**SOLD** Hard top for sale. £1,250. **SOLD**

[Rusty Wishbone]

That's a SPC hardtop.
The roof stays folded away. Its stowage cover needs to be removed.

Do the stowage cover hinges have to be removed too?

[theelanman]

Do the stowage cover hinges have to be removed too?

No, the hard top attaches to the hinges in the same place that the stowage cover would - in effect, the whole thing can then be pivoted around the hinges.

thought the hinges didn't attach.....???????
is the hood not fixed down with a hook arrangement fixed at the soft top hood hinge location????

[GusMangoFish]

If anyone wants me to send them the fitting instructions, so you can see what's involved with fitting the roof, then shoot me a PM with your email address. I'll send the .pdf file over.

[GusMangoFish]

Do the stowage cover hinges have to be removed too?

No, the hard top attaches to the hinges in the same place that the stowage cover would - in effect, the whole thing can then be pivoted around the hinges.

thought the hinges didn't attach.....???????
is the hood not fixed down with a hook arrangement fixed at the soft top hood hinge location????

If you look on the 3rd picture I posted, you can see the attachment points. The two large plastic ones at the front act excactly the same as the equivalent points on the soft top, and fix the hardtop to the front of the car.

At the rear left and right sides of the hard top, you'll see a couple of small metal attachments. These connect to the curved part of the metal connector thingies in picture 4, which are in turn connected to the soft top assembly.

[GusMangoFish]

Probably best reading the instructions to see if you understand what they are saying. I have to admit I'm struggling a bit with them, and as I no longer own an Elan, I'm not able to cross-refence the instructions with the parts it's talking about.

When I bought my Green Elan it came with the hardtop ready fitted. In the summer it was simply a case of unclamping the front, and unhooking the rear. With the two metal connector things (pic. 4) folded down, you then reattached the soft top cover (4 bolts) to the soft top hinges.

The hard top does not connect to the hinges (iirc, but I could be wrong here...). Instead you connect the metal attachments to a different part of the soft top assembly. You then use the hooks to attach to the attachment points at the back left and right of the roof. The height of the attachement points can be alterted so you end up with a tight fit.

[dapinky]

Gareth,

You're right, of course - not sure where i got the idea from that you use the hinges ....

...I've deleted my totally unhelpful post

[surfboardfiller]

The hood has to be removed to fit the hard top as it uses the same fixing points front and back.

[GusMangoFish]

The hood has to be removed to fit the hard top as it uses the same fixing points front and back.

Once the hard top is fitted, the soft top remains stored in the usual manner. The hard top uses different fixing points at the back - see the 4th photo on my first post. These mental hooks are attached to the softtop assembly, but once attached, they remain in place permanently as does the soft top. The only thing that is removed from the car is the soft top compartment cover (which is attached by 4 bolts).

Once you've installed the rear hardtop attachment points, it's a very simple job to switch between soft-top and hard-top and vice versa. e.g. To change back to the soft top , you simply re-attach the soft-top compartment cover. Then fold the soft-top up as normal. To change back to the hardtop you stow the soft-top as normal then remove the soft-top compartment cover, and so on.

[Rusty Wishbone]

The reason that I asked is that i have been fitting my new one, and removed the hinges because they looked like they would get in the way. Hinge removal is a bit tricky, but what scares me is the thought of trying to refit them!

[GusMangoFish]

The reason that I asked is that i have been fitting my new one, and removed the hinges because they looked like they would get in the way. Hinge removal is a bit tricky, but what scares me is the thought of trying to refit them!

Do you have the same type as mine? If so, you definitely do not remove the hinges.

[surfboardfiller]

Thats cool, mine was the first SPC hard top so it seems he has changed the design.

[Rusty Wishbone]

Do you have the same type as mine? If so, you definitely do not remove the hinges.

Yes. I wish I hadn't removed the hinges now. Oh well... perhaps I won't remove the hardtop once I have installed it. I have never been keen on convertibles.

[ovi]

Have received quite a few PMs about this now - have just got round to replying to them all.

So as to be completely transparent here, the price I have quoted is £1,250.

What does it cost extra to send it to Belgium?

[GusMangoFish]

Hi all, apologies for delay with updating. Has been an incredibly hectic last couple of weeks. Will get round to answering all recent(ish) PMs by tomorrow.

[GusMangoFish]

Have received quite a few PMs about this now - have just got round to replying to them all.

So as to be completely transparent here, the price I have quoted is £1,250.

What does it cost extra to send it to Belgium?

Hi, I'm afraid I don't know the answer to this yet. Will see if I can get a quote or two in the next couple of days (snowed under work-wise at the moment).

[Rusty Wishbone]

Please take care when deciding how to transport the hardtop. I had mine couriered, and it was damaged in two places and cost me £300 in fibreglass repairs. To claim on the courier company's insurance, the hardtop would have had to have been packaged in a very specific way including a double box. I have never seen a box big enough to put a hardtop in.

You might try a removal company to see if they can shift small loads as they return from moving a house. They are more likely to take some care of it, whereas, you have to assume that a courier company will drop it onto its edges repeatedly.

[GusMangoFish]

Thanks for the advice Rusty.

I think ideally buyer would collect. For the reasons you mention, I'm pretty wary about sending via courier, and especially overseas. I'm happy for a buyer to arrange collection and delivery, but the onus would be on them to organise.

[GusMangoFish]

Final bump for this before sticking on FeeBay on Monday. Have had more than a dozen enquiries, but no sale thus far.

To confirm: I'm not willing to post overseas. I do not have time to arrange that (flat out with work atm) and also think it's doubtful that it will arrive in a presentable state! Sorry.

UK-wide, if you want delivering, then please arrange a courrier.

However, I think it would be much easier to come and collect. You can remove the soft top cover in 10 mins and stick the hard top on: clamping the front, and attaching the back via rope/string to the rear clamps and drive back like that. You can then properly fit the rear attachments to the hood assembly when you've some spare time (I estimate it to be a 2+ hour job, but only needs to be done once).

Finally, if anyone still wants a copy of the fitting instructions, then PM me and I'll send by return.

Thanks
Matt

[Dave Eds]

Putting the price in the thread title may help a buyer!

[GusMangoFish]

Putting the price in the thread title may help a buyer!

Ah, thanks. oops!