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Bonnet hinge
Joshy - 13/3/16 at 10:15 PM

Has anyone hinged their bonnet from the nose cone? My roadster will be living in a very tight garage, would be a lot easier to work on if I didn't have to find somewhere to store the bonnet every time. I'm not to keen on hinging from the scuttle in case the bonnet catches the air at high speed...

Josh

myke pocock - 13/3/16 at 10:19 PM

A couple of early Mini boot hinges (available on ebay) might do the trick although they may look a tad ugly. I used them for my boot on the Locost though.

ReMan - 14/3/16 at 12:09 AM

The bonnet will sit "in the car" easily enough
I think you'd be adding weight and weakness unnecessarily

mark chandler - 14/3/16 at 07:11 AM

People have bonded the bonnet to the cone then hinged on the bottom of the nose cane aka fisher fury.

Smoking Frog - 14/3/16 at 08:44 AM

Yes it has been done before. Although it don't seem to be popular. Would it clear you garage roof when open?

David Jenkins - 14/3/16 at 10:20 AM

If you look in Fozzie's photo archive you will see the way she did her bonnet - non-trivial, but excellent. Here's an example:

007 Ned
007 Ned

In fact, the whole car is magnificent and got featured in a car magazine if I remember correctly.

Fozzie - 14/3/16 at 11:45 AM

quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
If you look in Fozzie's photo archive you will see the way she did her bonnet - non-trivial, but excellent. Here's an example:

007 Ned
007 Ned

In fact, the whole car is magnificent and got featured in a car magazine if I remember correctly.


Awww thank you David ....

Yes it was featured in Complete Kit Car magazine..
I made the bonnet from ali though and used a 'piano' hinge from a Historic/Vintage supplier.
No mean feat if you are not used to fabrication with ali, and I made (have) 3 bonnet halves.
One half had to incorporate the change from the (then) 750 tech regs carb, to when I put the twin 40's on it
and had to fabricate a 'bulge' into the 'new' half.

It can be done, and if the poster is used to fabbing with ali ...not much of a problem at all!
Best of luck!

Fozz

steve m - 14/3/16 at 08:30 PM

I "store" my bonnet in the boot of my estate mondeo, as my garage is a very small tight affair

infact its in there right now, and will be till the car is taxed april 01

steve

907 - 15/3/16 at 08:13 AM

I would have thought the solution was obvious.


My bonnet and nose are behind the sofa.

Paul G


where to store car bits
where to store car bits

40inches - 15/3/16 at 09:19 AM

quote:
Originally posted by 907
I would have thought the solution was obvious.


My bonnet and nose are behind the sofa.

Paul G


where to store car bits
where to store car bits


All the MK parts stored in youngest daughters bedroom, until she finished Uni, she wasn't very happy when she came home Kids!

[Edited on 15-3-16 by 40inches]

The Black Flash - 15/3/16 at 09:59 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mark chandler
People have bonded the bonnet to the cone then hinged on the bottom of the nose cane aka fisher fury.

Yep, that's what I did. Details on my page here: http://alfadax.com/content/during/05/bonnet_clutch.htm

Basically I made some hinges out of some 1.5mm stainless sheet and a couple of 5 or 6mm pins. Welded the pins to the front of the chassis on small brackets, but you could figure out a bolt-on solution if you don't have a welder. I came up with this rather than normal hinges so that the bonnet could easily be lifted off, it's worked pretty well for me so far.

Joshy - 15/3/16 at 10:03 PM

Thanks for the ideas/advice. The bonnet halves/centre hinge is very neat Fozz, as is the nose cone lower lip hinge! But I think I prefer cone/bonnet hinge style. I'm going to have a go at CADing up two frames to be waterjet cut from 3mm ali plate, connecting the nose cone to the bonnet via PTFE plain bearings (I'll test it first in 3mm laser cut ply). Planning to latch at the rear with two aero-catches.

Josh

[Edited on 15/3/16 by Joshy]