Fitting a tonneau cover

[James King]

I would be grateful for any advice on the best way to fit a new tonneau cover. The car has never had one before. I have the tonneau and the bag of bits from caterham. I even have the "durable dot fastening tool" and have worked out what it does.

 

What I really need to know is where to start. How do I find out where the poppers should be on the body work. Some are already there. I know there should be one at either end of the door sill, but not where the ones on the dash should be. The middle two on the dash are there.

 

The man at caterham said that i just drill the holes and screw them in! I don't know what size hole. The other thing is it looks as though the windscreen is in the way so that I won't be able to get the drill bit perpendicular to the dash.

 

The other thing. Is there an easy way to position the poppers on the cover so that the tension is just right? Not too slack or too tight to be unable to get the thing on?

 

Having only had the car a week, this is my first project and i am in the dark. Is there any where where all this info is freely available. I havn't made it to my local meet yet.

[Paul R.]

I have some instructions for fitting a tonneau cover which are a bit lengthy to type out. If you want me to fax/post, give me a ring on 0161 763 5410.

There are only 2 poppers which are inaccessible and they are the ones which you already have on top of the dash.

Three top tips:-

1. Make sure the tonneau is nice and warm and supple when you do the job. Probably best to keep it in a warm place i.e. indoors prior to starting.

2. Start from middle of car and work out.

3. When you have fitted male poppers put some masking tape on the underside of the tonneau roughly in the area where the female popper is going to be and offer to the male popper. Stretch the tonneau into position and rub the area on top of the popper to leave a mark on the masking tape wher popper should be attached.

Paul R.

[Dave H]

James,

 

There are instructions on fitting in the Caterham Build Manual - no good if ain't got one though.

The tonneau should have 2 brass grommets fitted, slip these over the rear suspension points on the rear bulkhead to give the starting position. Then attach to the dash ones. You then need to decide where else they are needed to hold it all down neatly. One on each corner(ish).

Try and keep it tight, its best to do the job in the warm, as it makes the cover easier to stretch, and it won't sag so much in the sun.

 

If you want (need) to put any more in the dash you will need to remove the windscreen to get the holes in the right place - they are usually into the rail that supports the dash.

The rivets are almost certainly 4mm. Be careful when drilling into the body, there are chassis rails around some of the areas you will want to put poppers in, and its very easy to slide a drill bit off one and end up with a not very neat hole.

 

Good luck

Dave H

[Paul R.]

Note you will only have the brass grommets which Dave H. refers to if yours is a live axle car.

One other thing. You will need to replace two of the existing poppers on the boot cover (the ones on side of car near roll bar. These need to be 'converted' to incorporate a male popper instead of the 'button'. This is to allow fitting of tonneau over this part of boot cover onto same male popper on bodywork.

Paul R.