Replacement soft top

Thanks Max, was not aware. Sounds like the frame then.
Mike

This is what the original frame looks like - its actually very simple apart from the header bar which is from pressed steel to form the shape.



The two arms have a pivot point at their ends. To open the roof you undo two large clamps on the header-bar that hold the front of it to the top of the windscreen frame, and simply lift the header bar up and back, around the pivot points on the arms.
The loose fabric is then pulled aft to neaten it up and you're good to enjoy 93 million miles of extra headroom

Hi Max,

Thanks for all your help and the pictures! My original bar was a mess of rusted holes, seeing yours makes me realise how eaten it actually was I've tried to take some useful pictures of the new Monsoon replica, not sure if they help at all? In theory I don't see why it shouldn't fit, it looks very similar to yours. My husband thinks the side bars may possibly be attached at the wrong angle? Unfortunately we are STILL swept away by rain and gale force winds here so I can't take mine off again just yet but I think i might try removing the hole roof section as soon as the weather permits and try fitting it again from scratch although when I took it to Monsoon they seemed to think it was fitted correctly but you never know?

Thank you so much for your help, it has cheered me up no end. I was really feeling disappointed and depressed at the whole mess and couldn't see a solution. I'm besotted with my 'Jimmy', we've had some really fun road trips and I always enjoy scooting around the Welsh valleys and mountains in him. I don't think I've ever enjoyed driving any other car as much as I enjoy driving him - so thank you

Thanks Scimike - all thoughts and help are gratefully received! It's just lovely to know people care enough to respond to my wails of anguish

Good pictures there JCS

I can see a potential flaw in the design which might possibly point to the problem.

Where the arms join to the header-bar, they have been flattened and therefore will have lost resistance to bending at that point. This has created a weak-spot (Marked with a red arrow) - I'm familiar with doing this to tubes as I have a vintage car with cross braces on it that I made in a similar fashion.

I realise in your photo the frame assembly is upside down, but its possible the arms are not where they should be, and may need bending very slightly in the direction of the green arrow. BUT DON't! ...At least, not yet..

I would suggest getting the car under cover and un-popping the targa cover and studying the frame with it in the closed (and locked) position. The arms should, I imagine, travel parallel with the roof line with a constant gap between the arms and the surface of the roof, but in your case, I wouldnt mind betting they do not.
I imagine that as they get nearer to the fibreglass header bar that they are getting further from the roof line, therefore creating the gap that is giving you the problem.

I therefore imagine that by bending those arms in the direction of the green arrow, slightly, and checking the assembly again, that the gap between the arms and the roof would now remain constant from the pivot point to the header bar.

Bending the arms would need to be done on the bench. Determining the amount of bend to put in will be difficult; but it won't be much.
The other problem will be how to bend it; it looks like the flattened end of the tube is welded to a plate that is rivetted(?) to the header-bar. Just bending it will potentially pull the rivets through tthe fibreglass.

This is all theory - based only on what I can see in the photos, and I would be inclined to see how it looks without the targa cover attached; if it looks like the arms don't follow the roofline with a constant gap, show your findings to Monsoon.

I hope all this makes some kind of sense.
By the way - my header-bar in that photo had just been de-rusted and painted - if you saw it up close you would see the rusted-through holes. I did this job last year, and already the rust is starting to come back.
If we have a dry spell next summer I shall shot blast it, get it down to bare-metal treat it, and paint it in two-pack.

Scimike, I forgot to mention the front section of the roof on the convertible Jimny is identical to the good old 2CV; undo a couple of clips on the header-bar and throw it up and back for the added headroom But its not attached to the rear section at all like the 2CV - that opens seperately