Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Finch661]

for those who have a mini or had a mini, you will know how annoying re-fitting the bonnet is! my bonnet has never fitted too well, and i want it nice and flush before my respray!

any advice would be great








thanks
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1985 Mini Mayfare (1275)
1976 Mg Midget 1500

[danielr]

I think that it's just as annoying to fit a bonnet to practically any car and get the gaps all lined up.

my advice is to do it one side at a time.

tighten both sides to a firm fit.
then try shutting the bonnet and seeing what gaps are out.

from your pictures it looks like you need to twist slightly clockwise, but i can't quite see the gap beneath the windscreen. from what i can see this looks quite tight.

to correct the alignment, loosen the drivers side about a quarter of a turn on the bolts that fix to the bonnet, loosen the bolts on the passenger side about half a turn,
now pull the passenger side of the bonnet out a tiny bit,

now tighten the bolts up again and try to close the bonnet.
continue to adjust as necessary.

(remember that a move of just a millimetre at the hinge will be massively exaggerated at other end of the bonnet). like how a door has less physical movement at the hinge is you see what I mean -so make small adjustments at a time and keep checking and re-checking.


if you feel that the gap between the bonnet and the windscreen is too big then instead of pulling out the passenger side only loosen the passenger side a quarter turn on the nut and loosen the drivers side by half a turn and push this side in.


the reason I say to only loosen the nuts such a little amount, (so that it'll still be difficult to move) is that if you loosen then right off the position that you're trying to adjust from will be lost, and the weight of the bonnet makes the hinges 'slop' downwards so you'll make a slight adjustment and find that it's worse! then adjust the other way and find it's still worse because most of the shifting of the bonnet position would be being done as you slacken the bolts (if you loosen them too far) always putting out your start position for your fine adjustments

[Finch661]

thanks very much, i will tinker with it tommorrow. its a right pain to sort out
i am going to fit some italian job leather bonnet straps to bring the front down a bit, but i want it looking good before the repsray
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1985 Mini Mayfare (1275)
1976 Mg Midget 1500

[victor 101]

It's pretty tight to the scuttle below the windscreen and yet appears to overhang at the front, so I would't be surprised if it has had a front end collision and a poor repair, there seems to be a fair bit of rust and filler under a very poor paint job. New panels for Mini's are cheap and it might be worth replacing a wing or even the bonnet before having a respray. Sorry if that sounds unfair.

[Finch661]

the wings are about 1-2 years old, so they are not getting replaced! the paint job is poor (hence the respray) the guy i bought it off did the paint job in his driveway. it looked great when i bought it, but now its faded and cracking. it is my first mini, and have learned a lot about it. now i want it looking good, rather than just running!
i was thinking about a new bonnet, though there is about 4-5mm at the top of the scuttle and i have noticed there is quite a big gap between the bonnet and the latch part. i need to raise the spring pluger to bring the bonnet down a bit!
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1985 Mini Mayfare (1275)
1976 Mg Midget 1500

[Phil - Nottingham]

The obviously replaced wings have not been fitted well at all and may well not be of good fit anyway. Some cheap pattern parts sometime do not even look like the part! Most will need some fettling anyway

A new front end properly fitted is the only real solution
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Rover P2
Rover P4
Rover P5 & P5B
Land Rover S2 & S3
Morris Mini Traveller Mk2

[47Jag]

Finch,

I would agree with Victor101 that you have to replace at least the R/F wing. The gap isn't straight for a start so you would be wasting your time adjusting while that looks like that. My tupence FWIW.

Art

[Finch661]

cheers for the input people!
do you think it is possible for the wing to be cut off and re-welded in place correctly. i have a feeling that the bonnet may match (with some fettling) once that has been done
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1985 Mini Mayfare (1275)
1976 Mg Midget 1500

[Rick]

once cut off the old wing isn't going to be in a fit state to re-fit (IMHO), much better get a new replacement one, plus while it is off it'll give you chance to have a good poke about at the inner wings to see if anythings looking frilly under there, before splashing out on paint etc

R
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[Ray the rocker]

Cripes---that offside wing!!! Looks like it was shot on with a gun!!
You`ve got to start with the proper distance gap on the wings before even trying a bonnet to fit---also, those damn front grilles make everything look so untidy if not fitted properly---best of luck with the project...


Cheers---Ray the Rocker...

[bob2]

Having had 5 minis in the past and still own 2, I'd say that the wings and possibly even the front panel need changing and the new ones need to be properly aligned and the car checked on a jig prior to that!!
Also is the bonnet closed in those pics cause it seems to be ajar?
the grill doesnt look to have been fitted correctly either!!
That said its difficult to get pattern parts to fit correctly so if you change the whole front end use the proper original parts (Mini machine does some good ones apparently, though I've never used them).
The bonnet might also be a pattern part so even with all the front end changed, if you leave that on it might still be a little out on the front end!!

[Finch661]

thanks so much for the help. when i bought the mini, i didnt know anything about them, so didnt know what to look for! a lot of the pannel replacement and welding was done by the previous owner, it was his first project car. only now are certin problems showing up.

i think i will look at replacing the wing and bonnet, and get it professionally done!

will keep you posted on the project!
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1985 Mini Mayfare (1275)
1976 Mg Midget 1500

[Rick]

let us know how you get on, if you can get the panelwork to as good a state as possible, the final paintjob will make it all worthwhile and you'll avoid having to re-do it 12 months down the line

Rick
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Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
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[ukdave2002]

A trick I have used in the past to sort out poor shut lines is to braze some rod of the appropriate thickness on to the offending panel, in this case the top of the wing, and fill under it. use round rod because the curve will look natural.

I would agree that the wings have been poorly fitted, which is easy to do with pattern parts.

Dave

[Finch661]

cheers for the advice. thinking about it, the costs of fitting a new wing and respraying, i could probably buy another mini without these problems...... unfortunatley, this is my first car, so i am going to keep it for aslong as possible

watch this space for updates!
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1985 Mini Mayfare (1275)
1976 Mg Midget 1500