BJ8 hood opening

[Digger]

My body shop has asked a question about the radius of the shroud around the hood opening of my BJ8. He was recently at a show and apparently a Corvette was penalized because the radius of the opening around the hood wasn't correct. Is there a preferred radius at this area, or is it just a smooth roundover? Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[vette]

Hi Digger, I have done a fair amount of body work in metal and fibre glass so I find your bodymans question surprising. Have done a massive rebuild to my own Healey i would think that it would be easy to see the radial bend of the drain gutter on the front shroud of the Healey. Even if it has been damaged in this area, the rest of the opening of the bonnet into the shroud must have some original shape that he can see what was original. Discussing an opening radius edge on a Corvette would also have much of the original left to see what was an original edge. But in working with fibreglass I might be able to imagine in a far stretch where a body man having created that edge in glass resin, gel coat and maybe some body putty (not very much I would hope), might sand it to such a sharp degree that it is obviously not original. You would have to try really hard to screw up the radius of the bend of a Healey shroud where it is turned down into the rain gutter around the bonnet. I hope he is not building that edge out of body putty. It needs to be metal, in the case of a Healey that would be Aluminum, thru and thru. No filler on the edge unless it is just a smidgen to fill in hammer and dolly marks. Please forgive me if I have misinterpreted your whole point.

 

[BJ8Healeys]

Digger, from what I've heard of Corvette shows inspectors can be extremely/unreasonably picky about insignificant details. I doubt any Concours judge at a Healey event would ever have a radius gauge to measure the radius of the shroud. The important thing is the evenness of the fit of the bonnet to the shroud opening. It's not clear to me exactly which radius you are referring to, but your photo seems to be showing the curve of the shroud as you move long the edge of the bonnet opening from the rear to the front of the shroud. Is that correct? If so, that is pretty hard to measure. There may have been a specific radius of curvature specified on the original design drawings, but who knows now? Many of the panels on these cars were hand-fitted for best fit so there was some variation in such details. If your body man is trying to repair a damaged shroud, the best approach would be to make it fit a bonnet in good condition.

Do I have your BJ8 in the BJ8 Registry?

 

[Digger]

Thanks Vette and Steve,

The opening was pretty rough, and he is just trying to make sure he doesn't do anything that would look odd. There will be minimum filler, only as needed. He called me today, and said that he has been thinking about this some more, and he is using the rear of the opening as a guide where he needs to--he wanted to confirm that. I appreciate his caution, and I would prefer him to ask rather than make a bad assumption.

Steve, yes, I am in your registry--HBJ8L/33339.