Front Soft top Bows

Rick Parker · #1 (**permalink**) 11-22-2003, 11:59 PM

Does anyone know if the front bows (over the windshield) of the soft tops were made of wood? I read that somewhere. I have the metal ones but the fit is not as good as I would like.

Rick

cobrajeff · #2 (**permalink**) 11-23-2003, 07:30 AM

Rick -

I have worked on a couple original Cobra convertible tops - in fact, I just dissassembled one a couple weeks ago. There is no wood in there. The bows are steel, and very similar to the ones on my ERA top, except the original top had a couple of aluminum strips down in the track that was used to help hold the material in place. There was also some felt and some fairly thick (about 1/2") and dense weatherstrip foam rubber in there.

BTW, I found out on my top that 3M Super Adhesive (used to hold the top material to the bows)will NOT stick to a powder-coated surface. Had to grind the area back down to bare metal to get the top material to stick to the bows.

regards,

Jeff

Rick Parker · #3 (**permalink**) 11-23-2003, 08:35 AM

Wonderful picture Jeff. Excellent resource. These look like the bows I have, but the fellow I had relied on did not mention the aluminum strip. Trying to find someone with the history of knowing how they fit to the canvas is difficult. Any sources for the "Correct clasps?" The ones I was sent are not accurate. They look like they belong on a Tackle Box!

Thanks........... Rick

BTW: The aluminum strip appears to sandwich ths canvas to the bow with the foam over the aluminum, Correct???