panel fit front wheel arch bonnet

Jaguar4.2 · Post by **Jaguar4.2** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 5:08 am

I have a series 1 4.2 and not happy with the panel gaps on the passenger side , drivers side is perfect

there is a gap between the bonnet , and front sill, ( front sill of about 12mm ) the front sill is protruding outwards by this margin , its noticable if you look from the front wheel arch .

how costly would this be to rectify ?

and what would be involved

the car was rebuilt aboyt four years ago with completly new parts

265bhp · Post by **265bhp** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:00 am

Hi
Do you have a picture you can post
How is the alignment of bonnet to front bulkhead...?
Is it the sill at fault or the bonnet shape..?

Regards
Jonathan

ChrisC · Post by **ChrisC** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 4:13 pm

I know of a couple of tricks if you can post a photo...

Jaguar4.2 · Post by **Jaguar4.2** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 2:35 am

how do i post pictures , i have a photobucket account and what size can be posted ?

thanks

vee12eman · Post by **vee12eman** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 6:42 am

Hi,

I don't think it matters what size you post, upload the photos to photobucket and the instructions to post the links to the photos are here:

http://etypeuk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1666

Regards,

Simon

Jaguar4.2 · Post by **Jaguar4.2** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 6:44 pm

hers a few photos

Jaguar4.2 · Post by **Jaguar4.2** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 6:58 pm

a few more

the ride height appears too high at the front ? , i understand this can be adjusted by removing the front roadwheels and adjusting the torsion bar setting , would this be correct

the drivers side

gaps are not pefect but a lot better than the off side

thanks

ChrisC · Post by **ChrisC** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:41 pm

Ok.... most of this is fixable from the photos

As you say the front of the bonnet where it meets the sill is higher than the back. That is resolvable.

The gap between the bonnet and the bulkhead is possibly a little wide and also resolvable.

The basic issue is that your bonnet is not shimmed correctly and both the above issues are corrected by removing shims on the hinge. I am calling it a hinge but in reality it is an alluminium casting that revolves around a steel pin and bush. Of course if all the bonnet shims have already been removed... then there is very little you can do about your gaps. There is an extremely high probablility that your bonnet has some shims.

Ok first... I notice that at the front of the sill - the bonnet appears to be pushed in a little but the back is okay... so a question - on the other side of the car is the bonnet sticking out at the front? this is fixable... but your answer dictates what job you need to do before doing any of the following...

Basic bonnet fitting:
I confess I am not an expert, but I do have patience... I believe the factory gave fitters 20 minutes to align the bonnet - I took several days...

First I would make the bonnet to bulkhead gap match the gap at the front of the doors. This is purely for asthetic reasons - it simply looks better because all the gaps are the same and people will wonder why your car looks better than the one next to it :)

If you havnt adjusted a bonnet before - you tackle it one side at a time and you need to loosen all 4 bolts on the hinge (not the one holding the bonnet on). To move the bonnet towards the bulkhead you need to remove a shim from in FRONT of the Hinge, to move the bonnet away you insert a shim. The gap looks to be okay in the photos but might not match the door gap.

These 'vertical' shims slide out towards the center of the car. You will need to have someone support the bonnet to take the weight off the shims and to be honest it is easiest to push them all out, remove 1 and then slide the remainder back in. Shims come in two thicknesses from all the usual suppliers so you can play with them to get the gaps right. Once you have removed / inserted a shim do everything up tight and have a look at the result. Repeat as necessary.

Next perhaps a little obvious but make sure the top of the bonnet is not higher than the bulkhead panel. This is adjusted using the brackets on the rear edge of the bonnet and the pin recieving bracket. Both items are adjustable but you also need the locking mechanism to work and this slightly 'pulls' the bonnet down so it is a factor in the adjustment. Its fairly obvious how to do move these parts you just loosen and move them. Once both the bonnet and bulkhead are parallel (when locked closed) then you can finally get to fix the gap you mention.

The gap with the sill at the front.
Now that you have the rear part of the gap correct you need to lower the front of the bonnet. THIS time you remove a shim that sits on TOP of the hinge... if you take them all out you will see that the gap on the sill (front) closes right up but the gap at the back is still correct... be warned if you DO take them all out the bonnet will probably hit the sill... so be carefull.

Always do the bolts up fully before closing the bonnet.

Expect to have to add/remove these shims a number of times and be aware that adjusting one side of the bonnet DOES affect the other side (a little bit).

You probably know that new bonnets are made to fit the car by rolling the lower panel edge around a metal beading so that the gap to the sill is correct. If your car has a second hand bonnet it probably doesnt fit exactly right thereby creating a larger gap. If after doing all the above your sill-bonnet gap is still too big (but is now an even gap) then the only remaining resolution is to fill the gap between the sill and bonnet and respray. Personally I think you will get close using the shims.

Ride Height:
Is adjusted by rotating the torsion bars yes but that wont affect the fitting of the bonnet.

christopher storey · Post by **christopher storey** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:42 pm

The ride height looks perfectly good to me. You can check it by measuring the distance from the centre of the front bolt holding the suspension lower wishbone on . which on level ground with the car in the midladen position ( half full of petrol and some weight in the boot - someone else may give a better definition ) should be between 8.5 and 9 inches from the ground . Altering it is quite a major job unless someone has fitted an adjustable reaction plate - that large plate that goes across the car under the bellhousing - so unless it is grossly amiss you may wish to leave it, and in any event IMHO it is better to be too high than too low

Jaguar4.2 · Post by **Jaguar4.2** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 7:39 pm

Thank you , very much , will certainly check out the bonnet alignment ,

Just one other thing

can anyone reccommend an E type specialist , in the Hampshire / Dorset region . Need to service the car before winter break , ideally a specialist that can give her a really good tune ,

Ive seen one advertised in New Forest area New forest classic cars anyone used this specialist ?

thanks

paulsco · Post by **paulsco** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:16 pm

Looking at your photos I can?t decide whether the sill is splaying outwards or the wing is pointing inwards.
I would run a straight edge along the sill and then across the door on to the wing to see which one is the problem.
If it is the sill then it may be necessary to remove the battery tray and support and twist it along its length. If it?s the wing then maybe the bolts that hold the top mudguard on need loosening to enable the edge to be pulled out a bit.

Regards,

Paul

paulsco · Post by **paulsco** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:32 pm

On second thoughts that sill is not going to twist; the sill closing panel and bulkhead is half way along it :(

Paul

ChrisC · Post by **ChrisC** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 2:04 pm

The front of the wing can be moved in and out to some degree... the sill is probably straight.

It is possible that the entire bonnet is slightly to one side and the bonnet locks are pulling the rear of the wing into alignment leaving the front of the wing to look wrong.

gsv · Post by **gsv** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 4:51 am

I am having this exact problem. Right wing is slightly out whereas left wing lines up pretty darn well. You mention the wing can be adjusted in to a degree. How?

Thanks for any info!!

David Oslo · Post by **David Oslo** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 5:26 am

The front 30cm or so of the sill can twist. It's no longer a box section, just an open half profile.

I had this problem on my car on the right side, so I took a approx 1.5m straight edge along the top of the sill (e.g. from back of door and forwards) to get an idea of the lines, checked between the good side and the bad side. Can't recall the measurement sideways but it was of the order of magnitude of 10-15mm.

I got it back in place by both un-twisting and also pulling it outwards (sideways) with brute force, basically undoing the force that had putten in inwards in the first place. Checked all with same straight edge, and then bonnet / wings shutline.

gsv · Post by **gsv** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 3:00 pm

I don't think my sill twisted bc it remained bolted to the subframe throughout. It's the right side wing that is about 1/2 inch out. Even tho the left side lines up nicely

David Oslo · Post by **David Oslo** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 3:43 pm

gsv - have you compared side to side using a straight edge along the sill, held just under the door edge ?

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