My bonnet has developed a bulge

[philmcw]

Unfortunately not of the monster engine type bulge

It's about 6" long and 4" wide has appeared in my bonnet in front of the passenger wiper and over the exhaust manifold. I've taken the bonnet off and it looks like the fibreglass has de laminated.

The thing is there is no heat shielding stuck to the underside of my bonnet here - should there be and can this be repaired or is it a new bonnet ?

[TVR_owner]

Sounds like moisture in the glass - not cured correctly? It can take years to come out as a fault. If this is the cause it should be ground out and re-glassed.

[RPE11Y]

There is certainly no heat shielding in my (Mk 1) bonnet...

[Basil Brush]

RPE11Y said:

There is certainly no heat shielding in my (Mk 1) bonnet...

There wasn't on mine until the paint started peeling up so I stuck some on to stop it getting worse. I'm sure I remeber someone else on here having a piece of their bonnet cave in at the same place due to the heat.

I'm sure it can be repaired by someone who knows what they're doing.

[trackcar]

Phil : give plasticman on here a message and see what he says, he's a whizz with the old fibreglass and has probably got some tricks to stop it happening again. one thing though : make sure youve not got a running problem causing your exhausts to glow red hot, with all the tvr fires on here the last thing you want is your car catching fire if the fibreglass is getting over-hot because of a really hot exhaust( cos it sounds like something has changed if it's only just started doing this)

[jeast]

I have exactly the same thing in the same place. I'm sure that the bulge was not there when I got in the car in the morning, however, after about 7 hours of driving I noticed it when I got home. During the drive there was some really bad traffic jams and I assumed that it was the heat from from the exhaust when sitting still (no air movement to dissipate it) that caused the problem.

Was a little concerned to read that it could be a more serious problem causing the exhausts to run too hot. Are there any other symptoms that I should look for to rule this out?

[philmcw]

Interesting comments jools..

Car has just recently come back from a 6K service so maybe its running lean or whatever may make the extra heat.

I do remember first seeing the bulge just after I garaged her. I tried to feel round the edge of the bonnet near the windscreen and boy was the glass fibre really hot to the touch (if fact I don't think I could touch it). Not sure that's normal - but I couldn't say because I've never had a reason to poke round there just after I've stopped

Think as you say it may be wise to get it checked out.