E type bonnet spacer washers

Question : How thick are the spacer washers between the front wing and the centre bonnet section please. Has any one out there have this information to hand. Mine are missing on my 62 E Type

The early cars did not use them. It’s a good idea to put them in anyway, as the chrome bead strips and clips could use the extra space. I’ve none handy to measure, but they are a bit thicker than a common hardware store washer.

Phil.

About .085" thick. I will look for what I used.
I think these were what I used. They were a little on the thin side so the brass chrome fasteners were a tight fit.

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I can help, as I was just investigating that issue with Tony at SNG earlier this week.
The part number is C10193. Tony measured the thickness as 0.08 inches. FYI, oval washers BD542/3 go on the outside of the connection i.e. 2 required. There is also a lockwasher under the nut. As far as them not being used on early cars, I don’t have any info on that.

Harvey
Thank you for replying to my post. A great help
I couldnt find any thing locally so put in an order at SNG with help from the part number you supplied. If you look at Jaguar restoration E Type guide which is the 60th rhd car built this car has these spacers in place which suggest they were there pretty much from the begining.
Thanks again
Robert H

Actually, I just received mine yesterday. I am assembling a bonnet from scratch. If you count the 2 fasteners in the joint below the headlight, you need 11 per side.

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You are not counting the ones that go feral when you drop them on the floor!

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Yep, so true :slight_smile: I did order a few extra ones.

Finding thick off-the-shelf washers that are the size of the originals is almost impossible. Do you think a thicker washer would be ok? like a .12" thickness?

By the way, if you take a micrometer and measure each of the original washers, you (or at least I did) will find they vary in thickness from .08 to .108. it really is amazing to see the lack of quality control back then (the washer supplier that is). Today’s washers are within very small variations, thanks to modern quality control cultures in manufacturing.

At some point, the washer thickness, if too thick could affect the fitment of the chrome trim strip. That said, I don’t think .12 would be a problem.

I bought mine from McMaster Carr. You can search on washer thickness. In a pinch you could use 2 washers to make up the correct thickness.

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Hello Stan,
It would seem that Quality Control are unfamiliar words to After Market E Type parts manufacturers. I buy a lot of parts and I’m yet to receive a part that when I unpack it, I can stand back and say, “wow, what a great part”. Even if it didn’t look great, I’d be happy if they came within a Bull’s Roar of fitting.

Regards,

Bill

Yes, true. But I have enough trouble getting one installed in the space. I normally take a little piece of painters tape, attach it to one edge of the washer, dangle it in the correct position, get the bolt inserted, and pull the tape loose. It would be easier if I had 3 hands!

Robert, mine are missing too, it’s good thing to put them in it for the chrome strip holders.
Thanks for this Topic.
Frank.


NO WASHERS AT ALL!!

Ferris, thanks for this information, so the washers are 0.08 inches, that’s in milimeters 2.03, my bonnet doesn’t came with the washers, so I thonght about at night a lot, how can I get the messing strip between the fender and the middle of the bonnet and then how can I slide the chrome strip over it.
Now I know, just give space between them with …a washer, haha.
Frank.


NO WASHERS!!

Hello Frank
That was a while back. It looks as though your getting there.
Gosh it takes time to get it right. I am hoping to have my car ready for a coat of primer the end of February
Regards
Robert

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I didn’t know that there were spacer washers between the centre bonnet section and the wings.
Here is a picture of the underbonnet of my car with details of the assembly.
It obviously had a (bad) respray earlier.
One can see external washers on both sides of the seam but none inbetween:

Now my car is from October 61, so maybe it didn’t have such washers originally?

If we want to establish what they did in 1961, it would take an expert like @Maikel but based on what I see in your photo, somebody stuck a prybar or a chisel into the space between the wings and forced a space for the brass clip. I would doubt that is how they did it at the factory. There is little doubt in my mind that if you were dealing with new crisply bent flanges on new center sections and wings and you assembled them without the spacer washers, you would never get the brass clips installed.

You may be right Harvey.

That bending near the brass clip is however the only one I observed underbonnet. Also the inside of the flanges here doesn’t look to be painted, only primed, and the brass clips look oldish and damaged in other places.

According to the painting procedure as described in the following Jaguar document, the bonnet was painted as a whole, using primed panels:

It is therefore possible that my bonnet was not disassembled during the previous respray, and maybe since its assembly and first painting at the factory.

If so however, and as you infer considering the tight space, it seems quite difficult to understand how the clips and chrome trim could have been inserted by the factory without spacers after bonnet painting…