Bonnet tweaking on front brackets, easy?

M

madda

Well-Known Forum User
Over time, my bonnet seems to have lifted in the front corner. You can see what I mean in this pic.



I guess it's down to it being opened and closed a lot. It certainly wasn't off at all 12 months ago.

I have a habit of making things worse when I try to adjust stuff like this so any advice will be appreciated.

Cheers
 
From a non body-shop perspective:

Have you tried pushing it down?

If it works tighten the hinge bolts.

If they are already tight loosen them slightly and try again.

If that doesn't work be careful about doing anything more drastic.
 
As Rob suggests, the hinge bolts on the bonnet have probably loosened a tad, enough for a bit of movement to have occurred. I had to give my bonnet a tweak a few weeks ago for that reason (it had started rubbing against the front edge of the scuttle panel). I just loosened it a very little and gave it the lightest of taps by hand to incrementally get it where I wanted.

If you don't want to fiddle yourself, if you've got a tame bodyshop available to you, I'm sure they'd be able to sort it easily in a few minutes.
 
Adjusting this is my least favorite job. If you loosen any of the bolts then be careful when you try to shut it to avoid chipping paint. The main adjustment on the 4 bolts that attach the bonnet are for front to back adjusment. The brackets themself have 4 bolts for up and down adjustment. If the car has been painted with the brackets in place then you probably will crack the paint if you move this. It may be the hinge just needs lubricating as I've noticed if it becomes stiff then its less likely go down that last bit.

As I said, my least favorite job.
 
johnymd said:
Adjusting this is my least favorite job. If you loosen any of the bolts then be careful when you try to shut it to avoid chipping paint. The main adjustment on the 4 bolts that attach the bonnet are for front to back adjusment. The brackets themself have 4 bolts for up and down adjustment. If the car has been painted with the brackets in place then you probably will crack the paint if you move this. It may be the hinge just needs lubricating as I've noticed if it becomes stiff then its less likely go down that last bit.

As I said, my least favorite job.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the words of warning and description of what to look for.

Fortunately when Ken did the bare shell resto of the car in the early 90's every bracket, hinge and bolt was galvanised. Since then a smear of grease has always been present adding to the protection. Maybe if it was a bit rusted it wouldn't have slipped :D

I'll have a go on the weekend and hopefully everything will go smoothly.
 
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