MGB J&S Fibreglass Hardtop Restoration
The 2nd hand J&S hardtop fitted to the car on delivery and it seemed to enhance the appearance of the car and definitely reduced noise inside the car.
However the “J Bolts that clamped the hardtop to the car did not tighten as there was flexing occurring at the sides of the hardtop. Removal of the headlining in that area revealed cracked fibreglass and rusting metal stiffeners on both sides.
The rusted steel stiffeners were removed and replaced with Stainless Steel. Then the sides were filled with fibreglass filler and strengthened with 2 layers of fibreglass tape.
It was noted that the original vinyl hood had solid rubber blocks that the over centre front hood to windscreen clamps pull up against and that sets the minimum gap for the front sealing rubber.
Thus this feature was added to the hardtop.
Also the pads for the mounting screws for the over centre clamps were made from plywood and over time they had begun to deteriorate so were removed and replaced with aluminium blocks and encased in fibreglass reinforced with at least 2 layers of fibreglass cloth.
New side locating lugs were formed to locate the sides of the hardtop using the same brackets used by the vinyl hood.
A feature found with another J&S Hardtop was the installation of an interior light so that feature is being copied.
The original “J Bolt” method of clamping the back of the hardtop to the car has been retained with new stainless steel brackets and “J bolts”.
Graham Haywood
On The Marque December 2019