securing the bonnet...

[peteA]

Had a bit of a moment with my bonnet!

Standard cerbera bonnet catch arrangement 'let go' at...er...speed, shall we say.

I understand adjustment is a bit fiddly and time consuming and not always successful....

I'm thinking of replacing the standard arrangement with those body work 'fasteners' to give me peace of mind when at er speed...you know the ones, the flush fitting alloy type that you see on dragster bodywork...?

- any opinions on the asthetics of this? do you think it would look OK or good?

- where do you get these 'fasteners' from?

Thanks in advance

[Ireland]

I'm not sure of the exact type uou mean but I'd start by looking at the Demon Tweeks catalogue / website.

[TT Tim]

I assume you mean bonnet pins like this: Click

They will do the job, but there's no doubt in my mind that fitting them will have a detramental effect when you come to sell the car. They may look 'right' on a race car, but on a road car.

Just adjust your standard set up correctly, I have a couple of small bits of 1/4" fuel hose in the bonnet catches and this seem to work very well.

I have read that alloy replacements for the nylon bits are available.

HTH

Tim

[Mars]

There was something I've seen recently which was a recessed bonnet fixing. Can't find it, or recall what it was called to search for it. Basically it's exactly what you need, an external fixing system which applies downward pressure to the closed bonnet without having to resort to those "pin" fixings you used to see on rally cars.

I'll keep looking for it because I reckon it'd be a really good solution for the "floating bonnet" syndrome which affects Cerbs and unnerves owners.

[Mars]

Got it. Aerocatch.

http://www.aerocatch.com/

Available here:

http://www.raceparts-direct.com/products/fasteners...

Not terribly expensive either.

[bobbins]

Yep, won't help resale value but that won't be on your mind when the bonnet lifts at speed.

Check the rubber grommets haven't perished. If they have then fit a couple of new ones, it's easy enough, just pull the perished old ones out with some tweezers and stick two new ones in. Just make sure the new ones are the right size as you'll need the rods to fit flush inside them to minimise the chance of the bonnet lifting. I took my old ones along to a motorspares place - can't remember what size they are now but they were harder to find than I thought they'd be.

[Nefarious]

From memory, the rubber grommets are 16mm and available from pretty much any electrical factors.

I didn't twig this until after I'd bdone mine, but if you buy the "half-blind" ones, and then cut a slit or cross in the blanking piece, it'll pinch the nylon bit even tighter and prevent any rattles.

Edited by Nefarious on Tuesday 9th December 19:12

[greenm]

check previous thread on this also should have a small spoiler under the car just befor the engine bay to slightly deflect the air so it does not rush into the engine bay causing pressure build up?

[brogenville]

Have a look at Dzus fasteners too- cheap, discreet and effective.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DZUS-fastener-self-ejecting-...

[Cooky]

Yep, mine also has a tendency to lift, always has with/without the front splitter. It's been into several places for a fix, everytime it works for a very limited period. The only cure was to wind out the arrowheads to the max and then wind them back in until the bonnet closes with a tiny bit of bias to one side. Not as frequent but it still has moments abone 1.4leptons

[peteA]

brogenville said:

Have a look at Dzus fasteners too- cheap, discreet and effective.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DZUS-fastener-self-ejecting-...

Thats the ones!

As per some of the previous comments I think they look good on competition cars and they obviously work but whether they would look good on a otherwise standard production car...

I am thinking along the lines of retaining the existing set up (all be it adjusted) and fitting an extra belt and braces 'set up' to allay my fears of the bonnet opening at speed as even though it only happened once I lost faith in the set up...how do you know, even when its been adjusted that it wont happen again? Call me fussy but I dont like the idea of extending the car and every time i get above a certain speed clenching my arse (even more than usual...) because i am waiting for the bonnet to fly up and block my view!

Just not sure how to do it...

[Brummmie]

I remade the brackets on the bonnet out of aluminium and bonded them to top edge, sort of T shaped then bent over 90 degrees, so that the forces pull it tighter. The fibreglass stock jobs are a bit flexy and pop out at high speeds.
I have had mine read 2.0 leptons a couple of occasions and no dramas. Beforehand it popped out, and even managed to delaminate the strengthening bars from the skin. Bonded that back together with Sikaflex (automotve panel glue)

[fatjon]

Having spent hours on the original catches and replacing all the rods, pins and everything I concluded that they were utter crap and I wanted something I could utterly rely on when drving a car this fast. I put the aerocatch ones on mine they look the DBs and it's rock steady right up to the top of fifth as thoroughly tested in Germany.

Jon

[Cooky]

Jon,
Any chance you can post up a few pics please?

[Mars]

Seconded for the Aerocatch pics please.

[hugepiece]

another thing is LEVEN actually make turned ally replacements for the plastic pins. the ones on my cerb had ground away, replacing with these fixed the issue - basically they are threaded and can be adjusted

[fatjon]

will have to take a couple in the morning

[The Surveyor]

Pete

Belt and braces is what you need:- http://www.holden.co.uk/ImageDisplay.asp?imagefile...

Paul

[450Nick]

I've been looking at doing this to the Chim for a while now. In fact I was thinking about taking the hinges off and putting 4 flush mount bonnet pins on instead so the whole bonnet could be removed easily. I looked at the Aerocatch option but after looking at them in the flesh, they are rather big and IMHO would spoil the look of the car. I still haven't found the perfect option yet but I think the best bet is to keep the hinges and put two of these babies at top corners near the windscreen:

http://www.avonbar.com/product/?pid=7205

They're neat, small, flush mounted, lockable and shiney so should work with the rest of the car Thoughts??

Edited by 450Nick on Wednesday 10th December 21:49

[greenm]

Is the main reason for this happening is that at speed the air pressure pushes the centre of the bonnet upwards and then the sides away from there retainers? If so is there a better way to keep the rear of the bonnet stiffer so that it cannot flex at all? Maybe a s/s or al angle bar ect to stiffen the rear edge? Not sure there is room but could be the way to go or to keep it light a carbon box shape? Any thoughts