RK saloon bonnet

[Howard Wright]

Hi David

Either my eyes are deceiving me but all the pictures show a channel with the flanges up!  I think your bonnet stay is either from a later car or has been re fabricated, it’s much wider than mine.  No bad thing.  One other observation is that some stays are bolted up to the rad mounting bracket. Doing this with a couple of washers would lower the channel....may be enough to cure your bonnet fitting at the front?

Cheers

Howard

[David.H]

My eyes WERE deceiving ME!!
I will try a couple of washers, sounds like a plan.
With it all off it is a good opportunity to give everywhere a good  clean up, even the horn! And replace the 1.5 inch long 1/4 UNF set screws holding it on by some rather shorter  5/16 BSF bolts!
Looking at your (?) neatly coiled fuel pipe  encourages me to take mine off and copy it! I too have a period fuel filter and have suffered with a bizarre combination of starvation and/ or overflowing at the top of the float chamber...despite expert attention and new needle etc. Car runs well though, I had a good run up from the Cotswolds recently. ..it overflowed when I stopped! Powerful smell of hot vapourising petrol......
Seems to have been  a long standing problem as instructions to a previous owner in the 80s said ALWAYS turn off the fuel tap when you stop! 
David

[David.H]

Well....
Bonnet off,stripped and primed. The bar is a non original I agree. If fitted flanges up the bonnet fouls the flange...! So P.O. was not so stoopid! With it all apart the opportunity is being taken to reset the bonnet by adjusting the radiator 1 /4 inch ir so forward. It all came apart ok...my, how easy it makes access to the front!
A new bottom hose is needed, of course I have a spare....top one! The bottom hose had a clear impression of a bolt head in it! Not long for this world.
Quite a lot of crud in the bottom of the hose & other low lying areas.Put a hose in the block & rad, but not much junk came out.
Checked all the bolts....spring U bolts slack, shock absorber bolts actually rotating & loose, and on checking were badly stretched! I didn't have any BSF grade S but did have some UNF and they are in now.
Bonnet will be painted next week, by then all the rest will be clean and tidy and refitted...on I re coiled the fuel pipe as well, much better looking now.

[squeak]

David I noticed in your last picture on this thread, your bonnet hinge appears to be projecting high relative to the rest of the bonnet surface. This may be a factor in why your bonnet fouls when flanges are UP. In Howards first picture on page 1 he shows correct placement of a spacer (nut) to keep the up flanges distant. Parazine's friend's picture on page 2 is quite clear on this as well as being a good tip on overcoming the broken tang at the hinge ends.  Flange up acts as a gutter to keep water off the engine .

[David.H]

Indeed, but with flanges up the bonnet is pushed up by the flange even with a spacer. I will try flanges down and up and try with the bar "suspended" rather than resting on the brackets to see if lowering further makes a difference.I am sure that fitting the cowl as far forward as it will go, will help as the bonnet will sit better on the rubber seal. I will report back!
Black art this bodywork!

[AustinWood]

I use a second nut above the bar to hold the bonnet hinge at the correct height. I also have a penny washer with the sides bent up so that it fits inside the flange. This prevents water falling through the slotted hole onto a spark plug.

[David.H]

Only problem is that if one raises the hinge too much the thread is so cream crackered that I wouldn't be able to screw it in place! !
We will see!
D