I am trying to get the wings loosely reconnected to the scuttle. I believe there was originally a spreader bar across in front of the radiator, which might be missing. I have a piece of threaded rod in that location now. Can someone tell me what the width of that bar should be? This is an OTS. Thanks in advance!
Mine has a bend at both ends, and I believe the bar is to adjust the width of the fenders from each other so the hood fits correctly. I am sure someone will chime in with exact specs though.
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Yes, that’s the one. I expect the amount that bar spreads out the wings varies slightly from car to car. In my case it’s 18 5/8” where the inside nuts impinge on the inner panels:
The placement of the bar, ie the spread of the wings, depends on the fitment with the bonnet. In my case, just before final fitment of the so-called chin piece.
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Perfect! Thank you!
Hi Mike - In the 140 Explored book there are overall front end dims shown on the diagrams below,
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If you have the edition XK120 Explored there may be similar diagrams. Obviously the wings will need to be in pretty good shape to achieve the widths. I dare say all sorts of twist is possible with floppy sheets of metal so whatever your bar final bar length is it may not create the overall dims of the body. Maybe rigidly set up the bonnet to correct position and height and working from underneath use the threaded bar to open or close the wings to get an even gap to the bonnet edge. Whilst so doing keep an eye on the overall dims of the body width.
regards Geoffrey
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That is a very helpful drawing! I don’t think I have seen it before. Thank you!
That’s probably because the owners of this site have asked that no copyrighted material be posted on this site. It should probably be taken down by the poster.
That might be shortsighted. I just bought a $200 book because of it.
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I get about the same measurement as Nick Saltarelli, 18-1/2".
My threaded rod was missing, so I made one and installed it on the already stabilized body, just snugged up the nuts on each end.
There are extra threads on each end so you can run the nuts down, then get the rod in, then run the nuts out each way to equalize it, then add the outer nuts.
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Hi Mike - Did you just get the XK120 Explored book? - If so you will find invaluable for you resto. Geoff
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Yes. Just ordered from Welsh.
Hi Mike…dont take it all as “gospal” there are some errors in the book…there is more info on this on the forum… Steve
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Posting a single page or two should be within the limits of fair use.
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Mike,
Just to be sure: I assume you know that both ends of this rod are bent over the last 2 inches to pass exactly “perpendicular” through the inner wings. So it’s not a straight rod. See pic…
Bob K.
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Yes. The rod I have is mostly, but not completely straight. I can definitely see where someone tried to take the bends out of it.
All of these photos you guys post are very helpful. There are parts pictured that I either have in a box, not sure of their origin, or don’t have. Questions answered before they were asked.
Here’s the spreader bar in place. I put what I judged to be roughly original bends at the ends. I think it’s pretty close to 18" wide, inside. At that point, I run out of threads on the nuts inside the wings. Bonnet is latched at the front, but not connected to the hinges. Using the holes for the headlight spears as a reference, the headlight pods are just a smidgen less than 30 inche, center to center.
Oh, man! I’m off by 1/16"! Horrors! 
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