Hinged Bonnet conversion

[Niftynoo]

A big thumbs up for Allan Howell's hinged bonnet conversion - you'll find his ad. under 'Parts for Sale' in the For Sale section on the TVR Car Club website. It's a very neat and professional job using rose joints fixed onto the original main bonnet front fixing bolts. A little bit of fibre glass strengthening, other stainless steel fixings and the 'job's a goodun'. Excellent value for money compared to other more 'well known' specialists who charge two or three times as much.

Well worth the trip up from Brighton to County Durham - he only needs the car for a couple of days so find a local B&B or campsite (as I did), and enjoy the lovely surrounding countryside whilst he's working on the car.

Called into to Power on the way home (being concerned about a recently acquired engine rattle) who confirmed I do need a rebuild - still at least I'll be able to look at my new shiny engine with ease!

[Niftynoo]

Hi Matt,

The rose joints literally screw onto the original front main bonnet studs, the fibre glass on the bonnet through which the stud passes is cut away to clear the rose joint. Another bolt with spacers goes thru the rose joint at 90 deg. into a new hole drilled into the bonnet.
The only bit of f/glass strengthening is to the inside front corner of the bonnet.
And yes the service bonnet and main bonnet open independently.
Allan is going to do a DIY kit with pics. etc. when all will be revealed.

Roger

[Niftynoo]

benny4x said:

seems such a good idea I recently had a small fire when my airfilter caught fire,would have been great to have been able to lift the bonnet so I knew where to point fire extinqisher
is the bonnet held down firmly compared to 4 bots and 2 clips?

You still retain the top clips and centre bolts and it pivots on the rose joints that take the place of the bottom bolts so you've still got 6 fixing points.

[Niftynoo]

NCE 61 said:

That looks a nice conversion, I would like to see some more detailed pictures of hinges & fiberglass work. Good price as well

Here's the rose joint pivot with bolt and spacer - the g/fibre was reinforced with 3-4 layers of matting around the new hole drilled into the bottom corner of the main bonnet. The corner of the f/glass that takes the existing fixing bolt was cut away so the rose joint is screwed down onto the captive stud.

[Niftynoo]

Yep, the two mid point nuts are retained, need only be finger tight. The long stays are hinged from the wing and when raised clip to the edge of the raised bonnet in exactly the same away the service stay works (ball and cup type fixings). A strip of Valcro is wrapped around the stay and fixes to another piece stuck on top of the wheel arch to locate them when folded down. The respective fixings are riveted to f/glass with addition of s/s reinforcement strips.

[Niftynoo]

Blimey Nick, you've got good eyesight!!