Half-Hood Fitting Advice

[Mike-360R]

I have recently purchased a half-hood from Sevens and Classics for my S3 with track-day roll-bar and could do with some advice on how to attach the straps to the car.

The fitting of the hood itself  is obviously very straightforward but as this is a retro-fit to my kit-build I wondered if those with experience with these hoods (or those that had the option included when purchasing a complete car from Caterham) could let me know how / where the half-hood straps secure to the car itself.

There are four straps, two that line-up and fit down the rear-ward roll-bar elements - these I have wrapped around the full-hood bars and seem to pull the hood nicely in this direction - is this the correct way to fit these straps? (see pic below - apologies, I can't get he image to display the right way round....). It does mean I will have to undo them completely if I want to transfer between the half-hood and full-hood at any time?

The main question though is with the small straps that secure the rear quarters of the hood to the car down the sides. The straps on the hood I received seem very short and it doesn't seem obvious, at this length how they can reach any form of securing point on the car. These straps also contain an eyelet at the end. The only potential place I can see for attaching these to the car is to undo the small bolt connecting the full-hood frame to the chassis, inserting the strap between the hood-bar and the chassis (using the eyelet) and re-fixing the frame with the securing bolt. Is this correct or is there an alternative / better way?

Any help / advice would be appreciated (apologies for the images being the wrong way round - no apparent way of rotating them).

[Jonathan Kay]

[SLR No.77]

This bolt for the side straps:

[SLR No.77]

For the rear straps your arrangement is incorrect. The little buckle passes between the rollbar rear leg and the chassis so that it locks in place below the leg, it doesn't actual secure "around" anything.

Stu.

[Ralph45]

Hi hope this is of some help to you.If it is the Caterham/Thundersport half hood the rear two rear facing straps come up from underneath between where the two rear facing roll bar mounts are ie between the chassis bracket and the roll bar,I can't remember if you have to remove the clip to feed it through the gap or not as it's been a little while since I fitted mine and im not near the car to be able to have a look. The side straps are anchored by removing the outermost of the roll Bar bolts on each side and then simply slide the bolt through the eyelet and reinsert the bolt,you may need to place the strap in a different position as when tightening the bolt up it will grip and move the strap slightly,make sure the replaced bolts are torqued up correctly,all will become apparent when you do it.Good luck and if you're still unsure S&C's are only on the end of the phone.

Ralph

[Mike-360R]

Many thanks for the prompt response and confirmation. I did wonder about that bolt but figured it might affect the general safety of the roll-bar fixing. Also, it seemed to me as if the hole in the eyelet was a little on the large side for it to fit securely under the bolt head. I'll give it a go.

[DanRo]

Like you Mike, I didn't like the idea of using the half hood side strap  eyelet as what would effectively be a poorly fitting spacer on the roll bar securing bolt. Until I worked out what to do I thought I'd use a cable tie to secure the strap through the triangular hood strut eyelet. I haven't worked out what to do yet, but I've used the hood several times whilst trying and it's been fine.