Soft Top Frame & Bow

In June 2006, I finally got around to attending to the soft top.  After waiting 12 weeks for the new wood bow to arrive from the UK, I was eager to complete the job. I firmly clamped the new bow against the soft top frame to check alignment.  I was disappointed to find that the holes and slots drilled in the bow for attachment to the windscreen pegs and soft top frame plates were not in the correct locations.  The near-side windscreen peg hole was approximately 3/16" out of position sideways and 1/4" too close to the edge of the metal frame.  Meanwhile, the frame plate recesses cut into the bow were each out by 1/8".  Enlarge Pic. I checked that the soft top frame was not the cause of the problem by carefully comparing all dimensions to a mate's frame.  I decided to modify the bow rather than wait for another 12 weeks for a replacement.  My simple fix is detailed below.

Tasmanian Oak Dowel for Plugging Bow

Step 1 (while the bow was still clamped against the frame) was to mark where the frame plate attachment recesses should be located.  I then unclamped the bow and used a 1 inch chisel, wooden mallet, flat edge rasp and some sandpaper to carefully extend and dress the recesses.  Step 2 was to buy some 18mm Tasmanian Oak dowel to be used to plug the incorrectly located near-side peg hole, glue in a suitable length and wait a day for hardening.  I then rasped and sanded the plug flush with the bow.  Step 3 (now that it was possible to fit the frame plates in the recesses in the bow) was to firmly re-clamp the plugged bow to the frame and mark the correct location of the peg hole.  Step 4 (being scared to split the wood using a hand-held drill) was to unclamp it and visit a cabinet maker friend to have him use his expensive bench-mounted drill to drill the peg hole.

Modified Bow Ready for the Fabric

Step 5: Back to the workshop, re-clamped the bow to the frame, drilled the holes for attaching the bow to the frame and then marked the correct location of the near-side frame locking bolt path through the bow.  While the assembly was clamped, I inserted the copper peg bushes, rotated them in order to align where the bolts would enter and then marked the correct location of the recesses for the near side bush lock tabs.  Step 6 was to unclamp again and use an electric drill, narrow chisel, wooden mallet and a round cross-section hand rasp to drill out and dress the frame bolt path and also the new locations for the copper bush lock tab recesses.  Step 7 was to re-clamp the bow, re-insert the copper peg hole bushes and carefully screw in the frame bolts to check alignment / location of all new holes prior to screwing the bow to the frame.  Step 8 was to attach the bow to the frame with SS wood screws.  Step 9 was to carefully punch down the top edges of the copper bush lock tabs in their recesses being very careful not to split the wood in the process.  Step 10 was to attach the frame to the car and celebrate with a nice cold GUINNESS!!  Enlarge Pic.