General Bumble's Bee

[Funkstar De Luxe]

They seem to be a little more common up north. By the way, your garage is beautiful.

 

[bumble]

Cheers FDL - hows things with the replacement engine? Hope we can meet up at one of StevieGee's jolly jaunts eventually. I've just bought new Mintex rear discs/pads and I'm going to try to get these fitted in the next few weeks. Next year, I'm hoping to have a new soft top fitted as mine is the original PVC and the trim around the rear window is coming away on each side where the window folds. Anyway, back to work today - six weeks isnt long enough

Steve

 

[afroking]

Anyway, back to work today - six weeks isnt long enough

...that's what the kids say!

 

[nicholasb]

Exhaust looks good. You will probably feel a slight performance improvement too. I have garage envy - wow

 

[bumble]

Latest jobs should have been the rear brakes but these are still in the box in the hall - much joy from 'er indoors'. Instead, I decided to replace the rear fog lamp which had been cracked, and repaired, when I bought the car. I bought a replacement, almost new lamp, off eBay for £6.49. The lamp comes complete with a retaining lug on one side and a single, sprint retained, phillips screw on the other. The old lamp was difficult to remove as the screw slots were rounded but eventually it was removed, falling to bits in the process. The replacement lamp was fotted in seconds and the only thing to watch out for is the fact that the screw is angled towards the outside of the car. This could be why the original was rounded as there is an obvious tendency to push a screw driver at right angles to the rear of the car. Anyway, job done. Brakes next. Two weeks to half term Adam

Steve

 

[bumble]

Regrettably, half term has been and gone. I have fitted the hard top but circumstances haven't allowed for the rebuild of the rear brakes. `Car has been parked on the drive for the week while I complete a woodwork project using the garage. The garage is now so filled with sawdust that I am considering a car cover - any suggestions?

Steve

 

[Crachat]

Bumble, our 'B' lives in an open fronted barn and as the cats like to sleep on the roof and leave hairs we needed a cover. We got ours from a company in LA. (That's LittlehAmpton, in Sussex for all non southerners...) Found them on the web, ordered, paid and picked it up when we back in the UK last year. Cover Zone is the company name and the cover is a Voyager, (part no. CCC253). Can't remember the cost, but as I'm tight it wasn't that much.
Comes in a bag so it could be used on a trip.
Usual disclaimers apply, I have nothing to do with the company etc. etc.
Hope this helps

 

[Crachat]

Just checked on www.cover-zone.com Voyager cover for Barchetta 78:95GBP delivered. Hope this helps.

 

[F4usT]

our 'B' lives in an open fronted barn and as the cats like to sleep on the roof and leave hairs we needed a cover.

like i once forgot to close windows on drivers side, found 3 cats inside. they wake up and try to get out through closed passenger window. i **** my pants when i saw that rush.

 

[afroking]

Lol!

 

[bumble]

This is the first sunny weekend for a while so I have brought the car out for a wash before putting it away with a new Argos cover. Was around £17 so I'm not expecting much from it. I only need it as a dust sheet. The pics are for Harris who is fitting his HT this weekend. My HT fits better on the passenger side. The window fits perfectly into the seal. Also, the seal between the windscreen pillar and the HT corner is better. On the drivers side, the top of the window goes slightly higher than the seal and 'pops out'. Although there is still a watertight seal along the top of the glass, the junction between the windscreen pillar and the HT corner isn't as good and there is actually a small gap. Someone suggested a smear of black silicone will cure this but, as I don't tend to use the car in the rain, it hasn't really been an issue.

Steve

 

[paganeli panda]

Thanks for the pics mate! Mine seems to have gaps on both sides. I followed the advice given to you too and put a smear of silicone along the seams... hopefully it will be ok...I might try to push it forwards a bit but I am beginning to get convinced that either the car or the HT is warped a bit.. I will try and get some pics and post them for comparison..

 

[afroking]

I may have suggested the sealer to you bumble, I used it with my hardtop - it works well!

In order to get your window to sit correctly behind the rubber you need to adjust it i.e. take off the door card and spend about 20 mins getting it right. Bit of a pain but once I did it I found that the window fitted the soft top seals better too.

Unless your hardtop came with the car from factory the fit is generally very poor. Even factory supplied hardtops weren't perfect.

 

[bumble]

Thanks Adam. I am one of the few who has a more watertight car with the soft top than with the hard top. My soft top glass/top seals are perfect so I'm not keen to alter them. My soft top only leaks from the gap between the bottom of the hood and the top of the wing immediately behind the rear door posts. I can live with this. I think the hard top looks quite good and is much better than most convertibles. I was wondering if Harris could get some sideways adjustment using the over head catches? Is it possible to lubricate the seals with Halfords seal silicone then push the roof across before securing it with the four catches?

Steve

 

[bumble]

Just noticed that all my pics didnt post. Are we limited to a certain number of photos in one post?

Steve

 

[paganeli panda]

I think next thing to do is loosen the four spike screws on the HT (two on each side and try and push it forward a bit.. hopefully that might do the trick..

 

[bumble]

i think the holes on the spike brackets are slotted so it should move.

Steve

 

[afroking]

Hi Steve,

There is little adjustment that can be made with the hardtop seating position. This involves loosening bolts in the brackets on the sides of the hardtop. I'm not 100% but you may be able to space out the roof catches to adjust the hardtop position.
At the end of the day you need to accept that it's never going to be perfect, it's not German or Japanese...

 

[bumble]

Oh it's definitely not German - it would be silver if it was, and, if were Japanese, it wouldn't even be on my drive.

 

[afroking]

...I wouldn't know mate