Bugeye bonnet fit

[Rut]

I'm working on my front tilt kit along with general fit of the bonnet and I've run out of adjustment. The bonnet fits great along the top, but the gap gets wider as you go toward the sill. The bonnet is now resting on the original "cone" mounts and can drop no further unless I break out the BFH and massage the front mounts or the bonnet. Any suggestions?
Thanks, Rut

 

[Trevor Jessie]

I'd guess that the bonnet is closing too far. Any pics of the top where it meets to cowl?

 

[Rut]

Trevor,
I don't have a good picture of the center of the bonnet where it meets the cowl, but I don't have a good rubber seal either. The center sits about 3/16" low, but the rest is flush with the cowl...I guess the bonnet straightened a touch during storage. If that small of a change will make a difference I'll try a proper rubber seal...mine came from AH Spares.
Rut

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Do you have the sill bumpers in place?

 

[Rut]

Sill bumpers are in place, but I have cardboard for protection as well.
Rut

 

[nomad]

Looks a lot closer than mine. I'm betting a bit of tweaking some time in the past. I always look at the front bottom curve of a BE bonnet and there are very few that are still perfect.

Kurt.

 

[smaceng]

One problem I had was to find a cowl seal that was the right size. All the ones I ordered (usual suspects) were too thick....and did not match my original one. I ended up setting up a jig, and slicing a part of it off in order to get the bonnet to match the cowl. Unfortunately your bonnet is already painted. What yours needed was a bit more arch at the cowl.....of course that should have been done prior to paint. Your wing to cowl fit at the bottom does not look that bad. It is always more difficult to get the front mounted bonnets to fit....not sure why.
Scott in CA

 

[Rut]

One problem I had was to find a cowl seal that was the right size. All the ones I ordered (usual suspects) were too thick....and did not match my original one. I ended up setting up a jig, and slicing a part of it off in order to get the bonnet to match the cowl. Unfortunately your bonnet is already painted. What yours needed was a bit more arch at the cowl.....of course that should have been done prior to paint. Your wing to cowl fit at the bottom does not look that bad. It is always more difficult to get the front mounted bonnets to fit....not sure why.
Scott in CA

Scott,
Thanks, the AH Spares cowl seal is too thick as well and I'll use some rubber strips I have to make up a pattern to cut by. I think you've touched on the problem as has Trevor and when the car goes back to the paint shop I'll have that addressed. I can't blame the paint shop since I did all of the fitting of the bonnet and doors prior to paint and thought it looked great.
Rut

 

[JPSmit]

One thought about the rubber. Somewhere I read about door rubber (Not bonnet rubber but still) that you should install the rubber and tie the door shut (no latches in the description) compressing the rubber for a few days. The rubber will compress over time - so, I am always a little concerned when people say ot doesn't fit new and cut some off.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

A front mounted bonnet loses the support of the hinges at the rear, so it allows the bonnet to close further on the outsides than the middle. ... hard to describe.
Shim the weather stripping up near the original hinge location and see if it makes any difference.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

And Rut McGregor sell a cowl rubber that is a perfect fit. A phone call to them instead of an email works best. Same for windshield seal
and windshield gasket. Bet you'll need one of all of those as well.

 

[Rut]

Spent part of the day working on the bonnet fit and had to modify the front tilt kit. I'm now using bronze top hat bushings on the pivot bolt and that adds more stability, but the bonnet still feels flimsy when raising or lowering. Trevor mentioned the idea of linear actuators and I'm going to investigate that idea. The fit is better and the gaps more even along the cowl and the sides with extra padding where the cowl seal normally resides. I've seen cowl seals that are in multiple pieces vs one solid seal and it looks like that may be the ticket. I'll keep plugging away and post updates until I get it right.
Rut

edit: has anyone used locating pins between the bonnet and sill?

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Rut, can you post a picture of the inside of your bonnet at the front. I'm curious about the airbox structure.

 

[Rut]

Trevor,
It looks like a standard air box...
Rut

 

[Trevor Jessie]

When you said it was a bit flimsy I was wondering if it had been modified in some manner. But it looks pretty standard to me as well.

 

[Rut]

By flimsy I mean that when you open it by picking up one side the other side drags...same thing when it closes. I'm guessing that pneumatic struts or linear actuators would solve this issue and the linear actuator could actually be used to keep the bonnet closed. I'm looking at using the rear most hole on the tilt kit or the air box for the struts/cylinders...do you think they would be strong enough?
Rut

 

[nomad]

You could put struts on the inner fenders and set them up to overcenter which would help keep the bonnet closed as well. Wouldn't do anything for your bonnet flexing as you open it problem though. I remember that from my front tilt BE as well. I always though that if I do one [fiberglass on a square body...I have the bonnet] I would rig up a latch that could be accessed in the foot well. Something like Jaguar did with the XKE except not as elaborate.
I think your cowl fit will be easily cured with the right rubber seal.

Kurt.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Look at Speedwells Kit that uses interior latches to keep the bonnet in place accessible from the footwell on each side. No exterior latches.

 

[Rut]

Placed an order with Macgregor this morning and he even had the matching blue Bristleflex door seals! I may start cutting on the AH Spares bonnet cowl seal to see if I can get the proper contour.
Rut

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Cool. Just start another project piece., you'll just frustrate yourself trying to get the cowl seal right, or may s
cratch the paint..