Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Hood release

Ebay Bud

Many places sell over centre catches

Out of interest, ebay was my first port of call, but only pre-owned available. Further searching with the likes of Rimmer Bros is what provoked my earlier comment about cost.
However, I like the principle. Whilst searching, the rubber catches as used on rally cars came into view, for less than a tenner.
It occurs to me, that they may be fitted upside down, with the T piece looking upwards. Then, easy to release even with tight fitting luggage in place and being black & non- branded, may look a bit more at home. Or, would this idea be scuppered by the slope of the roof getting in the way?

They're definitely not available new chaps.

Excluding the Stag, these hood catches were fitted to all Triumph convertibles from 1959 to 1980. Despite not being reproduced, because they had a production run of over 21 years and were used on the Herald, Vitesse, Spitfire, TR4, TR5 & TR6 models there are still plenty used ones out there, expect to pay anything from £50 to £80 for a set depending on condition.

There are indeed plenty of new over centre catches on the market to choose from, however, I ran a 1960 Triumph Herald convertible as my daily drive in the early 90's so I knew the Triumph items well and realised they're way nicer quality than all the new over centre catch options, my perfect condition set cost me just £55 so they were'nt too expensive either. I didn't use the Triumph catch receivers though, as you can see from the video I fitted stainless hooks instead, I bought these from an online chandler and pop riveted them to the lower rear hood rail while the catches themselves were screwed through upper section of the parcel shelf and ultimately into the ash frame using nice countersunk wood screws with the correct head size.

Choosing the right fasteners is important, especially the pop rivets, you need really strong fixings because there's a lot of tension on the hood. I also used a second self adhesive rubber seal bonded to Monty's rear deck so the factory lower hood rail seal now mates up to it for a nice rubber to rubber fit. The deck seal I added is quite large section and formed from a very soft and compressible type of foam rubber, I chose this squishy type seal as I'd noted the lower hood rail profile is not uniform, my new highly deformable deck seal ensures all the gaps are taken up when I snap the Triumph catches shut. This gives a super watertight and draught free seal and because its black rubber on rubber its invisible and looks completely stock, with the hood lowered I've also found this arangement eliminates all squeeks and rattles while protecting the rear deck from scratches in Monty's paint.

I have to say I'm super happy with the setup and I definitely won't be returning to Morgan's cable released MGB bonnet pin idea, I'm sure it's great when its working but on Monty I found it was very fussy about pin alignment and the release cable is also very exposed to damp so tends to seize up. I also noted my Everflex hood has quite a bit of tension in it so the pins need to be perfectly adjusted to latch and stay latched, I tried all sorts of adjustment of the pins, their receivers, and even the hood frame itself but none of my attempts to make the system work perfectly gave a 100% satisfactory result.

So I fitted the Triumph hood catches and never looked back, I conclude that sometimes the simplest solutions are the best

And there are plenty on Ebay chaps

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...p;_nkw=vitesse+hood+catches&_sacat=0

My car has an Allon White Easy Up hood with rear over latches, one side started springing open under pressure so I fitted some black ones that twist and lock into place, you could even put a small padlock on them if you wanted to (I never have). They fold pretty flat so don't interfere with the (Hills Alive) luggage.
I got them from Amazon "sourcing map 2.56-inch Iron Spring Loaded Butterfly Twist Latch Keeper Toggle Clamp with Keyhole - 2 Pcs (Black)" for about 15 quid so cheap as chips as well. They're also available in silver.
P.S. I originally tried some smaller ones but they weren't suitable.

For people looking for chrome catches and wanting to buy new, while researching I also found these options:

OPTION 1:



The above are available from Vintage Supplies at £55.00 a set plus postage.

https://www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/products/303-over-centre-catch-2


OPTION 2:

For the same money the following are available from Woolies the trim people:



https://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/p-1132-small-over-centre-catch


OPTION 3:

And finally for those on a tighter budget you can find these Chinese made catches all over Ebay & Temo etc for around £15 a pair.






In the end I decided for the same money as options 1 & 2 a set of the very sturdy Triumph hood catches would look best, and be strong enough to deal with the hood tension too.





They also function as a nice reminder of my first restoration, my much loved and long since gone Triumph Herald convertable

The problem with the Simmonds system, is that when travelling with a fully loaded parcel shelf, you cannot put the hood up or down without de-camping the luggage. Also now being a certified old fart I can no longer reach both catches from inside. (Not that I use the car much these days in weather that would require a hood, - a bit sad I guess)

That is true, I guess the Simmonds front & MMC rear well set up would be ideal

I'm not so sure. I don't have any problem packing around the rear clips or getting in to reach them. I think the biggest weakness of the Simmonds setup is the external clamps on the front screen. they work extremely well, but they generate a lot of wind noise. But the windscreen channel design is a master stroke, mine never leaks even in torrential rain.

I really like the extra rigidity the factory setup gives with its pram hood frame, but on the other hand it gives a much bulkier fold than the Simmonds design. I guess there's no such thing as a perfect design.

The Allon White version uses the hood tension to hold the header rail in place - eliminating the external clamps used by Simmonds. I never had any leaks on our old 4/4 and a chum recently had his 1985 4/4 converted by AW and has not reported any issues.