Broken rear screen zip - argh!

[Rob Bell]

Was this the weekend of broken zips???!?


I always unsip the screen when the hard top is on the car - and I took the hard top off on Saturday so to enjoy the drive to Abingdon for the MGF Register AGM. But to my horror, I found that the zip had complete separated!!!

I've removed the end lock tab, picked away the glue, and attempted to re-zip, but the zipper simply isn't zipping.

So the question is, how to fix this one? It would be desparately annoying if the whole zip needed replacing - but I am not sure whether just replacing the zip slider would do the trick or not?

Anyone got any experience with this?

For now, the hard top is back on the car... in this weather! Bah!

[Bandit]

Had the same frustration when the zip failed due to whoever the main dealer used for hood repairs failing to stitch in a new zip straight. Like you I couldn't see how replacing the slider would magically restore correct zipping, but the ever-helpful Sonia Morris assured me I wouldn't necessarily be able to spot the cause, new slider fitted and Hey Presto all is well again. Well, until negotiating the curves & resultant tight sections makes it conk out again...

[Rob Bell]

Thanks... might have to give this a try, because leaving the hardtop on the car during this pleasant weather spell is like torture!

[Softly~Softly]

I unzipped mine, first time, to clean the rear screen, I could not do it up on my own and spent a very unpleasant night stressing until my son returned home to help me .. We sorted it out, but safe to say I will never unzip it again .. I hope you got yours sorted ..

[Rob Bell]

The only time I unzip the screen is to fit the hardtop - and usually once a year is not too arduous! But not this year. Burgers.

[tanamana]

Here's a useful tip for sticky zips - candle-wax. Just give the zip a rigourous swipe or two with a candle, and that should help it to open up.

Sent from my LG-P500 using Tapatalk

[Bandit]

Rob, there are two sizes of slider supplied in Sonia's kit, to cover both possibilities on which you need to replace. Measure the length of the slider body and I'll see if that's the size I didn't use, if it is you're welcome to it. I'm sure if I think hard enough I'll remember what I did with it...

[Rob Bell]

Okay, will do that tonight. How much is Sonia's kit? MGF Mania will sell half the zip and a slider for a tenner...

[Softly~Softly]

Here's a useful tip for sticky zips - candle-wax. Just give the zip a rigourous swipe or two with a candle, and that should help it to open up.

Sent from my LG-P500 using Tapatalk

thank you for that! It is a new roof glass screen etc but as said that was the first time, I had also not taken in to consideration how heavy the glass screen actualy is! And that it requires one set of hands to hold it up and another to zip it !

[Reckless Rat]

If you've got a glass screen then there's no need to unzip it, as the roof will fold quite happily without doing so, even if you need to open the engine access panel under the rear shelf. However it's different for the flexible OEM screen. Whilst you CAN fold the roof without unzipping the panel, this places a heavy strain on the screen material - OK if it's in the middle of summer, but risky in the winter as the material gets harder & brittle as the temperature drops.

However, in both cases it's far easier to zip & unzip with the tension in the hood released by undoing the two header rail clamps.

[richard1951]

i unzip mine regularly to put long bits of wood in through the rear window and sticking out the back and have no probs doing this . but i do have a problem folding roof down as it creases the plastic and it takes 2 or 3 days to clear again , is ther a way to fold roof without the plastic being bent as the glass screen ones dont have to be undone i think .??

[floozy]

i unzip mine regularly to put long bits of wood in through the rear window and sticking out the back and have no probs doing this . but i do have a problem folding roof down as it creases the plastic and it takes 2 or 3 days to clear again , is ther a way to fold roof without the plastic being bent as the glass screen ones dont have to be undone i think .??

Some folk use a length of pipe insullation (over which the screen should fold) but it'll probably mean stepping out of the car to put the hood down/up.

[richard1951]

Ar that sounds a good idea to stop it bending so tight i will try that
thanks Floozy.

[Mike H]

Some folk use a length of pipe insullation (over which the screen should fold) but it'll probably mean stepping out of the car to put the hood down/up.

Always do this (even at Silverstone for the MGoT day yesterday. Perhaps the extra weight didn't help ).

Before that I used to use the old beach towel I always carry in the boot for mopping up after the odd rain shower catches me out

[Softly~Softly]

If you've got a glass screen then there's no need to unzip it, as the roof will fold quite happily without doing so, even if you need to open the engine access panel under the rear shelf. However it's different for the flexible OEM screen. Whilst you CAN fold the roof without unzipping the panel, this places a heavy strain on the screen material - OK if it's in the middle of summer, but risky in the winter as the material gets harder & brittle as the temperature drops.

However, in both cases it's far easier to zip & unzip with the tension in the hood released by undoing the two header rail clamps.

I had no choice ! The screen was filthy on the inside and my hoops etc were in the way and it needed a proper clean

[Rob Bell]

An update on this - this weekend it hasn't rained! Hurrah!!! So I felt brave enough to take off the hardtop without fear of the car being filled like a giant birdbath by rain

Mykel had very kindly sent me his spare zip (the slider and section that is pop rivited to the frame). My zip still wasn't working, so I thought I'd see whether my window would zip to the zip section Mykel sent me. The two joined up perfectly. Interesting, I noticed that new zip felt a good deal tighter than the zip on my hood. Hmm.

To be honest the thought of stripping my hood down to the frame to remove the old zip and pop rivet the new one on wasn't filling me with a great deal of joy, so I thought I'd have another look at my zip.

I tried my zip (rather pointlessly) again, and sure enough, it did not work. Nothing looked terribly wrong with the zip's teeth - so perhaps it was a problem with the slider. I wondered whether it had worn - so I grabbed a pair of pliers and nipped it up a little. This made the slider feel a little tighter - and rather more like the new zip slider - but the zip - although threatening to work, still didn't. Then I decided to nip up the joiner right at the end where the two halves first come together. This, like the slider, felt loose. So I nipped that up a little with my pliers. Now that made all the difference! The two ends of the zip came together really nicely this time - I pulled down the slider, and then pulled the zip to close... and... it WORKED!

Could barely believe my eyes!

A bit of buggering about with some pliers and I'd saved myself the hastle of having to replace the zip

The lesson from this story is that if your zip appears broken, then you've got nothing to loose and you might as well give the plier nipping technique a go

[S67SOK]

Before I discovered this August organ I bust my zip trying to zip up with the hood closed and catches locked.
As a keen dinghy sailor and used to repairing sails and things I bought two wetsuit zips with heavy duty nylon teeth and slider. (I couldnt get 1 zip that was long enough). I tack glued them in place with Bostick then oversewed with sailmakers thread, it was a bit tedious as you need to use a 'palm' and or pliers to push the needle through and back but now its spot on and the high quality zip gives a great deal of confidence.

[mgf1690]

the zip on mine is bust due to the slider coming off, I am about to tackle this today and was wondering if it could be repaired by opening the slider with a screwdriver to get it over the the teeth and then nipping it with some pliers to close it slightly. If this fails what exactly is involved either to repair / renew it?

Cheers

[mgf1690]

Fekn SNAPPED it!

[Rob Bell]

Bu99er

I am sure you can get a new zipper cheaply though - MGF Mania may be able to help. Might even be worth a look at the zips available on fleabay?