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refitting harrington lemans roof

valueextra

Bronze Level Sponsor
i have removed my lemans roof to repair the roof and shell .i need to replace some of the flange and metal on the rear wings does anyone know how harrington marked out where to cut and form the flange as i thought it would be better to reform all the flange as it is pretty rusty.also what was used to bond the fibreglass to the flange .and was a special filler used to feather up to the roof .
 

jumpinjan

Bronze Level Sponsor
I would think the metal boundary would just be trimmed to meet the original fiberglass/metal seam. Of course the top would need to be mocked up to the body.
I used an epoxy based glue, and there are many of those products available, in a dispenser gun. Apply the epoxy to the seam area then very quickly align & attach the top using 10-32 screws along the seam. Two people are required, one on each side. You only have about 30mins to do it.
I would apply epoxy primer over the seam (to cover the bare metal and apply plastic body filler.
Jan
 

valueextra

Bronze Level Sponsor
quite a lot of the boundary is missing and i am doing a lot of work to the roof thats why i wanted to sort of re mark it out as harringtons would have done .i assume the must have used a template to check the line is correct .its a pain keep lifting the roof on and off.
 

jumpinjan

Bronze Level Sponsor
For the fiberglass top work, I apply a sprayable gel-coat then block sand. Thats a lot of work to do.
If I remember right, there's a wide flange on the fiberglass to overlap on the metal, so its not too critical to cut that metal boundary just right.
Jan
 

valueextra

Bronze Level Sponsor
i wonder how harrington used to mark them out to get them perfect everytime as i assume all the roofs vary a little
 

valueextra

Bronze Level Sponsor
scraped all the paint off the roof today .need to do some repairs next then gelcoat it and then lots of block sanding once i got it solid i will try and refit it to the car .does anyone have any pics of a car with the roof removed ?
 

Jeff Howarth

Donation Time
Harrington roof

Hi,

on the Harringtons I have done, I used the roof shape and transferred it to a sheet of 3/4 ply. That gave me both the shape of the roof needed to match the rear wing to, and also a template to bend over the top edge of the wing.

For the height I used the top of the rear wheel arch as a fixed point to measure from on either side.

I have taken a few Harrington roves off and none appeared to be glued to the metalwork, although this might improve rigidity.


Jeff
 

65beam

Donation Time
roof

jeff,
I now have the roof removed on car #9112251. the seams were covered with a filler that seemed to have metal flakes in it. I did not want to sand the filler or grind it off due to the fragile top. the filler was blended down the fender and also over the top. I cut a small section of the filler out and used a fine tooth hack saw blade to cut thru the filler to separate the top. it has been set aside until the RHD LeMans I'm restoring now is done. it once belonged to ian spencer and it appears that some type of sealer was used between the top and body when he reinstalled the top. the owner of the shop that is painting it seems to think the sealer might be a good thing. he says it will prevent moisture from getting between the top and the body and protect the filler over the seam. every time I talk to ian I never think to ask what he used for the sealer. I guess it's the only right hand drive LeMans in the states.
 

jumpinjan

Bronze Level Sponsor
Ian & I installed the top, and I used epoxy glue that's designed for gluing fiberglass. Its NOT a "type-of-sealer".
Jan
 

65beam

Donation Time
lemans

jan,
if you're talking about the car jean bought, the rod shop asked us if it was liquid nails. do you remember what the product was or who packaged it?
 
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