1090 replies to this topic

[sonikk4]

Nice work on the bonnet Neil

How long before paint ?

 

I was in the process of body prep having just finished the roof, one door and the bootlid.

 

Waiting for some filler primer to arrive to do some localized stuff before i go full bore and buy paint for the car.

[sonikk4]

Just got my subbies back from the powdercoaters and could not be more pleased with the result. Apart from the rear subframe where its boxed in at the very front everywhere is fully coated, and the front is the same. Will inject the cavities anyway so no issues there. They even protected all of the threads so lots of care taken.

 

And the wheels had to be grit and vapour blasted and they have come up really well. Need a lot of work to make them good but well happy. All in all £200.

[Northernpower]

That looks like £200 very well spent. What are you going to use to inject in the cavities?

[sonikk4]

That looks like £200 very well spent. What are you going to use to inject in the cavities?

 

I will be using Dinitrol as that is what we use at work on 747's and other aircraft types.

[sonikk4]

Oh and as i have been told and also found out for myself the wheels are Exactons.

[sonikk4]

Bloody bonnets, hateful things. 

 

First of the cutting

 

Magnets earning their keep

 

Tacked in place

 

And the finished article. Still some tweaks to do but once the car is off the spit.

 

Now the side reinforcement strips need replacing

 

Going to replace them with some 1.2mm steel for a tad more strength.

[sonikk4]

This bonnet is a ballache and i'm fed up with it but heyho upwards and onwards.

 

Made some new reinforcement strips and took the rear one off.

 

Took the catch off and stripped it down

 

The back edge of the bonnet was in surprisingly rust free condition as well as the strip. Took very little to sort out.

 

So everything given a good dose of primer ready for some top coat.

 

Onto the last two patches of rust

 

Still a bit more dressing to do on the first patch then onto the next one.

[Ben_O]

Very nice.

 

Having never stripped a bonnet to this degree, how rigid does the skin stay?

[sonikk4]

Very nice.

 

Having never stripped a bonnet to this degree, how rigid does the skin stay?

 

It become's very flexible Ben. Before i took the stiffener off i pre drilled it for skin pins so these will enable me to ensure its all straight before its reassembled. One repair at a time and keep checking the fit of the internal stiffener.

[sonikk4]

More progress on the bonnet today, so last remaining patch finished

 

Then it was on with the rear reinforcement strip

 

Next was the r/h side and the bumpstop as well.

 

Followed by deletion of the two slots, one of which is the bonnet stay clip mounting slot. (i have deleted all of this as i have the Minivation articulated hinge setup.)

 

And then threw a load of topcoat on the internal bracing structure. This will go in once the l/h side lip reinforcement strip is welded in and a new return fabricated for the end of the bracing.

[rich2]

Hi Neil! Great work on the bonnet!

 

Not to try to teach you to suck eggs or anything, but my biggest mistake when I did my bonnet was not keeping the front lip flat when I welded the bracing back on. I noticed in this pic that yours seems to have sprung outwards as mine did, although it could just be the angle of the photo.

 

 

On mine, I didn't notice that it wasn't totally flat until I put it back on the car next to the grille, and then I had to cut it all open again to fix the resulting gap.

 

 

Anyway, I'm sure you're well on top of all of this, but I thought it might be worth mentioning just in case :)

[sonikk4]

Mmm i will need to check that out Rich. I left the centre section in place to prevent springing plus i drilled several skin pin holes to align everything as well.

[sonikk4]

Well Rich was right mine is bowed but then they came like that by the looks of things as the original bonnet is the same. 

 

Anyway its now altogether and doing my swede in.

Paint stripping time

And found a load of rust spots hiding

 

[[/URL]

Bilt Hamber time and covered with plastic as it was too hot in the workshop

 

So after all of that i realised i had badly distorted the bonnet on one side. My shrinking hammer is crap so i cut the distortion out and also slotted another section for good measure

 

Filler time

And the first pass with sanding by hand

 

This bonnet could still get binned yet if i cannot get it to sit right at the front edge so a brand new one may be on the cards.

[Ben_O]

is that the pro-worx?

 

if so, how are you finding it?

[sonikk4]

is that the pro-worx?

 

if so, how are you finding it?

 

Yes mate it is. As you mentioned its a bit heavy going to knock back but it does sand well. Plus it does finish nicely as well.