Wanted: CMC top bows

I am about to give up trying to make mine fit.

First the ends were too wide apart. I bent them in with a conduit bender. Then, the corners hit the edge of the body.

Today I tried to bend them more to fit but it is really hard to control the amount of bend with each grunt.

Does anyone have a spare set of CMC bows that fit without bending and will fold back below the top edge of the body?

Does anyone know if the Vintage bows will fit with a CMC top? I am under the impression that CMC is a "high bow" top and Vintage is a "low bow" top.

Thanks.

CMC made both a high and low top, I have metal bow set that I'll be glad to send you, email me your address. There is a very slight difference between at the radius of the CMC and VS bows.

What / who's top do you have ? ~Alan

Alan, I have the original CMC top that came with the kit.

Is there any way to look at the uninstalled top and tell if it is high bow or low bow?

Did CMC do high bow during one period of time and low bow during another period?

Thank you very much for offering to send these to me.

I will email my address to you.

The bow set I'll send you fill fit the CMC low bow top

Is there any way to look at the uninstalled top and tell if it is high bow or low bow?

Did CMC do high bow during one period of time and low bow during another period?

.......Not 100% sure of either answer but Wolfgang or Gordon, may have a better knowledge of this.

I thought all CMC Speedsters came with low bow top and the "D" roll up window option with the high bow. The bows on my CMC Speedster hit in the apex of the corners on both sides - they are only 1/2" shy (probably less even) of clearing the rear sear fiberglass area (without canvas top mounted). I thought that how there were supposed to be. Its not the baby buggy bumper look or the old VW convertible - the top just sticks up a bit and is easily covered by the tonneau without much of a bump at all.

With the heim joints you added - can't you just cut either side a bit until it clears? Seems if I moved my mounting holes back in the bows 1/4-3/4" each side (would have to weld in old holes probably though) it would clear. Guess impact to head room would be minimal (but not much to begin with).

Here's pictures - I'd like to see what they look like on other CMCs.

I don't have any bows here (thought I would wait til I get it back to New England to mount the top) but on Pearl the bows fit nicely down inside of the rear seat area w/o hitting and the tonneau is about flat.

I assembled a Vintage Stay Fast cloth top to CMC low bows with a minimum of fuss. In fact, it all went together in a day, but I had to lower the middle bow about 2" to get the look I wanted and get everything to fit right. I don't remember ever having to bend the bows to get them to fit, but I might have. Never had a tubing bender so if I did bend them it would have been by hand.

Once I had them test mounted and looking good, I put some black shrink tube over them, rather than painting them.

gn

After reading Gordon's note. So looking at my first picture - If I were to push the tension levers on either side down, it looks like the rear bow which sticks up a bit now would just clear the back fiberglass and it would all fit inside the rear opening.

Look closely to see the temp. adjusters I used to fine tune the fit-to-the-top .
2nd pic -- sight across W/S to ensure the bend and height is even both sides .

My CMC is low bow, and they do not clear the body when down by just 1/2 inch or so. I just thought that's the way they were too. My tonneau goes over it ok, so I left it as is.

~WB

Top Tech Tip:
For new top installations, if the metal bow hits the rear of the tub, relocate (drill) the 5/16" bolt holes 3/4" up on the bow to lower it a bit or, move the mounting location on the tub wall. ~Alan

I didn't get that tip from Al when I did my top, but I remembered my brother's original '59 Speedster and the top fully stowed in the seat well so I figured THAT is what they're supposed to do.

Alan's tip is right on, and you can go as far as 2" up on the bow sides with that hole/pivot point and the top still looks great.

Of course, if you're over 5'10" tall you might have head clearance problems.....

Fliip the tensioner down when the top is lowered, it just misses fitting inside by a little. Never thought of it as a problem? I did cut the 2nd or rear hoop an inch or two (and re-drilled) on each side for a better fit?

No clue if i have a high or low bow? Circa 1994 CMC. But I'm considering a new vintage top after 16 or 17 years, and new carpet, ,",? It's never done.

Boston Bob e

PS - Gordon, it's been great weather down here in Charleston, you live good. I'm heading out tomorrow, back to the cold, yuck.

You shoulda called me, Bob. I live in the Charleston suburbs, and could have come to meet you.

As for the weather - record highs (mid/upper 80s) in March make July look kinda scary.

just throwing this out there as you have not installed them yet.

what about welding in turnbuckle adjusters?

i did on mine and it allows you to perfectly set the tension of the top to not have any folds or loose fabric when up (and still be able to get it up (LOL)

closeup:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_q-MJeraAtgQ/S7U5lMbgGhI/AAAAAAAAF20/REfdFZozF3w/s640/img_2768.jpg

album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/113141911318945529670/Month18?authkey=Gv1sRgCPnf4N_OptylMA#

Thanks Lane, I agree, I should have called. Very nice area. Bob E

Thanks Lane, I agree, I should have called. Very nice area. Bob E

Mango.......I can't access your forwarded threads......I'm about to install a new Vintage top on a CMC..... I have no studs or snaps on either the body of the car or tne "canvas"......

I like the turnbuckle idea, but need to see a few pics in order to finalize the idea.....If you could E-mail me a couple, I would appreciate it....

Thanks....

the links work just fine for me, did you try to copy and past them in your browser?

Mango, that's a clean looking car, really nice job.

Boston Bob E