It looks close, I wonder if a bonnet gas strut will clear the Series I bonnet springs? Doing final assembly and our bonnet with no bumpers, motif bar, quite a bit of lead or glass headlamp covers won’t stay up. Yes, I know about the various adjustments - the thing is just too heavy. It would seem easy to just look up there and see if a strut would clear, but I thought better to get a real world “I’ve done that”. My forward bulkhead, having been changed, has the flange for a strut.
Just get a couple of smaller springs that fit INSIDE the existing springs, or replace at least one spring on each bracket with stiffer ones.
Regards,
Ray L.
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Mine also has springs and the bonnet fitting to accept the strut – I eyeballed the possibility of adding the strut w/o removing the spring and concluded ‘no way’.
Good info. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t look close enough myself. Now that I’ve taken a better look, my first impression is confirmed - it’s very close, but don’t think it would go. As for extra springs, I think I’ll rig a prop rod. I can bend it like a pretzel if needed and use a stop bracket in the same place the strut mount would go.
I always carry a prop rod (about 3’) in the boot - all you need is to be dealing with an engine problem on an up slope or pointed into a headwind.
That fitment on the bonnet is useful nonetheless. I made a bar to go from the (removed) spring attachment to the fitting to hold the bonnet in the full upright position to get better access to the radiator, timing cover, water pump, etc.:
Front of car has to be raised about 5" to do this Lotus Position:
Agreed, I’m glad it’s there.
As usual, I think that Ray has solved the problem.
When I had the 2+2 I considered putting some lead in the concave backside of the motif bar and over riders. Never did it though.
Larry. If you are looking for a quick and easy fix that is not very noticeable you can use 3 nylon washers (available from Home Depot etc.) arranged on each attachment point of the spring assembly to the bonnet carrier flange. One under the bolt head, the second between the spring assembly arm and the flange and the third under the nyloc nut. Then just tighten enough that the nylon acts as a friction plate to control the movement of the arm. You will also need a flat washer between the bolt head and the nylon and another between the nyloc and the nylon. The bolt will probably need to be swapped for one half an inch longer. I did this on my 3.8 10 years ago and the bonnet is just now starting to shut on its own again. Will tighten it up next spring when I get it out of storage.
That would be very sanitary. Unfortunately the darn thing is quite “heavy” and it will take more than that.
The position of the air ducts on our particular car also mean we don’t have the spring units at the “strongest” position. They hit the air ducts. Very small changes in the position of the balance link units makes a huge difference in the clearance between the duct and one of the link arms.
Common sense and elegant - but I have issues just finding pozidrive screws, much less an exact, particular length and strength of spring.
Had a spring engineer give a talk to my physics students years ago - they make bespoke springs here in the Milwaukee area, and you can get anything you want. I’m not sure getting a few hundred is in the cards.
I tried making a nice prop rod system that ran parallel to the springs and could remain installed and not foul anything and the design didn’t work at all. The design did yield some ideas which may give me a nice design, but it will need to be put in each time and stored in the cubby. We’ll see.
I just reread your original post. All the stuff that you said is still not installed is forward of the hinge point. Adding in that weight would tend to help with keeping the bonnet up. Have you considered weighing the uninstalled items and then adding that amount in front of the hinge point (sandbag or something) to see just how much closing weight you actually have. That way you can extimate how drastic you have to be.
I’m not going to install these items. I’ve gone with a “weekend sports car race” look. I like both the look and the proportions when the nose is somewhat shortened visually. Also think the bumper guards aren’t all that well made. The famous HP9600 (?) original Geneva press car didn’t have overriders, nor did many of the private road race cars. I also have light weight horns, as the earlier cars had them in the bonnet. I’ve made a prop rod and it came out very well. I’ll post pictures in a week or so. It’s small, fits easily in the cubby and seems like it will work great. It will only work if you have the flange on the bulkhead like series II cars have.
I do not have the gas filled struts on my E and also do not know if this will be helpful to what was discussed here but…My Cosworth Vega has gas filled struts to hold the hatch open that I think are similar to the bonnet struts on some of the Series 2’s. I never have liked them much since my experience is they last a few years and then go weak. We were talking about this on the Cosworth forum and one guy mentioned this easy fix. I tried it and cut a piece of PVC to fit and painted it black and I think works great to positively hold open my hatch. Go to the 6:37 point in this youtube link. Hope the link works.
David
68 E-type FHC
Strut replacement is a recurring (but simple) task on my VW van. I found that struts purchased from my local O’Reilly’s have a lifetime guarantee which I use from time to time to refresh them.
Yeah, I also carry an appropriately sized length of PVC to slip over a strut should it fail on a trip.