Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) What Did You Do To Your Morgan Today?

I got a bit of a shower inside the car when coming back from lunch the other day in a rather heavy shower so I took a look and found that the upper hood seal had folded itself over in the channel which left a bit of a gap for water to get in. Cleaned and polished the header rail then heated the seal with a hairdryer and clipped the hood back on. Heated it with some microwaveable heat pads while in position for a while and it all seems ok for the moment. It's closed the gap where water was coming in but I'll be giving it a good soak when I clean it soon so fingers crossed that fixes it.

And then I finally got around to fixing the Tenax clip that keeps the offside easy-up hood in place when the hood is down. The male part that screws into the frame had stopped holding in the frame so I fashioned a wooden dowel to fit and glued it in place. Tenax clip now secure again.

Finally, I lubricated the bonnet tapes by heating them up with a hairdryer and applying melted candle wax. I'll see how that goes.

I found early on, that the bonnet tapes are pretty useless. Applying vaseline, wax etc usually means you pick it up on your cloth when cleaning the car.
I now line the inside edge of the bonnets themselves with the furry side of stick-on velcro tape. It lasts quite a time and helps protect the paintwork. ( a tip picked up here some years ago…maybe John V6?.)
(Previously, I tried a strip of closed loop sticky back neoprene but it didn’t last very long at all.)

Thanks. It used to always come back from a service well Vaselined (*other petroleum jellies are available) up, so I thought I'd try something a little less sticky. I'll see how it goes and try the tape next perhaps if it doesnt' work.

My bonnet tapes look different and are made of a different material on the sealing surface.

My looks a bit like a kind of long-pile velvet.

I haven't had any sealing problems at this point so far.

I am also familiar with the problem of the ends folding over. Since then, I always make sure that the rail is absolutely parallel to the upper windscreen frame when I fold the hood forwards.

Well I found that keeping the canvas bonnet tape dry and lining the bonnet edges with PTFE tape works the best of all. Clean the car tapes well to remove any lubricants and they will stay clean as its the grease/wax that holds the dirt which also acts as an abrasive when dirty. The PTFE tape is supper slippery and doesn't have a ridiculous level of adhesive backing so is easily removed if or when changing is required without leaving difficult glue on the bonnets. Although in all honesty I have never replaced the PTFE! not needed too!

This also works well on top of the foam seal around the heater box when applied to the top surface.

Fox T

You will need to glue those corner edges on the header seal, Make a template/former to the profile of the screen frame and the same width and apply a contact adhesive to both sides of rubber and roof frame. I glue mine from the bottom of the curve on the outward edge to approximately 4" along the top flat edge. When ready insert the said former and tape it in place and leave for at least 12 hours. when dry, remove the former and repeat to the other side.

If these edges are not secured they will roll in again and eventually deform to the point where you will need to replace the header seal completely. I have used an adhesive called super goop which seems to work well and any oozing at the edges can easily be rubbed off when dry without leaving a mark.

Forgot to say!

Lubricate the inside edge of the header seal with silicone grease, You really do not need to smother it, rather its more a wipe on wipe off technique but it really does help with the seating of the rail.

Kevin you need to glue the rubber seal in as suggested above.

As for bonnet tape I use the self adhesive velcro tape (the loop side) on the inside of the bonnet.

Thanks sewin and John. Thought I'd probably have to glue it in the end.

Great tip. Thanks.
Bud
4/4 - Stanley