BE Hood Tilt Kit

[ralph_s]

Anyone use the tilt kit from mini mania on their BE? I'm toying w/ the idea and need some feedback. I've got an original steel hood. Is this too heavy for the kits?

 

[Coastalman]

I have that kit on my BE. Since I bought it I used it, but would not buy it again. MiniMania is competition oriented and this kit will allow you to get the bonnet off your car quickly. I had to make an additional part that holds the bonnet to the frame in a more secure manner. I did this for my own peace of mind as the MM kit will work. Now, to get the bonnet off I have to remove the bolts holding the bonnet to the frame. Others on the forum have used different forward tilt kits and some have made their own brackets. I think Jim Gruber is one of those and I am sure he will chime in here. I also used Triumph Spitfire bonnet hold down clamps to secure my bonnet and really like that method of clamping. It looks very good and works. FWIW my .02 cents.
Charlie

 

[ralph_s]

Thanks Charlie,
I did notice the MM kit didn't seem to "hinge" the hood in place. That was one of my concerns. I've got a copy of the hinge from Geralds Garage and may go that route.
I like the Spitfire hold downs & will probably go that route.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Ralph,

I'm using the plans that someone posted here a while back and Gerard posted on his web site. It works great for my BE bonnet on Bugsy my '68. I was able to fab it with just a vise, a metal file, drill press. I used 3 pieces of 1/8" aluminum plate held together with JB Weld that I machined together all in one piece for the big bracket. Normally that is 1/4" steel that I figured would be hard to form and cut. Rest of assembly is steel. I like the hood stop, hood can be raised and stops before beehive lenses touch the ground. On this I would go one size larger on the bolts that secure the hood stop to the side of the radiator support bracket. I have bent those bolts before. I found hold down clamps that were adjustable and small out of the McMAster Carr catalog $10-12 ea. I did find that BE Bonnets have incredibly tight tolerances with underhood parts and pieces and I see why BL went to separate hood and fenders as even though there are an incredible numbers of nuts and bolts that fit and alignment is not so critical. Used a 5 or 6 wire trailer harness connector as a quick disconnect for all wiring up front. Two bolts hold the entire bonnet on plus clamps at the rear. Took a few hours to fab up the brackets and more than a few hours getting the alignment correct but the "Cool Factor" cannot be overstated. I got to park next to Trevor's Ugly Bug at British Car Days in Dayton a few years ago and both of us had our forward tilt bonnets going. Here's a Pictue of the hinge.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

One more time

 

[Jim_Gruber]

another

 

[Jim_Gruber]

I can provide hinge details if anyone wants them, blueprints are at Gerard's Garage Web Site

 

[ralph_s]

Jim,
I've copied the details from Gerald's Garage. Any other changes you'd recommend. Looks pretty straight forward. Any pixs of your hold downs available?
Thanks,
Ralph

 

[cdsmith]

I went with the "Gerald's Garage" plans and I'm happy with the outcome.
It took a little "finessing" to get them to work. The one thing I did was to have a U-shaped bracket welded up that I mounted to the hood under the intake cowling (I didn't want to drill any extra holes - the holes I used were already there). I will try to attach pictures.

 

[cdsmith]

Here is another view... Please ignore the "ugly rusted stuff" - these are old pictures (I'm not saying anything has changed - still looks like this...).

 

[cdsmith]

While I'm here... Could you possibly post a picture of the hold downs you are using?

I found hold down clamps that were adjustable and small out of the McMAster Carr catalog $10-12 ea.

I've been trying to figure out a better method than the "rubber dune buggy" type of hold down.
Thanks
cd

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Go to https://www.mcmaster.com/#draw-latches/=6agl2c

I used Category C Draw Latch with adjustable distance. These are rated for up to 400 lbs. I tried using the ones from Winner's Circle, really nice latch and inexpensive but after breaking 6 of them over the course of server month( my bonnet is in the process or recurving itself to meet that back of the firewall). Too much stress from the bonnet. These mount with a #6 screw. I tried to take a picture but pics did not come out very well. Area is in partial primer after I plugged and welded some extra mounting holes left over from the Winner's Circle LAtches.

Anyway try the catalog link. Lots of choices for reasonable prices. I went for Stainless, seconndary latch. I adjust them tight enough so that when released, I need to push down to get the latch to release. If you follow the link in the McMAster Carr catalog you'll find a CAD Drawing of the entire latch. More detail than a picture could possibly convey.

 

[cdsmith]

Thanks!
I'll take a look.
cd

 

[ralph_s]

Excellent info, found the 303 SS parts w/ the drawing in the catalogue. Do you use a limit strap w/ the hinge? If so where did you attach? I'm ready to start the body work on my BE and I'd like to do all the fitment & reinforcement prior to any painting.

 

[bugimike]

While I'm here... Could you possibly post a picture of the hold downs you are using?

I found hold down clamps that were adjustable and small out of the McMAster Carr catalog $10-12 ea.

I've been trying to figure out a better method than the "rubber dune buggy" type of hold down.
Thanks
cd

A very tidy set-up for this is using Spitfire hardware. My bonnet is fiberglass, but I believe Coastalman did this to his metal bonnet too!

 

[bugimike]

Here is a "before" picture to go with the above:

 

[ralph_s]

Love the before and after stuff. Quite an improvement!!

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Guy's unfortunately my latches are currently off of Bugsy right now. Doing paint and bondo work, on the bonnet. Give me a couple of days and I can provide pics. I found this image, might help show better how this hinge attaches to the bumper mounts. IT is necessary to grind approx 1/2" off of the back bumper mount bracket bolt so it is parallel to the front mounting bolt. If you ever decide to go back to standard hood setup, bumper could be reattached using a stack of washers back there to obtain proper clearance. On a SWA or RWA Spridget, adding the BE Bonnet does require cutting and grinding off a 1/2" lip on the fender arch that sticks out. After grinding off and finishing, if you did not know it was there originally you would not miss it.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Define what you mean by limit strap. The picture above show the sliding bracket that keeps the bonnet from going too far forward. The blueprints call for a smaller bolt than I'd like on the bolt going into the radiator upright. I put the head of the bolt on the inside of the radiator support as I added quite a number of teflon bushings and washers to make this limit strap easy to go up and down. At the local hardware store I was able to find a teflon/nylon bushing I could use that fits on the hinge slide bracket. I also used large teflon/nylon washers backed up with large metal washers on all contact surfaces. Again having a good hardware store helps. You won't find that stuff at the at Home Depot or Lowes.

Fighting to find proper image resizing software today. I had some on old PC but lost it when Hard Drive crashed.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Hope this now works