gloide69 Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hi Ever since I've owned my 1972 TR6, its bonnect gap to the outer front wings has never been good. At the front the passenger side gap opens up to about 3/4" (20mm) and on the drivers side, the bonnet is almost touching the outer wing (no room for the rubber buffer). So I have started (probaby stupidly) to try to improve the fit. I can get the bonnet to fit reasonable well against the bulkhead (although on the drivers side the gap side has a tendance open up compared to the other) but I still have the same issue with the wing gaps. After investigation, the passenger side inner wing looks to have some distortion arround the bonnet hinge so I assume the car may have had some accident repair a some point. I'm comming to the conclusion that the front of my car is slightly off line compared to the bulkhead and I have tried to check this by mesurement but it hard to do this accuractly. Does anyone have any suggestion how I can correct this? Thanks Paul Quote Link to post Share on other sites
peejay4A Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Paul, pictures would help. I seem to recall a similar problem discussed on the forum in recent(ish) months. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AlanT Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Two things to do: 1. make sure you have a method to get the bonnet open if the lock gets jammed shut, this is a risk if you are messing around with the alignment 2. go to a show and look at other cars, you will try hard to find one with a perfect bonnet fit, mostly they seem to be too tight at the front It is possible to loosen the front mounts where the body meets the chassis and move them a bit. I have some extra long sash-cramps that work outwards so you can stretch the inner-wings and get a bigger gap. They work the other way too, but you need the wings off. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hogan1945 Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 The best way to adjust the hood is to remove the grill, loosen all the hood mounting bolts. Then position the hood the best you can with the loosened bolts, and retighten bolts. Then adjust the hood latch , so as not to bind up on closing. Good luck Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hi Paul, I had very similar issues with my 4A. My major problem was that the near side inner wing was badly distorted causing the hinge to point in the wrong drection To satisfy yourself that the bonnet could fit - remove the hinges and the latch. You can now lay the bonnet in its closed position - does it line up? If it does line up then you need to find out why the hinges distort it. On my bonnet I was given advice to remove the front wings - this allows the inner wings to be teased into shape. If you are trying to fit a rectangular bonnet into a parallelgram then it is possible to unbolt the body from the chassis at the front end and pull it over a very small amount. Perhaps 1/4 would be the max amount of movement. It may be that the body/chassis are OK but the body at the front above the chassis needs pulling/pushing over (that could be fun). Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew Smith Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Paul, This might help - http://tr6.danielsonfamily.org/HoodInstall.htm Cheers Andrew Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Keith Winston Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hi, If you can achieve a better bonnet alignment while detached from its hinges as suggested above, then I would suggest elongating the hinge mounting holes to allow extra movement. Hopefully your front end is true and wont need any adjustment. You might be lucky and pinch some movement on the outer wings. Good luck. keith Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gloide69 Posted January 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 Hi All Thanks for all your suggestions. Last night is played with it some more but allas when the bonnet is free from its hinges, latch etc, I'm not able to improve the bonnet fit to the wings at the front. So I started to loosen the up the front body mounting bolts, but it wont budge by hand. My plan for the weekend is to strip the wings off etc and see if I can "persuade" some movement. I knew I shouldn't have started this, but I will update on progress for interest. Thanks Paul Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 Hi Paul, don't give up hope. Make sure ALL the body chassis attachments are loose at the front end - bumper irons, next to the rad bottom and the diagnonal brace. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TR NIALL Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 Paul,can you not get the Adjustment by just loosening the Wings and moving them in or out as needed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ntc Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 I would start by looking at the angle of the inner wing lips Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gloide69 Posted January 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) I managed to get the passenger wing off today and the inner wing was clearly bent outwards. I've attached a pic of my attempt to straighten it. It looks like with a little more effort I should be able to improve the bonnect to wing gaps, Thanks Paul Edited January 11, 2014 by gloide69 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ntc Posted January 11, 2014 Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 And then the fun begins Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Percy TR6 Posted January 11, 2014 Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 When removing the bonnet, is the preferred approach to unbolt the hinges from the bonnet or to unbolt the from the car? Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gloide69 Posted March 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Hi All I'm still trying to get a good fit on my bonnet and now I suspect my hinges may be twisted slightly. Can anyone tell me if the part of the hinge that attaches to the inner wing should be flat? Thanks Paul Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted March 23, 2015 Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Yes it should be. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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