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Boot lid safety cable

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healeyblue

healeyblue

Jedi Warrior
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I am putting back together a 57 longbridge 100-6, and trying to put a reproduction cable on the top stud of the left hinge. The problem I am having is the stud is about 3/8 inch long and the cable eyelet is about 1/4 inch thick. I can only grab about 1 thread of the stud with the eyelet in place. As it is, without the cable eyelet on, if I tighten the nut on the hinge stud, it is flush once tightened all the way down. The hinges are repros from Moss, and the cable is repro from Moss. I dug out the original hinges and the studs are the same length. The only way I can see it working is if that one stud was 1/4 inch longer or the cable eyelet was a LOT thinner. I have seen pictures of other trunk lids and about half the ones I see don't have any cable installed. Any opinions on what I should do? Should I just not use a cable?
Thanks
Jim
 
Hi Jim,

Sometimes the stud is screwed in too far into the hinge. You can try and back it off a little.
Or if it is to short, remove that stud and get a bolt that has the same thread. Screw the longer bolt in, cut the head off where you'll have enough stud.

Careful when inserting the stud. If you screw it too far in the hinge, it will make out marks on hinge.

Good luck,
Roger
 
Roger,
Thanks, I wasn't sure if the stud was just screwed in, or cast in. I will try double nut-ing the stud and see if it backs out. Like I said though it is interesting that the original hinges (very pitted and loose) had the same length studs. It makes me think half the problem is the repro cable eyelet, or was the original cables eyelets thick also? Either way I will try and see if the stud will back out.
Thanks again
JIM
 
Hi JIm!

I still have the original cable on my BN6, and the end is not too thick; I was able to balance out the amount of stud length by simply not using a flat washer on the stud the cable is on.

Mine too are reproduction hinges (probably from Moss).

Take the cable "to the office" and reduce the thickness on one (or both) end(s)with one of those swell milling machines you have :wink:
 
Randy,
Thanks I think I will try the combo of both a longer stud and narrowing the thickness of the eyelet.

Andrea,
Thanks for the link to the album. It confirms what randy says as the eyelet on the originals was not thick at all. It actually looks like the thickness of a washer or maybe even a little thinner. I have bookmarked your albums for more reference. The only thing confusing about your album is how many cars are you restoring? Great source for pictures, THANKS.

JIM
 
Update to this issue. I was finally able to get the cable mounted. I wasn't able to unscrew the stud any more without risk of damaging the hinge. The stud was so short I couldn't double nut it and was afraid to damage the thread by any other means. So I thinned out the eyelet using my pneumatic angle grinder with a 3m disc. Because it is solid stainless I feel it should still be strong even by thinning it down to the thickness of a washer. Besides the pictures I have seen of original cables had eyelets that were very thin like a washer anyways. Here is a picture of what I was starting with.
 

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Here is what the cable eyelet looked like once I was done. It now goes on with the nut and I can tighten it down. The nut ends up just shy of being flush with the end of the stud. Good enough to be secure so I am happy. Thanks to all that replied and I hope this will help someone out in the future.

JIM
 

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Good job Jim!

I put a few miles on my Healey today, and "took a moment" to snap a couple pictures myself...

425057_10151066459308291_1147628983_n.jpg
 
Glad you solved the problem Jim, I remember having the same problem on my '60 BN7 and discovered the Moss gaskets used on the hinges were too thick. I ended up making my own of a thinner material.
 
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