Riviera roof wanted

[Millobrush]

Hi massive long shot, but I'm after a Riviera roof thats flat, mine has awul bulges and is warped in such a way it doesn't seal properly. I had considered trying to fix it but not sure how to go about it. 

Regards jack

[mikeeech]

Couldn't you take a mold of the old one, then correct the mold and make a new one. 

[directordanw]

Mine used to fit very similarly to that, I just assumed it was another of those Lotus idiosyncrasies.  Like the headlights sitting just below level, and the door lines never quite lining up!  If you look beneath the headlining there's a metal plate attached to the inside of the panel - clearly Lotus were aware of its tendency to bend too...

 

 

[rjwooll]

Have you tried Lotusbits Jack? You never know ....

[Straker]

What is the structure of the interior of the panel?

some folks in the Esprit section of this forum had solid panels made to replace their similarly sized glass roof panels 

[Millobrush]

Hi

It sits flush with the headlining inside, which is in good nick. But yh if I could get a flat panel, or even perspex panel made up, at least it wouldn't have the quazi Modo humps ha. But again not sure who would do this custom work.  And cheers I'll ask lotusbits on the off chance. 

[Straker]

I was going to suggest bonding a lip And fixing points to the underside of an eclat roof and cutting it out, however there are lots of custom GRP companies out there who would able to manufacture a new one

eg WRcomposites, you might need to borrow a standard car so that they can create a mould 

[Don.Hasi]

I would also suggest a new one made of grp or from someone who has knowledge with vinyl roofs. With only 1 latch our roofs seems to be more prone of this behaviour.

Did you bought your Riviera from John back then?

[Millobrush]

Yh not sure what's best course to go down, was even looked at the vinyl folding sunroofs but can't see that fitting.

Yh from one of John's friends. bodywork has lots of cracking too, I don't suppose anyone would know of any body shops around London/Essex that have experiences with lotus cars? 

[Don.Hasi]

In that area I would go to Lotusbits.

[RivieraSte]

Picking up an old thread I know {and i know youve gone the perspex route now Jack} but if this happens to mine what i would be tempted to do is cut a donor, oversized section from any non sunroof eclat, excel, or elite and then adapt/graft on/modify to fit using the old mechanisms. Obviously this would also enable modification to improve the design. Jack out of interest do you have the original canvas bag for your roof panel?

[Millobrush]

On 13/05/2020 at 13:04, RivieraSte said:

Picking up an old thread I know {and i know youve gone the perspex route now Jack} but if this happens to mine what i would be tempted to do is cut a donor, oversized section from any non sunroof eclat, excel, or elite and then adapt/graft on/modify to fit using the old mechanisms. Obviously this would also enable modification to improve the design. Jack out of interest do you have the original canvas bag for your roof panel?

I'm no expert on glass fibre, and would most  probably make a mess ha. And yes I do have the bag still. 

[Don.Hasi]

Would you please measure the bag and show some pictures of it ? 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Don.Hasi

[Howard Cox]

Maybe resolved by now but to me it looks like the pressure exerted by the central release handle is bowing up the two ends causing the leak. Suggest :-

reducing the spring pressure

bracing the back edge of the lift out panel

adding additional overcentre catches at each end.

Hope you can get it sorted, good luck.