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 Posted: 06-08-2006 12:45 pm
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jcdean
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The black trim at the top of the window frame and surrounding the convertible top latch points is not staying under the chrome.  The yellow foam underlayer is now very obvious and seems to be swolen from exposure to the elements.  Any suggestions for fixing this or do I need to start looking for an alternative?

Joey

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 Posted: 06-08-2006 03:21 pm
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John Kimbrough
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Good question Joey.  I have the same situation and would be interested in any answers.  To mask the obvious, I used an indelible magic marker to blacken the yellow foam underneath.  It looks better, but is no long term fix.  John.

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 Posted: 06-09-2006 01:31 am
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Mark Rosenbaum
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The part is called a 'crash roll' for some reason.  I've seen an average of maybe two a year show up on eBay.  Most sold for more than twice what I was willing to pay for a used one that I hadn't personally examined.

Companies that restore padded dashboards could restore crash rolls, but this would be pricey.  At one time Delta Motorsports offered a fiberglass replacement which unfortunately tended to fall apart at the seams, and in consequence they no longer stock the item.  Jim Medland has mentioned that Delta may revisit the issue some day.

The crash roll on my car has split along the front edge and the vinyl is cracking in many places.  To repair it, I first tried black duct tape.  This worked nicely for a year, after which the tape's adhesive began to fail, leaving me with a rather unsightly mess that was difficult to clean off.  I then tried black electrical tape.  This sticks fairly well when held in place with a heavy-duty (waterbed bladder) vinyl cement in addition to its own adhesive, but looks tacky.  The vinyl cement is generally effective at keeping the cracked vinyl from disintegrating completely.

Perhaps one might fabricate an assemblage of plywood or hardwood of suitable shape and size, add a strip of dense foam rubber to the upper surface so the convertible top or hardtop will seal, then cover the whole thing with vinyl fabric for appearance.  However, this is just idle speculation, as I've never looked into the practical aspects.

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 Posted: 06-09-2006 01:52 am
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jcdean
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I spoke with Jim (Delta) today and he mentioned the old fiberglass ones.  He said they were not the quality that they were supposed to have been.  He also mentioned that if he had a very nice example he had a place he could send it and perhaps have some made.  If anyone is in the midst of a restore and could do with out for a while, it may be worth giving Delta a call.

 

Joey

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 Posted: 06-09-2006 02:11 pm
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colinw59
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This crash roll is now obsolete. On 15851 the gap between the padding and the stainless frame was uneven, with the edge of the padding being ragged in places. I pondered this for a while. In the end I found an extruded soft flexible plastic sealing strip in the weather stipping/sealing isle of Home Depot. It's shaped like a tennis racket, but without the strings! There's a donut bulb shape on one end of about 3/8" dia.  attached to a thin flat section which is about 1/2" in lenght. Double sided tape is attatched to one side of this flat section, which held this seal inplace while I positioned at bolted the crash roll to the windshield frame. This seal material comes in white or brown. I chose brown and painted it with black vinyl dye (as I did the to crash roll to freshen it up). I sandwiched it between the front face of the crash roll and the rear face of the stainless frame, with the donut bulb on top. The bulb is large enough to cover both the iregularities in the gap between these parts and the ragged egde of the padding, and soft enough to flatten when the soft top is put up. It probably aids water tighness to.  From the pics linked below, this seal can just be seen.

http://jhppg.com/gallery/74-Jensen-Healey-15851/2006_0522_19

http://jhppg.com/gallery/74-Jensen-Healey-15851/2006_0522_07

 

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 Posted: 06-09-2006 02:57 pm
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jcdean
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Colin,

So the weatherstripping's flat part is under the chrome and the round section comes back and covers the high/jagged/yellow parts?  Does it also cover, somewhat, the metal portions that the top frame latches cam into?

Joey

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 Posted: 06-09-2006 03:18 pm
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John Kimbrough
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Colin.  Looks like a pretty nice fix.  I will look into it for mine.  John.

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 Posted: 06-09-2006 04:52 pm
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John Finch
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Colin, where did you get the visors? Sharp Car!

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 Posted: 06-09-2006 05:39 pm
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colinw59
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The visors were from Delta. They rebuilt my old ones. So for those of you that want new ones, don't throw the old away. Thanks for the compliment.

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 Posted: 02-23-2007 08:21 pm
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jcdean
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All,

Still not satisfied with the crash roll piece on the car. British Masters has one that is "in pretty good shape" for $150.00.  I'm thinking there must be a way to make a suitable replacement for this piece.  Anyone had any luck over the winter with this?

Joey

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 Posted: 02-24-2007 04:37 am
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edward_davis
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I'm no expert in upholstery, but it seems like a dedicated worker could take off the old piece, fill in the broken parts with suitable foam, and recover the whole unit with black vinyl purchased from the fabric store.  It would take some skill to get it all around the edges.  I'm just suggesting a modification on Mark's original idea: instead of starting over with a new bunch of plywood, use the original crash roll as a basis.  That's the best idea I've been able to come up with.  Fortunately, mine has been protected by the hardtop for most of its life, but it, too, is starting to come apart at the edges.

Edward

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 Posted: 10-01-2007 10:43 pm
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dthewlis
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I've a related question on the crash roll.  After years of not having a Jensen I recently purchased 19299 which has completed an engine/drive train rebuild and now needs more L&C in restoration.  The crash roll came with the car but not attached, and it doesn't have the visors.  My question is how the crash roll is actually attached.  From the evidence it looks as though the visor pivots themselves helped to hold it on, but it isn't clear what else there was and I haven't yet been able to find any definitive doc or pics.  Any help?  Thanks, Dave Thewlis

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 Posted: 10-02-2007 04:58 pm
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Greg Fletcher
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Crash roll, what a great name for this part! Someone from Monty Python must have been working on the parts book that day.

Anyway, it attaches at the visor bolts AND the two screws that hold the rear view mirror. All you need to do is remove those six screws and it will fall off and bonk you on the head, as it did for me.

I have seen these recovered and a good upholstery shop will make this part look much better than new.

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 Posted: 10-02-2007 05:12 pm
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dthewlis
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Thanks.  Mine seems to have a couple of extraneous places where someone might have put a screw in at some point, but knowing those are the real mounting points helps.  On to refinishing, and finding sun visors (alas!)

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 Posted: 03-30-2008 02:10 pm
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dthewlis
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Follow-up on the crash roll (Colin's vinyl stripping worked by the way, and thanks for the idea).  My crash roll is not in horrible shape and vinyl dye works well.  But it has some cracks and splits of course.  Haven't been able to find anyone in this area that would tackle recovering it.

Has anyone found a substance (sort of analogous to wood putty) that could be injected into the cracks and would fill them and provide a smoothable surface that could then be dyed?  It would need to NOT interact with the foam or vinyl (other than adhere to it), and dry with some flex (preferably) -  and be shapeable and able to be colored when dry.  I keep thinking there ought to be something that would do the job but haven't found it yet.

Last edited on 03-30-2008 02:13 pm by dthewlis

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