Roof wadding

A

aermotor

Well-known member
In the last 2 years I have covered or helped cover 3 tops purchased from L.B.
One mat was thin cotton that you could read a newspaper through, one was about 1/4" thick cotton mat, and the last was a thick blue fabric of some kind of man-made material. Presently we are working on the thin cotton and blue material on 2 different cars. The 1/4" mat was completed about a year ago and presented no problems. Little nervous about the thin mat and thicker blue cloth mat. Any comments on the different mats? No, foam was never considered. L.B. basically says: it is what it is.

John
 
I used three wool blankets, one cut for the opening, the other two under two full width. It maybe a little puffy for some, I’am happy with it!
 
I've seen some roofs, where they drove the tacks in TOO TIGHT & made "puckered" areas.
Chief used Horseshoe Nails, for temporary holding, until final stretching & nailing. They come out easily & are VERY SHARP & easy to drive in.
He & I used that NO LABEL, canned roofing tar, to coat OLD roofs & with a length way brushing with a stiff OLD brush, it looked like LONG GRAIN COPRA---LOL---Once, we did a roof from a NEW Cotton Sack & finished it off with the above coating. Better than a KICK in the head or a sharp stick in yo' EYE! Po' Folks had Po' ways! For padding, we used QUILTING Cotton, "maybe" 2 layers??? I don't remember for SURE??? We used an OLD Straight Razor, for "safe" trimming.
Bill Black
 
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ditto on the quilting padding, only I used the synthetic. Comes in different thickness and if it does get wet wont hold the water like cotton would.
 
Go to Marco’s ‘ www.abarnyard.com . Click the bottom right arrow to ‘Begin the Tour’. Then select ‘The Workshop’. In the list of subjects click on ‘Installing a Closed Car Roof’. Marco lists the components and ‘step-by-step’ instructions as to how to install the ‘soft top’.


I bought my ‘kit’ from Snyders and installed it over 25 years ago. Following Marco’s directions the soft top is still ‘completely tight’ as it was when I did the job.

As I remember, the kit padding was ½” thick. You can always get more at a fabric store (take a piece to show them). I followed Marco’s advice and covered the ‘chicken wire (stapled in tight)’ with a layer of fabric (stapled in tight). Then I laid the padding on top of that. This insured that the padding did not sink into the chicken-wire. Remember, the cotton-padding is very porous and will compress

The KEY is to ‘DO THE INSTALL ON A HOT DAY and in DIRECT SUN LIGHJT’. That way everything is fully expanded and can only get tighter / contract in cold weather. 25 years on and I can still bounce a coin off of the top.
 
I used indoor/outdoor carpeting of a low pile. Has worked excellent for years now. Smooth as a billiard table up there.
 
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