I had the same issue...maybe a little worse. It's been a while so I'll have to go back and check my notes. I think one of those parts is mis-stamped. Seems it happens occasionally on the larger parts. They slip in the stamper??
Measure the flanges. I believe I found the lower flange on one of the parts was larger then the top flange. Could this cause a tighter bend radius on the part? ..not sure. As I recall, I was concerned that if the canopy frame is lower than the roll bar frame with the pin engaged, the plexi could contact the roll bar before the canopy is fully down enough to engage pin smoothly. Probably not much, but maybe enough to add extra stress on that part of the canopy.
I think I did get a new part and it wasn't perfect but better. I ended up not pulling the canopy frames completely together at the top. I did have to modify a couple of the holes on the handle assembly. Maybe even re-located and up-sized a couple rivets. I also added a doubler plate to aft side of the frame for the handle assembly. This helped with the hole/rivet mods, and, most important to me
, hid the angled gap at the top join of the frame.
There may have been other changes, but need to review my notes.
Long story short, canopy closes and latches very smoothly.
