Boot lock adjustment

abowie · Post by **abowie** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 9:38 am

How do you get this thing to work?

PeterCrespin · Post by **PeterCrespin** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:19 pm

abowie wrote:How do you get this thing to work?

You fix it.

Yeah, I know, lousy answer but it matches the question which obviously can't be answered economically as-is, so I'll ask all the supplementaries....

1) Which species of 'thing'? You have an FHC and OTS.
2) What is the problem? Attachment? Latching? Cable release?
3) Which part of the manual adjustment instructions isn't clear?

Ultimately, instructions or no, troubleshooting on old cars is usually pretty empirical. Basically, you adjust the body receiver fixture and/or hatch or lid peg/hook part until they line up by eye, engage, lock over centre and release as required.

Since the two systems are similar but different and you own both types, plus there is a range of possible struggles, you have to give enough info at the start to get a worthwhile answer.

Pete

Pete

christopher storey · Post by **christopher storey** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 4:24 pm

The catch on an OTS can be a real pain . I lent my OTS to a friend for a tour of ireland ( we also went, but in my FHC ). Friend ( we are still friends ! ) is rather heavy handed and kept on slamming the bootlid as a result of which the catch was bent and I spent hours in the rain in Connemara trying to reset it . You will probably find that it is a question of the shims on the lid needing either more - or less !! Perhaps the only helpful tip I can give is that a digital camera with timer and flash is invaluable - you put it inside on say a 10 sec delay and press the lid closed. The resultant photo may give you some idea of the relative positions of lid and body parts which need adjustment

PeterCrespin · Post by **PeterCrespin** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 9:07 pm

Agree that forcing things is counterproductive. Very clever trick with the camera, provided you can get the boot open again :-)

Pete

abowie · Post by **abowie** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 10:25 pm

christopher storey wrote: Perhaps the only helpful tip I can give is that a digital camera with timer and flash is invaluable

Sorry Peter it's my OTS. Installing the catch is about the last thing to do on the car. Bloody brilliant idea the camera; I shall try it on the weekend. Where on the lock tang should the boot catch first contact? Given the two screws that hold the lock itself into threaded holes on the body I assume that there's no adjustment with the lock, only with the catch on the bootlid. It's odd that I'm sure there were no shims in the boot when I dismantled the car but I'm now at about 6mm shimming with no joy.

abowie · Post by **abowie** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 10:31 pm

although having double checked my pre teardown photos there were in fact a substantial number of shims in there. Is it worth trying to do this with the boot seal off?

PeterCrespin · Post by **PeterCrespin** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 11:44 pm

From memory the lock is held with four fasteners not two.

Pete

abowie · Post by **abowie** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:20 am

The ones I'm referring to are the ones that go into the threaded holes in the body. The lock itself sits on a separate pressed metal mount which is held by 4 captive screws.

christopher storey · Post by **christopher storey** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:35 am

I think it probably is worth trying without the boot seal, but you will need to take some steps to protect the paint . If you can get it to catch without the seal, then you know at least that the alignment is correct ( and this is the most difficult thing to get right ) . It is then a question of whether you need another shim or two to give enough downwards travel toget the lock to go over -centre with a seal installed

jonr · Post by **jonr** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:42 pm

If you are not to tall you can go inside the boot with a flashlight and look what happends when you close the bootlid. (I am 176cm and I fit inside)

johnshep44 · Post by **johnshep44** » Fri Apr 17, 2015 4:07 pm

Hi All,

I am new to the forum so please excuse any newbie failings. I have a 1965 S1 OTS which has an annoying problem - the boot lid keeps opening when driving - mainly when you hit an inevitable pothole on our wonderfully maintained UK roads. I am fairly hand mechanically and have tried all manner of adjustments with positioning of the adjustable part on the boot lid. I have tried loads of different quantities of shims but it still keeps happening. I am certain that the locking fork in the boot part is going over-centre and holding the boot. I have checked the functioning by removing the boot lid part and pressing it into the lock mechanism by hand and it works properly and won't come out without pulling the release cable.
The only thing I can think of which I haven't been able to verify is that maybe when you hit a pothole, there is some body flex which has the effect of pulling the release cable.

Has anyone out there solved this one?

Any suggestions much appreciated

regards
John

PeterCrespin · Post by **PeterCrespin** » Fri Apr 17, 2015 11:52 pm

Keep adjusting. I've had the 'airbrake effect' and you need to keep tweaking the receiver and the striker halves until they engage deeply enough to latch fully over-centre. Your experiment worked but there's clearly a bit of latch friction when the catch is engaging that stops it happening 100% in situ.

At least with an OTS you can see when it happens. I went abroad in a D-type once and the first I knew was a driver coming alongside and motioning that my drop-down spare wheel hatch had, err, dropped down and all my luggage bits crammed in there were about to decorate the E17.

Pity any following driver who might have ended up with my smalls blowing onto their windscreen...

Post by **Heuer** » Sat Apr 18, 2015 8:31 am

Are you sure the cable is not too tight meaning the release handle is against its housing? This would mean the latch will not be fully engaged.

johnshep44 · Post by **johnshep44** » Sat Apr 18, 2015 1:11 pm

Hi Guys,

thanks for the useful and very rapid replies. I've spent a few hours tinkering over the last two days - including persuading my daughter to climb in the boot and watch what happened!

I do think the cable might have been too tight. It's taken a bit of experimentation to now get it slack enough so that it shouldn't hinder latching but tight enough that there's enough movement to unlatch it.

I also discovered that the small flange which sits just above the mechanism in the boot (about 1/4" wide running almost the full width of the boot just below the weather seal) had been hammered down in the centre where the mechanism is and was preventing the mechanism from sitting flush with its mounting bracket. Why on earth someone would do that is beyond me. Anyway I've sorted that, adjusted everything and got my daughter to confirm that it seems to latch properly.

Going to go for a test run now to see if I've cured the self-deploying airbrake.

many thanks

John

Mark Gordon · Post by **Mark Gordon** » Sat Apr 18, 2015 1:50 pm

I had the same problem with my boot lid. It turned out to be because the lock on the boot wasn't quite lined up with the catch on the tub. My daughters are too grown now to slip into the boot while I closed the lid, so I set up my digital camera in the boot with it pointing towards the mechanism and used the self timer to take a few shots after I closed the lid and made appropriate adjustments. It was a little fiddly but after a few tries I got it adjusted so that the lid stays latched even on our pot holed roads.

johnshep44 · Post by **johnshep44** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:35 am

Well as it turns out I didn't get to the end of the street before it opened again!
I was armed with a selection of washers and a 7/16 socket and ended up trying all sorts of combinations. I think I have finally cracked it - managed 10 miles without it opening. It now has 2 square shim plates and 2 washers per bolt under the boot lid part and it is at the extreme rearward end of the allowable travel. Fingers crossed. By the way in case you were wondering the panel gaps around the boot lid are even all round and it sits nice and flush with the body so I don't think that's the cause.

Whilst on the road stopping every mile or so to sort out the boot, I also developed a misfire mid range once the car warmed up which turned out to be rotor arm. I had heard that the Chinese copies crack when hot so some time ago bought what I was assured was a NOS original Lucas part (black with riveted metal part) and had fitted that. Luckily I had kept the red unriveted arm (of unknown provenance) which came with the car and when I swapped back to that, the misfire was gone. In order to be sure it wasn't some other temperature-related issue which had temporarily gone away whilst I changed the rotor arm, I made sure that I ran back up to full temp before concluding the problem was definitely solved. Anybody know where you can get genuine original Lucas arms?

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions

regards
John
1965 S1 OTS 1E10377

Post by **Heuer** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 1:57 pm

Don't bother - buy the red rotor arm from Distributor Doctor: http://www.distributordoctor.com/red-rotor-arms.html They really are superb. I had a misfire on my Elan and tried new plugs, caps leads, rotor arms and dizzy caps, none of which solved the problem. Someone here suggested DD Red so I bought one and the problem miraculously disappeared. Buy direct as they are so good there are now copies made in red plastic! Originals will have a raised 'DD' in the red material.

johnshep44 · Post by **johnshep44** » Sat May 02, 2015 1:04 pm

Well I thought I had solved the airbrake problem but two days later there it was again!! Grrrr!!! I seriously contemplated buying new parts even though my original ones look perfectly ok. Anyway I do think I have now fixed it. I took out all the extra shim washers I had tried and just left the two square shim plates originally fitted. I then elongated the holes in the striker plate (lid part) so that it is now possible to adjust it too far rearwards so that it hits the lock part rearwards of the engagement slot. Careful adjustment forwards by trial and error so that the striker only just clears the lock part and drops into the slot seems to have worked. When I shut the boot now, there is a noticeable ping as the lock goes over centre and engages properly. Also when opening, the lid springs up much more quickly than before - not sure why. Several outings later it hasn't opened by itself once. Fingers crossed.

andrewh · Post by **andrewh** » Wed Mar 08, 2017 11:14 am

you don't need little children to risk life and limb nowadays

mind you I have still to sort my locking out!

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Boot lock adjustment

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