Good afternoon to all Copens and their owners out there. Hope all is good? I recently purchased a 'compete' tonneau cover from Ebay. Having never taken much notice of them before this one surfaced, I just wondered if I could check if all the parts are present before I try to fit it to Buzz. The parts that I have are as follows: 1 x Plastic moulded tonneau cover in PVC bag, with yellow plastic ring. 2 x Black painted steel hooks with bolts and U shaped bracket at one end 4 x Black metal turnbuckles complete with nuts. 1 x Metal hook, half steel and half yellow PVC coated. That's it. Is this complete or am I missing something? Hope you can help! Cheers! Phill and Lin and Buzz.
Hi, I answer to your question yes you do have the complete kit (Very rare to get complete second hand) well done. I believe the hooks are a bugger to fit though but there is a good post on here regarding fitting, I believe it is by (number6) Hope this helps
That sounds like a complete kit, alright. My "1 x Metal hook, half steel and half yellow PVC coated." was mounted into the "Black metal turnbuckles complete with nuts." already on mine... It'd be great to get photos of the items to compare. Grab 2x 10mm / M6 bolts, 45mm - 50mm in length, and some M6 washers for the two black U shaped hooks. You'll only need a 10mm socket and (maybe) a 12mm socket. The hooks are a bugger to fit, but it's all really straightforward.
Hhhmmm. I'm beginning to think that this is more trouble than it's worth. :-( I do like the look of the tonneau cover in place, but do you really have to go through all of that faffing about? Taking the deflector off, roll hoops, rear panel etc? Giving serious thought to selling it. Phill and Lin and Buzz.
No, you don't need to go through all the hoops... BUT, If you don't put the hooks in the boot, you can't store the cover bag properly in the boot itself. At a minimum, you'll need to put in the clips to the metal backing, which is super easy to do. The entire install isn't that complicated, it's just fiddly and time consuming. I'd say it takes about 2 hours.
Hello there again to all you Copens out there...and your owners Thanks to everyone who have responded to my thread regarding the tonneau cover for Buzz. I've taken your advice Number6, and attached photos of the associated 'bits and pieces' that were supplied with the cover itself. So I would be grateful if you would confirm that they are the correct items. Cheers! Phill and Lin and Buzz.
Ok, you're gonna have to poke a hole in the fabric for those nuts. I've no idea where the hell the yellow hook bolts on, as mine was a fully assembled unit of yellow hook, nuts, metal backing, and microswitch. The boot hooks look perfect. I'd say your best bet, if you want to go the whole hog, is to take off the backing that the nuts fit into and screw / bolt on the hook. There'll be a small bit of fiddling with the microswitch.
Hello Number6. Thanks for the reply. So, the yellow hook should be attached to a metal backing? And this metal backing has a micro switch attached to it? Is this a part that I am missing or is it located on the Copen as standard? Is this apparent when the fabric covered metal bar just behind the chrome roll over hoops is removed? Phill.
Yep. Facing out towards the boot. Yeah, the switch is between the roll over bars, underneath the wind deflector. You can see it at https://youtu.be/wjpHcGKRj9Q?t=11m15s . It comes with the car as standard (at least it did on mine). In the "normal" / "non-tonneau covered option" Copen, this switch is held open or closed with a tiny piece of metal as a spring. I did not re-use my switch, as the backing I had already had one in place Yep! I can take a look at the spare metal backing I have at the weekend and take photos of it for you, outlining the holes for the nuts and (hopefully) where the yellow hook screws / bolts into.
Thanks for all the info Number6. So, if all I wanted to do was to fix the cover to Buzz for the occasional blast around the Yorkshire countryside, all I would need to do is attach the 4 black turnbuckles to the bar behind the chrome roll over hoops. The PVC bag would fold flat in the boot. Only if you want to store the cover 'correctly' in the boot when it is not in use, do you have to fanny about with black brackets, yellow hoop and yellow hook? Phill.
Exactly - just store the cover & bag at the little area that isn't covered by the roof going down (first ~4 inches of boot) as I can't guarantee the cover would be flat enough further inside the boot underneath that pully thing.
I've also just bought a Tonneau cover and the bits from a breaker. I've seen this link which explains how to retro-fit one... https://www.copenworld.com/vb3/showthread.php?t=651&highlight=tonneau You may need to fashion and fit the supporting tubes though like Coxsie had to in the first thread. This also has a good link in it which shows how to get behind the seats to fit the two supporting brackets... http://copenworld.com/vb3/showthread.php?t=619 I'll have a go at doing mine this weekend if the weather is good. This morning I did have a go at taking off the wind deflector. This came off without any harm to the top clip that Adam cautions about in the 2nd thread above. I think that the sun on the window had warmed it so it wasn't cold and brittle. Also I used a hard flat piece of plastic to prise it off (put in between the top clip and the metal hoop rather than the top and bottom sections of the clip) so no damage sustained to the clip (which a metal screwdriver may well have done) I've popped off the piece of trim that the deflector rests on and I can see that there is a microswitch already fitted on my standard 1.3 Copen. The 4 bolts to loosen the beam which will have the 4 clips fitted into are easily accessible so it should be ok to do all of this. I would say that overall it looks to be about that same degree of difficulty as fitting aftermarket speakers into the doors. just a few more steps involved. All that work for something I'll probably only use once - Hmm, I've clearly lost the plot The above threads show where everything should go. Don't be too hasty to sell it on Phill though if you're undecided as it took me a long time to find one and it's a rare accessory to find, best of luck
As usual, this is all excellent information, and very useful to know prior to embarking on a potentially tricky procedure. Don't worry, once I'd sorted out in my mind that the black hooks didn't have to be fitted to use the cover, I'm happy. Just need to see it fitted this weekend. Cheers! PhillandLin and Buzz.
Hi, If you don't want to bother with the hooks in the boot, why not just store it behind the passenger seat inside the car rather than under the cover in the boot. If you want originality then fit the hooks.
OK, I've started to have a quick look at this today and stumbled at the first hurdle I've dropped the roof down, and removed the 2 x 10mm bolts from the fabric covered beam. However, there must be some other bolts holding the beam to the car that aren't immediately visible. Please can someone provide some direction as how to remove the fabric covered beam? Cheers! Phill and Lin and (impatient) Buzz.
Hello there again Number6. Thanks for the reply. So, in order to access the bolts under the roll hoops, does the wind deflector have to be removed first?
Managed to get this all done this afternoon. Yes Phill you will need to remove the wind deflector, then pop up the middle cover that is directly under the wind deflector and you will see the two other bolts that need to be taken out to remove the beam that holds the clips. Follow the links I posted earlier - the wind deflector is removed by prising off the top half of where the wind deflector meets the metal hoop (you'll see it is in two halves) but make sure it is warm and don't use a bare screwdriver or you'll chew the plastic.
