I am mocking up my bonnet, I installed the front frame sections and bonnet mount. I set the bonnet in place, square to the cowl and the front hinges are 1-1/4 to low and about the same to far back. Ive been a bodyman all my life dealing with collision work and see no signs of prior impact damage. I could shim the lower bonnet mounting frame out at the bottom and top to get it to fit (more at the bottom to raise it) but totally confused as to why this would be so far off. Has anyone had a problem like this. Seems it is usually the opposite. Thanks
First question is, is this a new bonnet, or new to this particular car, or have you disassembled and are reconstructing the existing bonnet?
Hi Dave,
1 1/4 inches seems extreme.
Is your bonnet original to the car and has any major bodywork been undertaken?
I had a similar problem with mine, but the bonnet and front frame was very bashed about; took me months to get it to fit well.
My bonnet was too low too and I got some good information about measurements to check if my frames were bent and causing the problem. Unfortunately I had to do some shortening of the wings when I was unable to raise the bonnet any further.
I did even consider modifying the bonnet underpan; i.e. lowering the box section where the hinges bolt, but in the end it was not necessary.
Paul
New to the car. I disassembled it, stripped the paint and hammered out damage on the left front. I drilled out the spotwelds of the lower valance and removed the hinge mounting structure. It also had some damage. Afterwards I tack welded it back together using the holes from the spotwelds to align it, then bolted it all back together for a trial fit.
I’m just totally lost as to why the hinges are to far back. t is extreme, thats why its got me totally confused.Mine shows not one iota of prior damage. Just a rusted tub.
Using the rear edge of the bonnet as a reference is not a good idea if it’s new or has come from another car. The rear edge of the bonnet (wings and the centre section) are supposed to be cut and fitted to suit the particular body so they come longer than required for that reason.
That said, 1-1/4" seems an awful lot for the hinge positions to be out. Maybe you can measure a reference from the hinge pivot point to the bulkhead or some other fixed point and compare that to another car.
BTW, you may know already but there is an alignment diagram in the manual with some measurements that may help determine if your hinges are in the proper place. Not great but better than nothing.
OK, so when you place the bonnet on the car in the closed position you should have a gap at the cowl of, say 1/8" or a little less. It goes without saying the bonnet and cowl should be flush with one another. And the gap between the lower edge of the bonnet behind the front wheel openings and the rocker panel should be consistent along their entire length. So assuming you have the bonnet sitting like that you have a 1-1/4" gap, both vertically and horizontally between the bonnet and the aluminum hinge bracket when the bracket if bolted to the radiator frame?
Exactly. And like I said Ive been doing collision and restoration work all my life. I am very fussy and know how to align sheetmetal. This blows me away because the front cowl and all the tubular structure are pristine. A restorers dream. And I assume all these early structures measure out the same. I don’t see any bows to any of the tubing. Now I am not allowing for any shims in my measurement, but I would still be out around an inch at the least. Just wondered if anyone encountered this sort of problem before I start to modify something?
Thanks for the heads up on the manual. When I read that I remembered I had some old frame spec books left over from an Align-Rite frame machine I used to have. Nothing in it though on the Etype. Harwood Motors who just sold a 48 Diamond T slideback for me has a 64 Etype roadster in his showroom I can look at to see how far the rear edge of the bonnet extends from the rear bonnet reinforcement. I think mine is somewhere between 9/16 to 5/8".
For a quick check, you could measure the horizontal length of the lower edge of the wing from the back edge to the rear of the wheel arch. It ought to be between 19-1/4 and 19-3/8". (Sometimes though, even the wheel arch roll has to be adjusted to get a good fit at the sill.)
If you have that dimension and it roughly matches the sill extension, then there is probably something wrong with the bonnet support frame. Those are quite susceptible to distortion from incorrect jacking.
Thanks Clive, I will do the measurements tomorrow and get back with you on what I find. Sure wish I found something distorted and repaired badly on the bonnet frame support, because I would just modify it without looking back to make it work. Hate cutting into something that is so nice. Also can’t find pics of anyone who shimmed one of these at the picture frame.
I’ll buy that. My car still has the original rocker on the passenger side and the bonnet fits as well as the picture you show here. The problem is, the hinges and bonnet support frame hang below the lower valance of the bonnet about an inch. I know this isn’t right.
Just a test for frame to bulkhead positioning…is the engine in the
car and if so, does the rear stabilizer line up with it’s mount on the
bulkhead correctly? If all this is ok then I think it’s fair to assume
that the frames and their relationship to the bulkhead is good. That just
leaves the bonnet carrier and it’s difficult to imagine that this would be
that far out…that just leaves the bonnet itself…has the bonnet
hinge area been reworked at all?
Yes the bonnet hinge area has been reworked, are you able to read my posts to others? Its in no way misaligned by over an inch in two axises. Also the engine is not in the car.
Yes, 1962 series 1. Nice work.
don’t get too hung up about trying to get a fit like any other car, these where hand built, make sure the wing has enough metal on its back edge to mate with the protruding sill, NOS jaguar wings and centre section had an extra 1 3/4" on them to allow a fit, if the front hinge line is a long way out jaguar put shims between the bonnet frame an the picture frame to move it up and down a lot, if not just the usual hinge shim, just start with the wing flat to sill and work to that this is hard earnt advise! don’t take the back edge too far back as to end up too near the stiffener or the chrome piece wont fit, its better to add lead to the front edge of the sill.
What are these measurements?
On the body. Where the sill meets the firewall to the back of the wheel well.
On the bonnet. From the back of the wing to the back of the wheel well.
Are they close? As Dirt mentioned NOS parts were left long.