Folding A Convertible Hood

[Richard Leslie]

Help requested please from Convertible MM owners. I have just purchased ( and had fitted ) a new hood for my car . The old one was extremely tatty and had not, over the years by previous owners, been folded down correctly. To prevent damage to the new hood does anyone have any diagrams of how to fold it to protect the "rear window" from being creased. The owners manual page 15 is not very explicit.

[RobThomas]

Depends if they've added screws to the 'loose' metal rail at the back. If not, pull the hood all the way back and sit it on the bootlid. Fold the sides inwards like elephant ears, fold the hood in half and drape it over the metal frame.
If screwed to the rail, you're stuffed.

[jaekl]

The instructions in the handbook are fairly good once you realize the illustration is a bit off. Having the screws in the last rail is not a problem. There should be an internal and external snap at the bottom of the rear quarterlites. Undo those, as well as the one at the B post. Flip the assembly so it is straight up and ensure that the window is nicely folded with a soft curve. As you collapse the assembly pull the remaining fabric out and let it lay flat on the boot lid with the flap that goes over the window rails folded inward (along the main seam) along the whole length. Fold the corners in almost all the way to where the hood is attached to the body. (The handbook just shows a half corner fold.) Now fold the material so that the initial fold is almost up to the the hood-body attachment point and then flip that up and over the collapsed assembly. In this way the original hood envelope or boot (as we call it over here) fits very nicely and easily. Enjoy.