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Post by jeff on Mar 18, 2021 19:51:56 GMT
My MK1 is a lovely old beast just turned 56 years old. Its in good order but not perfect.
In its early life the records show it was repaired following a couple of prangs, involving front wings slam panel, bonnet, grille etc.
No mention of damage or repairs elsewhere.
I've had a very close look at the old repairs,no damage to the bulkhead, suspension geometry etc. All ok.
The door panel gaps are nice and even but the bonnet isn't quite right. Its quite close to the right wing and a bit too far from the left wing at the hinge end. The bonnet opens and closes fine and the front end behind the grille is all correct.
I can't see a way to ease the bonnet over a few millimeters at the hinge end.It looks like the hinge anchors are none adjustable.
Maybe the replacement panels were not genuine parts, I don't know.
Its only the bonnet I can't see a way of getting perfectly square.
Any ideas out there?
Thanks.
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Post by paddymk2 on Mar 19, 2021 1:55:55 GMT
Hi Jeff
Any photos to go with that?
Paddy
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Post by Penguin45 on Mar 19, 2021 10:13:23 GMT
The mounting holes on the hinges themselves are slightly oversized and slotted, which allows some up and down and fore and aft adjustment of the bonnet. I suppose opening out the mounting holes on the bulkhead would allow side to side adjustment.
Is the overhang of the bonnet at the slam panel even all the way across?
Chris.
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Post by jeff on Mar 19, 2021 16:16:55 GMT
Paddy, sorry can't upload pics to this forum yet.
Chris. I will check the overhang.
Jeff
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Post by tonymark3 on Mar 19, 2021 20:34:41 GMT
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Post by Penguin45 on Mar 19, 2021 20:38:09 GMT
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Post by tonymark3 on Mar 20, 2021 8:51:13 GMT
Crikey. On the face of it looks like front of wings too far apart. You can see why the slam panel has slotted holes.
When I had my new offside wing fitted the guy fitted bonnet then offered wing up to suit.
Stupid thought - will front of wings move in a touch if the slam panel is un bolted? Unlikely but worth a try.
Tony S
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Post by andrewa on Mar 20, 2021 11:06:41 GMT
I'm with Tony on this one - looks more like your wings than your bonnet.
The photos probably make it look worse than it is but it sort of looks like you've got big gaps running down both sides of the bonnet just bigger on the RHS as you look at the car.
My idea would be to leave it well alone if you can as you're probably the only person in the world who notices.
Good luck
Andrew
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Post by jeff on Mar 20, 2021 13:00:51 GMT
Thanks for the comments guys.
In reality, its not that noticeable. I'm a bit anal with things being out of square.
The door gaps are all good and the front panel and grille is a good fit. No bending or rippling of the inner wings.
I do wonder if they are not genuine BL replacements. Looking at the photographic records they are probably the ones fitted during a huge second restoration many years ago in the 1990's
With the bonnet open hinges are not central in the bulkhead holes and it appears there is some lateral movement in the nearside hinge. I'll just have to fathom a way to centralise the bonnet. If I don't, I'll keep looking at it.
Jeff.
Jeff
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Post by andrewa on Mar 21, 2021 5:33:44 GMT
I hear you! At the moment I'm equally obsessive about an axle whine only I can hear and a dashboard binnacle that's a few mm's out! Both of which are a tremendous amount of aggro to sort. Fingers crossed you get where you want to be with some minor adjustments.
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Post by tonymark3 on Mar 21, 2021 11:31:49 GMT
Oh. One other thing. The spring loaded bonnet latch on the slam panel can be adjusted to pull it sideways a little. Grease it up as well. Worth a go.
Tony S
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Post by Penguin45 on Mar 21, 2021 11:45:04 GMT
 Bonnet hinge by Penguin 45, on Flickr It looks like the body mounts for the hinges are slotted, so some side to side movement should be possible. If you can get access.... Chris. |
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Post by jeff on Mar 25, 2021 9:25:49 GMT
Thanks guys. I'm sure if the is any lateral adjustment available it will sort it.
Jeff
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Post by jeff on May 3, 2023 18:23:57 GMT
And it's back to the bonnet fit. I've been having a good look to see if I can minimise the extraordinary large gap between wings and bonnet. The rear pointy bits of the bonnet are in line with the rain gutters. The doors line up nicely with the rear of the wings, and there is no gap between door seals and body when doors are closed. So far, so good. The grill fits without any noticeable gap to the wings. Now, if I tried to move the bonnet sideways (I don't think that is adjustable, the rear pointy bits will foul the scuttle. Moving it back and forth doesn't help and yesterday, I over did it, and managed to trap the locking peg under the slam panel away from the catch.oops. I couldn't release it and ended up having to use a jemmy bar from under the car to spring it free. So, back to the drawing board. I know wings have been replaced twice in the past along with the bonnet and slam panel following a crunch. The front panel and inner wings were OK and there's no sign of bending or buckling in those and the cross member looks good and straight. However, the wing rain gutters do look too wide. I wonder if copy panels were fitted instead of genuine BMC parts?  I replaced the front wings on my previous crab with genuine bmc old stock and had no bother at all lining everything up. Something ain't right and it still bothers me. Pictures are above. The existing wings are in really good condition and it would seem a terrible waste to go hacking them off, even if new ones were available. Ideas are always welcome. Jeff |
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Post by 1800heap on May 4, 2023 7:53:44 GMT
Hi Jeff
There is an area where I would check that you have not mentioned. I have noticed that chassis damage can occur from a front end accident that is not very easy to identify. My OZ crab had it on one side. It can result in wheel alignment issues as well possible minor bonnet alignment problems. On my OZ car it resulted in considerable front wheel setback on the damaged side. This upsets the caster angle and also on my car, that has 185 tyres, made the tyre rub on the front of the sill on full lock. I may not have noticed it with standard wheels. This was how I noticed it though, rather than seeing any damage. It is quite difficult to see with the engine in the way.
You basically get a kink forwards of the hole where the driveshaft passes through the inner wing. At that point the chassis rail doglegs where the hole for the driveshaft is, so there is a tendancy when hit hard from the front for the force to kink that dogleg section making the tie bar fixing point go aft a bit, and the wing to drop a tiny bit at the front. There was no obvious signs on the inner wing though. The bonnet alignmet was slightly off but not all that noticable.
Might be worth a look and if it effects both sides, could potentially give you some slight bonnet alignment problems I would think.
I will add though there is a bit of an art to getting good bonnet alignment when fitting wings and generally it takes a lot of tinkering to get just right, so there is a strong likelihood it is just that depending on who fixed the damage Jeff.
Nick
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