The 'E' Type Forum

Evening all,
I’ve come to refit my sugar scoops and find that the holes to rivet them to the bonnet don’t line up. Some do and some not by a long way. I’m quite sure the sand blasting of the bonnet and the scoops may have led to some slight movement or change in shape.
I have fitted the headlamp mounting panels to fit all the wiring and wonder if removing them again may allow the bonnet to move such that they line up better or….should I accept the change and drill new holes (sacrilege?!).
I’m naturally nervous of damaging the paint and also don’t really relish taking the headlamp mounting panels out again…
Advice appreciated!
Many thanks,
Rich

Rich, it’s often best to loosely assemble all parts before committing to permanent fixing. Have you searched through all the forum for “sugar”? There are many posts with comments that might help. Can you loosely fit the scoops with a couple of skin pins to check them, the chromes etc to see if you can work around the problem? That’s the best I can suggest, good luck.

Geoff

Thanks Geoff - perhaps my search was too specific - so I’ll have another trawl through and see.
It does feel that I should loosen the headlamp mounting panel and hopefully this will allow more flex.
Just interested in the general feeling. I am surprised by just how far out some of the holes appear.
Many thanks,
Rich

Richardhealey wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 07, 2021 6:53 pm

I’ve come to refit my sugar scoops and find that the holes to rivet them to the bonnet don’t line up.
I’m quite sure the sand blasting of the bonnet and the scoops may have led to some slight movement or change in shape.

Yes that's right. Even if you hadn't shot blasted any panels, merely bolting them back together with the centre panel to wing join ahead of the scoop opening being at a different angle to the vertical would have changed the shape of the opening. The only thing that that makes and keeps the shape the same is the scoop itself as this is a small rigid 3D structure whereas the bonnet panels are large thin items which only have any rigidity where they have joints or folds linking them to something else.

If you had said "I burned the paint off with a blowtorch and hit it with a hammer", then people would say of course you've changed the shape - that's called panel beating! The act of hitting it with sand at high pressure is much the same. Sand is too heavy a medium to use and contains too much energy to just strip paint. It puts heat into the bonnet and this is not done evenly. It is done in the form of a "Mexican Wave". Heat is serially put into the panels, effectively uncoiling a curved spring which has taken on a set after 50 years or so. This unwinds the "set" as the blaster moves from one end to the other, putting a wave of heat through a cold panel at one end to a cooling panel at the other with a hotspot moving it's way across the whole panel. It gets worse where there is any rust - here the local heat buildup will simply buckle the panel and the thinner metal now cools surrounded by thicker metal - it must take up the slack differently as you have discovered.

The correct way to do this is via a method which does not heat the metal. If that is to be shot blasting, then a softer (lower energy) medium ought to be used.

kind regards
Marek

Am I missing something? The scoops are a bit flexible, if the outer top two holes are made to line up, the bottom centre one can be peruaded to line up, iether by pushing up from below, or pushing down from the top, and wiggling slightly sideways. Putting various spacers or washers between the mounting points and the diafragm will adjust the final hieght & position of the front end of the scoop. Don't mess around with the diafragm (headlight mounting panel).

Ah, just realised it's a Series 2, that my be different.

Does the series 2 have the wing and bonnet centre panel welded together [ below the headlamp apererture] ?

if so did you seperate wing from centre panel in your restoration, ie cut that weld out ?

and have you rewelded after preperation and before repainting ?

I think you mean lead loaded. The "welding" will be rusted panel to rusted panel....
A series 2 is indeed different to a series 1.
kind regards
Marek

sorry i didnt mean welded..................... i think it is brazed at either end and then the gap lead loaded.

the reason for my question was to try and understand what parts of [ the 3D headlamp scoop opening ] has changed

if the wings and bonnet centre section were not seperated during restoration then the misalignment of sugar scoop rivet holes to "bonnet" could be swapped scoops ???

I dont think that sand blastig would account for holes "moving" to an extent ??

Thanks for all the replies.
I found that the flange around the scoops weren’t very flat in places ( possibly due to my exuberance of removing them). Some light work with a rubber mallet did the trick and they all line up nicely now.

Wow, fitting the chrome is fun, isn’t it? Even with 2 washers under the rivets it’s still a fight…but I’m getting there…

Rich, it’s good to hear you’re making progress. Yes, there have been quite a few comments about fitting the headlight chromes. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Geoff

Yes its a slow job and 2 washers is minimum.