convertible top questions????

[alpine_64]

Hmmm. My straps had all the strength of the elastic in a pair of jockey shorts, so I just threw them away, had no idea what their purpose might be. Forty some thousand miles later, we have never had any problems with top flapping.

Now the flapping will probably drive us nuts.

Bill

Yeah.... all's good until someone points it out.. they also stop the top from having the sagging in the middle look when you are parked as they hold some tension in the roof.

When we did my dads top the shop used a seat belt kind of material, but the issue with that is it is cut to size, so you are not holding it in tension.. works.. but not as well as the correct elasticised straps.

I found out about the use of the straps when I got my tiger and it had none.. first time going down the freeway and i opened the window ahhh thats why they have straps...

 

[65beam]

questions

I remember the top raising up while driving my car way back in the 60's. a lot of snow and rain got in. the only way to have some control of that is to secure the sides of the top material to the side rails by the use of snaps or velcro. the material does tend to stretch some but if properly installed and stretched there won't be much sagging when you stop. the top material is secured to the header rail so the straps keep the top frame bows and the header rail in the same location every time you raise and lower the top. material for straps with the ability to stretch would defeat this purpose and allow the movement of the frame which would allow the window gaps, etc to change every time you raise and lower the top. I believe there were three straps on series 3 and most series 4 cars. series 5 cars had one strap.

 

[DanR]

65beam; [/Quote]: I believe there were three straps on series 3 and most series 4 cars. series 5 cars had one strap.[/QUOTE]


Yes beam, Chrysler was too cheap to continue a good thing. They knew they we going to stop production of Alpine (probably due to the Tiger).

 

[65beam]

questions

the alpine and tiger were killed off due to new regulations concerning structure and safety. we have an alpine 50 cars from the end of production and an alpine GT with the vin number of 711 that was built in 1968. can you imagine a 4 inch padded steering wheel center like the fast back has on a series 5 wheel. they also went to struts like most cars were switching to. a lot of changes were made that were similar to Chrysler products of the time.

 

[inline_eric]

Finally finished the top…because the material was 30+ years old, I ran into some problems (had to fix a tear I made)…but it was nice to go through the process…its not perfect but definitely doable….thanks for everyone who helped me…I really appreciate it.
Eric

 

[mikephillips]

Reviving this slightly. Take a look towards the bottom of this thread and you'll see a top tensioning strap. What folks may not realize is they ome from the top of the front bow to the bottom of the next one, doubles back around and over the top to the back bow. Theere would be a small plate pop rivited on the bottom to hold the strap, rivits going through the curved plate and two layers of strap material.

http://www.sunbeamalpine.org/forum/showthread.php?t=19669&page=2

 

[inline_eric]

Yeah Mike,
I replaced my straps because they would tear easily, probably a little stronger than a wet paper sack…I used some rubber flooring material from home depot (cut to the same dimensions) that on the underside resembled the straps…it looks good.