber seals that go on the top. I did install some adjustment stops to keep the rear from sagging. See post#110

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?24901-Richey-s-33-build-by-wallace18-Gen-1/page3

[RoadRacer]

All gen1?

It’s hard to tell from the pics but looks like the body needs to be ground some more? To get to line up with door. I had gen2 body over gen1 so different but I did grind here.

This pic doesn’t quite go far enough around but gives you an idea. My hardtop is gen1 btw.

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Doing from my phone always screws with photo orientation- I’ll try to fix from computer later :(

[FF33rod]

MostaS4
This is not abnormal, had similar issues.

Let's start with the alignment of the top of the door with the body. If you're install power windows there are some aluminum pieces that sit on top of the door that hold the felts for the glass. That aluminum is 1/8 I think and requires a gap between the top of the door and the hard top so there is clearance. Further, does it really matter that they aren't at the same level? You're not going to notice with the top on and if you run with the top off (roadster version) there's a trim piece that fits along the body at the back so once again no one is going to notice. Bottom line, I wouldn't worry about where the top of the door sits relative to the rear of the car.

Now, as for the gap at the back, between the top and the body. You can grind a bit off the top or the body to reduce that gap but ultimately you're going to need to fill it up. If it's more than a 1/4, you may want to consider layering some fiberglass matt to help build it up. To get the final contour and fit I:
- with the top off, taped strips of wax paper on top of the body where the rear of the top sits
- placed the top back in place and held it with a couple of the bolts
- took HSRF (e.g. EverGlass) and pushed it into the gap (make sure the underside of the top has been sanded with a coarse grit so there is something to adhere to)
- once the HSRF sets, pull the top off. The hardened HSRF gives you the profile you need to have, you can add more now with the top off to fill the voids up and finish it off a little nicer.

Steve

[MonstaS4]

As far as i know, the body is all Gen 1, but I have had to do some significant mods to get various parts to fit, so it could be a hybrid Gen1/Gen2 like the chassis (#1093) .

I understand seals go between body and top but it should fit a lot closer than this. I'd doubt 18mm can be taken up by the seals.

I'm not concerned with the door being level with the body. I mentioned this to highlight that it seems the body is causing the problem, not the hard top. Hopefully these pics show what I mean:

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The inner waterfall section seems to sitting too high. If I grind the body behind the door there'll be no material left, so I'm thinking i'll need to cut it out and reglass it lower. I'll probably still need to do as Steve suggested and build up the base of the hard top.

[peterh226]

The top fitment is challenging. Fit the side glass as well as the windshield and rear window before you commit to anything. I have a 3/4 gap at the front, I can either build up the body or fill to the top. It will be ok when done. I've got some pictures on my build area. I've been amazed how many times i've had to redo something. But I'm making progress. Hang in there!

[JimLev]

MonstaS4, my gen 1 is the same. I’ve spent about a month just on the roof and it still needs fixin.

FF33rod, you got aluminum strips for the tops of the doors? Gen 2 maybe?
I just got the rubber window scraper parts that don’t fit. I made my own out of aluminum L pieces.

[Svtfreak]

As far as i know, the body is all Gen 1, but I have had to do some significant mods to get various parts to fit, so it could be a hybrid Gen1/Gen2 like the chassis (#1093) .

I understand seals go between body and top but it should fit a lot closer than this. I'd doubt 18mm can be taken up by the seals.

I'm not concerned with the door being level with the body. I mentioned this to highlight that it seems the body is causing the problem, not the hard top. Hopefully these pics show what I mean:

145269 145270

The inner waterfall section seems to sitting too high. If I grind the body behind the door there'll be no material left, so I'm thinking i'll need to cut it out and reglass it lower. I'll probably still need to do as Steve suggested and build up the base of the hard top.

The red circled area in your first pic shouldn’t be there. Should be smooth. Top should fit better then.

[MonstaS4]

Thought I'd post an update on how this panned out.

As there was not enough material available to grind down the LHS body where circled above, I made an angled cut through the glass on the rear inner door section of the body from the top outer point, down at a 45 deg angle. I could then twist the top of the body waterfall section down so that it was sitting horizontal and on the same plane as the door. I temporally braced it in position, removed the body & glassed in 4 layers from behind to hold it in the correct position.
148517148518
The inner of the hardtop then lined up well with the body. I still needed to add quite a few layers to the bottom of the outer half of the hardtop to get it closer to the body - it still needs more though.

The next issue I struck was that the style line around the window on the hardtop did not line up with the door style line on the body on the LHS (approximately 10-15mm out). After firing off an email to FFR, I was advised to unbolt the body on the LHS (in the rear wheel well) and lift/twist the body so it would line up - there is enough flex in the body door openings for this. This worked well but I therefore needed to patch the hole in the body so it could be re-drilled in the correct location. This also highlighted how asymmetrical the body is. Hole locations in relation to the top of the wheel well were significantly different side to side.

The end results:
148519148520148521148522

Not sure if Gen 2 is any different but I would strongly advise anyone with a hard top should get it located and bolted onto the body BEFORE finalizing the body mounting holes at the rear of the body. Using the 45.5" measurement between dash and waterfall will get you close but a more important measurement (if using a hard top) is the opening at the top of the doors and ensuring that these are equal side to side.