Has any one else had issues with the new roll bar pad, it looks great, but I am unable to get the latch covers to fit at all. I have cracked one already trying to fit it. I have trimmed , scrapped ,massaged, heated the cover mounting tabs and bent them in to try and get them to fit, but still not even close. Also where the screws are supposed to mount, there are no holes and no metal support to drill into like the original had, only rubber.
Very, very frustrated right now! I’ve been dicking around with this for several hours and not close to getting these to fit.

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@Mikey914

Hmm, in your 2nd pic it looks like the opening is visibly smaller

I have not opened the box but will this afternoon.

Mine is still boxed. Waiting eagerly to see how this pans out.

The fit and details are bad enough that we are all likely getting new ones. These weren't perfected yet before the production run.

Broke my covers as well.. wish I had metal ones.. overall its a pretty nice part.Click to view attachment you can't see the crack but it squeezed together.

It’s too bad, it’s a nice looking part. I had high hopes to get this installed today in a reasonable amount of time. Instead I wasted several hours fighting with this part. I decided to install it without the covers, to feel like I accomplished something.

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Mine is still in the box too. We might have to have new plastic pieces to go with the pad. May have been some sort of shrinkage.

I was in the pool Jerry.

Significant shrinkage. Like a frightened turtle.

I was not planning to work on this today, but when I saw John's post this morning, I knew I couldn't sleep until I did. I think I've licked it. These are most definitely not plug-and-play. The opening for the latch covers is a good 1/8" too short but the recess for them is right.

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Centering the cover in the recess shows that the openings are short on the inner sides only which brings the shrinkage hypothesis into question because you would expect the shortage to be even on both sides.

The solution for me was to grind away an ear's width of material on the inner wall. Of course this is where I got caught up in my work and forgot to snap a pic of this most important step. In the third pic down of the OP, you can see where John has done some trimming in this area. I had to take the WHOLE FACE of that wall back from top to bottom. Including grinding away some of the metal substructure. After a thousand intervals of grind-test-grind, I finally got the cover to slide in flush and centered in the recess.

As John said, there is not metal on those walls to screw into like on the original which would have been nice, but the inner piece would have had to be ground completely out to make this correction anyway, and would have added a lot of work to the task. To compensate, I gooped on 3M Weatherstrip Adhesive before screwing the covers in to hold them in place. I also daubed a little adhesive on the ends of the screws before screwing them into the rubber to try to convince them to stay put.

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Then I installed the rollbar. I have not drilled out the screw holes yet. This is press fit only until the adhesive sets. Then I'll pull it back off, drill holes for the screws, and screw it in place.

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Can't say I'm happy about the extra work but I'm thankful @Morph914 posted this so I didn't find out about the way he probably did, AFTER the damn thing was installed. I'm pretty happy with the result. It's a little disappointing is that the cover recesses flare out at an angle on the outer sides. You can see it best in the last pic above. The outer corners also don't fit as snug as I would like. Both of these things might have been caused by shrinkage. It's kind of annoying. Still, it is quite an improvement over the cracked and torn roll bar it replaced.

If it's any consolation, your outer corners fit a lot better than mine. Maybe mine will pull in when I screw the piece on?

I'm glad I didn't buy one yet. This thing isn't ready for prime time. Bummer.

I am going to state the pad in question is pretty nice. Are there a few tweaks needed probably but overall a sound product. Its so much better then what I had.

After reading this I decided to try mine on for fit, now I can see your (our) dilemma

Guess I'm glad at the time I needed one these weren't available and I had mine restored by Just Dashes.
It wasn't cheap, the vinyl wasn't a perfect match, but the piece fit before and it fit afterwards nicely.
Didn't have to go through these gyrations.
It's never much fun to have to modify a part that supposed to fit correctly out of the box.

Yes. And we have to remember that these were sold at a deep discount. However, this is not a fun piece to install, so having a warning that some tweaking is required BEFORE diving in was a much appreciated luxury. Was it worth the price I paid? Hell yeah. Is it worth full retail? I think it needs to be debugged first. Now those little screw covers on the other hand... No love from me.

Mark knows of the problem and is working on a fix. I wouldn’t worry Mark and the people at 914Ruber alway back what they sell. More info in the original group buy post.

I have posted up on the thread but yes all that have bought will be contacted
I'm working on a solution now

^ Hey, I am one of those who purchased one—and just want to say thank you for taking on a project as complex as this. The Just Dashes solution wasn't for me, but when I saw Rob's pics of yours I thought, Now this might be.

When I got the piece, I was impressed. The grain is very, very close to right if not dead on (slightly shallower would make it perfect, but how much of that comparison is against a time-worn piece wiped off over 50~ years?). Yes, some "casting" marks here and there (where you'd never see them) and I didn't understand the mild warping around the latch area on each side. Nor did I try to fit it immediately. But I was still impressed, and particularly at the price. This can't have been an easy piece to make, and for a super nit-picky audience (raising my hand here).

I'll look forward to your solution, but just know I'm not mad. I am thankful that someone is trying to step up to create parts no longer available.

I have a fitment issue too. My brackets are made of aluminum vs plastic so no flexing them to fit.

Thanks for the post - I was going to tackle this over the weekend but will await Mikey’s fix. 914Rubber is a champ taking this on, and looking forward to their solution.

@mb911

Ben, i have metal covers but they are not going to fit either. I dont know if the foam can be ground back or if the metal come out that far

@mb911

Ben, i have metal covers but they are not going to fit either. I dont know if the foam can be ground back or if the metal come out that far

I just want to be clear that I am very thankful for 914 Rubber, I did not intend in any way for this to be a 914 Rubber bashing party. I was frustrated and I had to vent, and with the large group that recently purchased these, I felt obligated to pass on what I had run into. I have probably purchased 80 to 90% of their rubber parts and so much more. This had to be a complex part to manufacture and like others have said, it is way better than what I had! And now that Brent has dissected his piece further than what I was willing to try, I am fairly certain I can get the cover in well enough to be acceptable. Not sure about the cover I cracked trying to fit it.
I have had issues with a few of their parts and they have always been fair in resolving them. I will continue to support them as much as possible. With that being said, do I feel that there should have been better quality control for this part and some others? Yes I do.

Cheers and happy motoring!
John

i am amazed that the blokes at 914 rubber could even have the guts to try and remake this piece.

i could offer criticism, looking at the original part in my roll bar, but i don't want to.
i just want to encourage them. i mean its half a farken century since this bit was originally made and now...... all these blokes out there want to reconstruct the cars..
from sun burnt, time ravaged wrecks in some case. thank god they do.

do any of you understand what you are all trying to do.
you do, remake the past. its a great and good idea.

anyway, i just look at this part and i cannot believe someone is trying to remanufacture it. my hat is off to 914 rubber for giving it a red hot go. its a nightmare part.
if it gets cracked its an almighty achievement.

We are working on new metal covers that fit right now. Still in prototyping but as soon. As dimensions are right we will go to Foundry.

i getwhat you are trying to say, so i as well have nothing negative but only positive to say here, its a huge undertaking with making something like this, and sometimes it takes a while to get it how you want it. I know they will work this out and make the necessary changes before the next batch rolls out. I am going to not mount mine because i have restored metal covers that fit in my AA bar i got last year from 914rubber , it fits perfectly. So i am going to leave that in place.

my bar arrives today , If anyone misseed out on the big discount and wants to get this from me for the same cost as the group buy was, and get the covers that will work in this that they are making right now, PM me you can pay me what i paid not one penny more, i know there are those that need these worse than me, and the new latch covers that mark is making will work fine i amsure, but i like my restored metal ones the are OEM, and will get the next bar that is correct when it comes out.

Cheers!

Let me just add that the mod that I did to get the original covers to fit is not the worst job you will do on a 914. An hour or less with a carbide bur on a Dremel is all it takes. Getting the old roll bar off the car is still the worst part of the job. Looks like there will be two choices: install the new covers when they are ready, or carve out a little material to let the original covers fit. Either way works.

+1 R&D is not cheap or easy, and Mark always ends up with a great part for the community. I look forward to the fix and Mark we expect to pay a little more to cover the gap.

I haven't opened the box yet. Glad to get a heads up, though. I see Mark is planning some new metal covers.I'll bet someone also could "print" these with a 3D printer.

+1 for me
And, where can I get replacement latches ; any new ones out there ?
Those covers look good too.

That's exactly what we are doing now. We are modifying the mount structure to get correct fit. I'm out til Saturday but plan to check fit with latches installed to verify before we go to tooling

Mark

To be clear(er) Mark you are just repop'ing the OE latch covers? In pot metal like the early versions not plastic like the late?
VS re-engineering (dimensions) them to fit your new pad?

Remaking them to fit easily on the new pads. They will have the added benefit of fitting on an original with a washer or two if needed. So 2 birds one stone

@jim_hoyland

date='Mar 30 2021, 12:07 PM' post='2904177']
+1 for me
And, where can I get replacement latches ; any new ones out there ?
Those covers look good too.
[/quote]


Jim,
I have restored latches.

@jim_hoyland

date='Mar 30 2021, 12:07 PM' post='2904177']
+1 for me
And, where can I get replacement latches ; any new ones out there ?
Those covers look good too.
[/quote]


Jim,
I have restored latches.

Ok, Ill ask... why not fix the dimensions of the new (your) pad to match the OE version AND repop the covers (in metal/Plastic/both) again to match OE dimensions & fitment?
Too costly (IE scrap & start over)?

As foundry is mentioned, the pattern will have multiple parts cast at one time. L&R. Maybe 2 patterns. Every item on the pattern would have to be adjusted. Both sides. Pattern work is expensive. Prob a part with a break even point in the distant future.

[quote name='bdstone914' date='Apr 1 2021, 12:48 PM' post='2904757']
@jim_hoyland

date='Mar 30 2021, 12:07 PM' post='2904177']
+1 for me
And, where can I get replacement latches ; any new ones out there ?
Those covers look good too.
[/quote]


Jim,
I have restored latches.
[/quote]

Thanks Bruce; are they designated Left and Right, or can one used on either end ?

Crap crap crap

Should have checked here first. Here’s hoping the install goes better.

Still - this is a part I’ve wanted for 20 years. Much thanks to 914rubber for the efforts.

Any update on the new pads? @Mikey914

And you did! Well done. Gotta hold onto every victory large or small. Heaven help us, they are sometimes few and far between.

I bought mine from AA for $250. It fits perfectly & so do the roof latch covers. The covers have a nice snug fit such that I don't even need to use any screws to keep them seated. I guess you get what you pay for. Yes? My latch covers are metal castings which I repainted. I'm 200% pleased. Even all the screw holes lined up. FYI.



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@Mikey914

This is the question I would like answered.
I would not have bought the new pad had I known I would not be able to use my OE Metal latch covers on the new pad.
Why would I want to buy new cover that would fit a stock roll bar pad correctly if needed in the future and I don't think it fits if I have to add washer to take up space.

Who has modified the new pads so the OE covers fit?

Jim

@bbrock describes what he did to make them fir on the first page of this thread. I was actually meaning to PM him the last day or so for more details as I want to get this done one way or another prior to the northeast gathering. Like the OP, I had put the rollbar pad on without the latch covers as a temporary solution, but now I need to get it resolved for real. I was waiting to see if the new latch covers were going to be available, but I just need to get it done at this point....

contact mark directly, they have made change to latest run of these so that they fit now, and he will take your pad you bought and exchange it - they offered this to me but i just haven’t had time to repackage it for shipping back. i was not in a hurry as i have a super nice but not correct texture one from AA i got a couple years ago, so really no hurry here.
but if you can’t wait for the new plastic latch covers or don’t want them and don’t want to modify the new part , have them send the new proper fitting pad.
@windforfun just got his and it fit, they have corrected for the issue of expansion during molding i believe.
@Mikey914
@jcd914
@Beatnavy

Thanks, Phil, that's good info. I have been paying attention to this and the other thread and hadn't seen that this is where we now stand. Maybe I missed it?

Definitely would like more info if that's an option.