Hood Fitting on Surrey Top TR4A

[GaryW]

Anyone had any experience of fitting a Surrey top hood on a TR4A? I am considering replacing mine with one from Aldridge Trimmers seems good value and a quality product.

Is it just a matter of fixing the press suds on the new one in the same position as the old one? or are there some tricks to get it nice and tight?

Cheers Gary

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

All depends on what you get with the fabric.

If it is just the fabric then you will be challenged as the 3 front steel strips and the rear metal bar will need swapping over plus the elastics with the hooks to hold the cantrails horizontal.  Do you get the poppers and a fitting tool for them?

Then all you need to do is fit a few poppers

 

[stuart]

It needs warming up first anyway to get a good tight fit, I use a small fan heater between the seats facing up and then drape the new hood over the "H" section and allow it and the workshop to warm up before attempting anything. 

As Peter has stated it does also depend if it has the three steel strips in the front already fitted, you will need to swap over your rear bar as well. A lot of the new repro ones also dont come with the hooks on the side elastics and instead have a press stud on each, you would need to ask them what it comes with. Also does it have the correct centre pocket for the cross bar of the "H" frame?

If all the above is correct then mark the centre front with chalk and put a strip of masking tape on the screen with a centre mark too so you know its even both sides then get it fitted under your screen capping at the front and then pull it back over the frame with the frame adjusted as from your old hood and then try and fit the rear bar and see how tight it fits and how it sits over the windows and how close the centre pocket is. Once youve got it sitting nice and tight then you can mark where the studs need to go.

Stuart.

[GaryW]

The old front steel strips and rear metal bar will need to be fitted as four studs on the car body are not included as i understand it these fixings need to fitted to the fabic to match the existing body fittings

 

[GaryW]

I think the elastics and clips are included,https://www.aldridge.co.uk/surrey-top-mohairduplicate-201_2990

[stuart]

Hmm good luck with fitting that, Mohair is really difficult to get a good tight fit with as theres no stretch in it, doesnt look like the centre section pocket amounts to much either and its a nightmare to get the steel strips in the front. Personally I would go for a Vinyl one from Heritage .

Stuart.

[Chris Hubball]

Hi Stuart

I am considering replacing my 64 year old original surrey top do you have a link to Heritage?

Cheers Chris

[stuart]

54 minutes ago, Chris Hubball said:

Hi Stuart

I am considering replacing my 64 year old original surrey top do you have a link to Heritage?

Cheers Chris

Here you go Chris, scroll down to the bottom of the page https://www.bmh-ltd.com/our-brands/coventry-hoods-tonneau/coventry-hood-tonneau-triumph-products/

Stuart.

[GaryW]

Stuart, Thinking of taking your advice and getting a vinyl hood. I spent some time today fiddling with the old frame and hood. The hood has had it but I think the frame is salvagable, what do you think is the shape roughly what you would expect (rear poppers are knackerd and wont fix in position)

Incidentally I emailed Heritage 3 days ago no response yet maybe better to call them I am thinking.

 

Cheers Gary

[stuart]

21 minutes ago, GaryW said:

Stuart, Thinking of taking your advice and getting a vinyl hood. I spent some time today fiddling with the old frame and hood. The hood has had it but I think the frame is salvagable, what do you think is the shape roughly what you would expect (rear poppers are knackerd and wont fix in position)

Incidentally I emailed Heritage 3 days ago no response yet maybe better to call them I am thinking.

 

Cheers Gary

Looks a little low passenger side as you can see in the centre where the popper is the gutter edge just sits down too far over the window, undo the nut on the left rear leg till the distance of the end of the frame middle bars to the top of the glass is the same as the drivers side and it will be a better fit, poppers are easily replaced on the frame and the frame could go a repaint but other than that I would save your money and just refurb what you have in the way of a frame and get a vinyl soft section. The rivets where the front and rear bars meet the centre bar often need a subtle belt with a hammer and punch to tighten them up a bit but dont overdo it. The vinyl is easier to live with especially as most of the time it`ll more than likely be rolled up in the boot.

Stuart.

[GaryW]

Thanks Stuart, i'll let you know how I get on !

[Chris Hubball]

Hi Stuart 

Thanks for the link

Cheers Chris

[Ralph Whitaker]

On 4/3/2026 at 3:08 PM, GaryW said:

Stuart, Thinking of taking your advice and getting a vinyl hood. I spent some time today fiddling with the old frame and hood. The hood has had it but I think the frame is salvagable, what do you think is the shape roughly what you would expect (rear poppers are knackerd and wont fix in position)

Incidentally I emailed Heritage 3 days ago no response yet maybe better to call them I am thinking.

 

Cheers Gary

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Gary, with regard to the rear poppers not working, I think you may find that it is because the screw heads are proud. I had this on my Vitesse. Inside the female part on the hood you will see there is the riveted part of the outside part of the popper and this fouls on the raised screw head of the male part on the surrey top. I had to find some smaller headed screws that sit inside the poppers to allow the 2 parts to click together properly. I`m looking here at the screw that is visible bottom right on this picture.

Cheers, Ralph.

Edited April 5 by Ralph Whitaker

[GaryW]

A little information I found today, Heritage do not sell hoods direct to the public they only sell to approved traders. Rimmers being an approved trader, their mark up for my hood being £105 !!

[stuart]

15 minutes ago, GaryW said:

A little information I found today, Heritage do not sell hoods direct to the public they only sell to approved traders. Rimmers being an approved trader, their mark up for my hood being £105 !!

Ouch! I used to buy direct from Coventry Hood and Tonneau but they got taken over by Heritage and I hadnt tried to buy from them since. I probably dont buy enough from them to be an "approved trader" I would have a word with TR Shop and see what theyre prices are.

Stuart.

[GaryW]

The continuing hood saga for those who are considering a new hood, Moss now reduced to £343 (inc VAT), Rimmers still at £399.30 (Inc VAT) I had an Ebay message from Moss saying hood reduced to £294 (same price as Heritage!) when I checked the website its £294 + Vat. 

[stuart]

1 hour ago, GaryW said:

The continuing hood saga for those who are considering a new hood, Moss now reduced to £343 (inc VAT), Rimmers still at £399.30 (Inc VAT) I had an Ebay message from Moss saying hood reduced to £294 (same price as Heritage!) when I checked the website its £294 + Vat. 

Have you asked TR Shop their price?

Stuart.

[GaryW]

I took delivery today of a nice new vinyl surrey top, TR Enterprises supplied one at what I would say was a reasonable cost, the same price as Heritage (£294). TR Enterprises are approved by Herritage, the hood looks quality, not on car yet I hasten to add ! So if your in the same position you know where to go.

Todays prices (inc VAT)

Rimmers £399.30

Moss £343

Gary