Slightly better bungee fix and fixing a bunching headliner when it closes

[flyfishvt]

Props to "Joylove" who inspired these two fixes.

So the last thing on the list to get my top working was to fix the tension straps and to fix and issue with the headliner bunching up and getting hung up on the forward edge of the storage compartment as the top stows itself.

Both of these issues have been covered multiple times but I think I came up with a slightly better fix.

First the bunching fix:

There is a rod that runs from one side of the top to the other just behind the front bow. It runs in a sleeve that is part of the headliner. There is a cloth strap on the very end that holds it in place. This rod is slightly bent and its function is to make the headliner fabric tuck out of the way so it doesn't get hung up just as the top is almost completely stored and the lid is about to come down. Over time that strap breaks or the threads come off so there is nothing holding the rod inplace. The front part of the tension straps runs just below each end of the rod. I simply used two tie wraps to secure the end of the rod to the tension straps and keep it in place.

See Pic #1

Bungee fix:

I needed to replace/repair the worn tension straps. The last bow would not raise up enough so the lid was hitting it when it tried to open. Ive looked at a bunch of bungee fixes and they all required tieing the bungee in knots. I decided to take a slightly different route. I cut out the center section of the old tension strap between Bow 5 and Bow 3. This is the only part of the original tension strap that is stretchy. Its the part that helps pull up the last bow so it can go verticle and allow the top lid to clear it and open correctly. I found an inexpensive flat bungee cord with hooks on it. I went for a slightly narrower and thinner bungee than most use

See Pic #2

I left about 3" of the original tension strap. Then I cut the hooks off the bungee and cut a short piece off the rest of it. I had to do a bit of trial and error to end up with the right length. It ended up being about 9" long but you'll want to do your own trial and error sizing.

I took the tag end of the tension strap and wrapped it around the bungee then poked two holes through the whole thing about 1" apart. I inserted a tie wrap in each whole and cinched them tight. My thinking is the tension strap material is a bit thin so laying the bungee against it will most likely end up with the material tearing apart. By wrapping the tag end around the bungee it makes the whole thing stronger.

See Pic 3&4

The end result was a bungee fix that doesn't have knots that can come undone or slide down the side of the bow. The original tension strap is sewn in place so it can't slide. Its also a fix that elimnates the possibility of bumps in the top or headliner since its only replacing a section of the original tension strap. For now I only did one side. I plan on doing the other side at some point after I enjoy using that little button and watching the top quietly go up and down a few more times.

Sorry but I don't have pics of this fix. Its a dark area and its way too far inside to get good pics. I used a hole punch meant for attaching rivets and gromets to cloth canvas to poke the holes through but you could easily use a sharp pair of scissors.

It WORKS!!! The last bow easily goes verticle both open and close. It doesn't slam down when it drops and my fully auto top is now 100% auto and 100% working

[zenocchio]

Great write up,
I have to fix mine too, so this is definitely handy!

[Joylove]

I like this. I shall be stealing picture 1 because I've found the bendy metal rod occasionally finds the way to turn itself upside down.

What is on the end of your bendy rod at the right side of the car? Mine is just bare metal that I've wrapped in electrical tape. It keeps slipping out of the hoops on the tension strap and I'm wondering if there should be a rubber lollypop or something there.

[flyfishvt]

From all the posts Ive read there is supposed to be some kind of sock that end slips into. Mine is long gone just like the strap on the left side fo the rod.

[Brashland]

I so need to do both of these....




splunge

[flyfishvt]

The bungee fix took about 30 minutes

[filmy]

The more I read these fixes and look at my own top mechanism, the more I understand what you've done. I found some flat-style bungee cords at Pep Boys, so I think I have the right stuff.

In reading your description, are you saying that you only used around 9" of bungee material for one side; and combined with the 3" ends of the original straps, that was long enough? If 9" is correct, how much tension (stretch), if any, did you apply when attaching the bungee to the strap ends?

You also said your top was partially open to the point where the rear bow started to rise, then you stopped it and disconnected the motor(s), resting the rear bow on the partially opened tonneau cover..?

[flyfishvt]

Disconnecting the motors allowed me to put the roof into a position so the headliner sags enough to access the original tension straps. Propping the rear bow on the tonneau cover allowed me to hold the roof in that position while I worked on the straps.

The stretch is a bit hard to explain. It was mostly trial and error. By disconnecting the motors I could move the bows up and down until I found the correct tension. The length of the bungee cord will depend on how long you cut the tag ends of the original tension straps and where you punch the holes for the tie wraps. The only thing I can tell you is I started by moving bow #5 forward and finding the shortest distance between Bow 5 and Bow 3. Then I added a couple inches to that length to allow for the overlap of the bungee and the tag ends of the original straps. Depending on the bungee you use that length will be around 6-9". The nice thing about this fix is you can shorten the bungee and poke new holes in it if it ends up being a bit too long.

[Riick]

What I don't get is... why cut out the original tension straps?
You could just as easily have added the bungee on 'top' of the existing strap,
and sewn it down

I came up with using a bike innertube for the elastic part, hoping that it would be
stronger & flatter than bungee cord; worked fine for a while, but my experience is
that, even with rubber, the summer sun makes things stretch easier/more,
and the stupid banging against the tonneau cover comes back.
Oh well, it's just a few minutes of PITA to fix again, versus a new roof & straps.

.

[flyfishvt]

What I don't get is... why cut out the original tension straps?
You could just as easily have added the bungee on 'top' of the existing strap,
and sewn it down

I came up with using a bike innertube for the elastic part, hoping that it would be
stronger & flatter than bungee cord; worked fine for a while, but my experience is
that, even with rubber, the summer sun makes things stretch easier/more,
and the stupid banging against the tonneau cover comes back.
Oh well, it's just a few minutes of PITA to fix again, versus a new roof & straps.

.

You should already know the answer to this...there is precious little room to work inside there. There certainly isn't enough room to sew a bungee cord onto the existing strap. If you can sew something without seeing it in front of you then great. Its just way too dark and way too tight in there to try and sew the cord onto the old tension strap. The other issue is the old strap is already stretched out. Sewing the bungee to that strap will inhibit its ability to spring back to its original length.

Its much easier and much quicker to cut out a section and replace it.

[filmy]

Adding my .02 here, with pics.

First of all, when I cut my tension strap (passenger side) and began working with it to attach my bungee cord, it began unraveling. I have a suggestion (and I may still be able to do this, but...): I would recommend that someone buy some "liquid fabric" type of stuff from a fabric store, apply it either before cutting or shortly thereafter to hold the older stretchy material together while working with it.

Beyond that, I had no luck getting my bungee straps attached so I went another way - fabric store bulk elastic (similar to what you have in your underwear waistband) in the hope that I might get the thinner-weight elastic stapled - yes, I said stapled - to the old tension strap material in order to hold it in place while I permanently attach it - sewn and/or glued. I also bought a curved needle and heavy-duty thread to sew it together on top of using more "liquid fabric" (which is the fabric world's answer to JB Weld). No, there's not much room to work but I'm giving it a try. And I'll probably have to double up on the elastic I bought.

Hell, I may even try a loop of elastic that goes around bows 3 & 5, and under bow 4 (like an accessory belt on the front of the engine). I'll have to test the holding strength of joining the elastic ends together (like a master link in a chain) first.

During opening operation, a quick fix in the meantime is to do this: once the front of the top has lifted and the rear bow lifts up, I used to have to get out of the car and pull the bow up more so that the tonneau could get by. I have figured out that if I simply reach behind me (while sitting in the front seat) and pull bow #4 forward, this accomplishes the same thing that the tension straps do. I don't have to get in and out of the car anymore.

I also have had to get out to push the headliner down into the storage so the tonneau could close properly (see Fly's first fix above). In my case, the driver's side "looped" end of that rod is fine:



but the passenger side looks like this:


The lines in red are supposed to be together, and the metal rod should follow the path of the green arrows through the loops. The loops are there for the end of the rod to go into, but they're tearing away from what is the headliner seam. Even if I bend the end of the rod at a 90* angle to keep it from coming out of the loops, the loops will still continue tearing away from the headliner. I don't want to puncture the headliner to hold the loops (and rod) in place, so I'll be figuring out a way to sew the loops back on as well.

[JamboM3]

Bane of my life the bunching up. I did the fix in the first post and it improved things 95% but it still catches a little.

[flyfishvt]

are your headliner dog ears in good condition and working correctly? Are the plastic rails in the headliner attached to the roof bows the way they should be? Any sagging of the headliner when the roof is completely up will get worse as you lower it. The fix I did on that metal rod needs to be done on both ends and the rod should have a slight bend in it. If your rod has straightened out it will not push the headliner into the roof the way it should.

[JamboM3]

Rods slightly bent from what I can see, but the dog ears are crushed to death. Also the headliner sags a tiny amount because of this.

Been quote £1100 for a new roof, window and headliner with straps and alignment. Seems like a lot but it's £250 alone for a headliner!

[Riick]

....Been quote £1100 for a new roof, window and headliner with straps and alignment. Seems like a lot but it's £250 alone for a headliner!

A current exchange rate that's 1100 x 1.56 = over $1700. That sounds very very pricey.
Suggest you do some shopping.

/

[JamboM3]

That's for new headliner, tension straps, window and realignment sorting of all folding issues.

Thinks in the UK are expensive, thats from a specialist who is known to fix the E36

[Theonebird]

I found some nice heavy duty pant suspenders at the local hardware. About the same width as the original tension straps - nice and stretchy and flat. I'll be using these this weekend with adhesive to do the fix.

[filmy]

I found some nice heavy duty pant suspenders at the local hardware. About the same width as the original tension straps - nice and stretchy and flat. I'll be using these this weekend with adhesive to do the fix.

Great idea. Let us know how it goes.

[UncleKracky]

When I look at my tension straps the worworn out elastic is only attached to bow 3 and 4. But you mention you cut from bow 5. Should I be following my layout and just work in the space between 3 and 4 or is the extra length to 5 needed with this fix?

[flyfishvt]

When I look at my tension straps the worworn out elastic is only attached to bow 3 and 4. But you mention you cut from bow 5. Should I be following my layout and just work in the space between 3 and 4 or is the extra length to 5 needed with this fix?

There is a stretchy piece that goes from bow3 under bow4 and attaches to bow 5. There is also a stretchy part that goes from bow 4 to bow 3. The most critical one is the one from bow 3-5. The tension strap pulls bow 5 forward so the tension bow can go 100% vertical. If it doesn't go 100% vertical the tonneau cover will hit the tension bow when the cover tries to open.

[Jiefkeef]

Reviving a dead post. I have water leakage pretty bad going in my car so I'm trying to see if this will solve anything with my top not responding at the moment(assuming microswitch is waiting for the next sequence). Are there other parts of the bungees that I could do this for to refresh it overall? You mentioned bow 3-4 where there’s a stretch unless I misread that one?

[Zerns]

Any chance the photos are still around? I don’t see them and I’d love to.

Props to "Joylove" who inspired these two fixes.

So the last thing on the list to get my top working was to fix the tension straps and to fix and issue with the headliner bunching up and getting hung up on the forward edge of the storage compartment as the top stows itself.

Both of these issues have been covered multiple times but I think I came up with a slightly better fix.

First the bunching fix:

There is a rod that runs from one side of the top to the other just behind the front bow. It runs in a sleeve that is part of the headliner. There is a cloth strap on the very end that holds it in place. This rod is slightly bent and its function is to make the headliner fabric tuck out of the way so it doesn't get hung up just as the top is almost completely stored and the lid is about to come down. Over time that strap breaks or the threads come off so there is nothing holding the rod inplace. The front part of the tension straps runs just below each end of the rod. I simply used two tie wraps to secure the end of the rod to the tension straps and keep it in place.

See Pic #1

Bungee fix:

I needed to replace/repair the worn tension straps. The last bow would not raise up enough so the lid was hitting it when it tried to open. Ive looked at a bunch of bungee fixes and they all required tieing the bungee in knots. I decided to take a slightly different route. I cut out the center section of the old tension strap between Bow 5 and Bow 3. This is the only part of the original tension strap that is stretchy. Its the part that helps pull up the last bow so it can go verticle and allow the top lid to clear it and open correctly. I found an inexpensive flat bungee cord with hooks on it. I went for a slightly narrower and thinner bungee than most use

See Pic #2

I left about 3" of the original tension strap. Then I cut the hooks off the bungee and cut a short piece off the rest of it. I had to do a bit of trial and error to end up with the right length. It ended up being about 9" long but you'll want to do your own trial and error sizing.

I took the tag end of the tension strap and wrapped it around the bungee then poked two holes through the whole thing about 1" apart. I inserted a tie wrap in each whole and cinched them tight. My thinking is the tension strap material is a bit thin so laying the bungee against it will most likely end up with the material tearing apart. By wrapping the tag end around the bungee it makes the whole thing stronger.

See Pic 3&4

The end result was a bungee fix that doesn't have knots that can come undone or slide down the side of the bow. The original tension strap is sewn in place so it can't slide. Its also a fix that elimnates the possibility of bumps in the top or headliner since its only replacing a section of the original tension strap. For now I only did one side. I plan on doing the other side at some point after I enjoy using that little button and watching the top quietly go up and down a few more times.

Sorry but I don't have pics of this fix. Its a dark area and its way too far inside to get good pics. I used a hole punch meant for attaching rivets and gromets to cloth canvas to poke the holes through but you could easily use a sharp pair of scissors.

It WORKS!!! The last bow easily goes verticle both open and close. It doesn't slam down when it drops and my fully auto top is now 100% auto and 100% working

[E36Running]

Im on the same thing, let me know if you find any info/pictures