Easter Bonnet problem

[mystery tramp]

Went to check my oil etc. earlier and noticed that one of the metal rods that holds the bonnet in place has sheared off where it joins the plastic piece at the end (drivers side).

Has anyone else suffered from this or for any other reason had to replace one of these? Can I do it myself (or even get a replacement rod) or do I need to book myself in with Andy?

[trooper1212]

I had exactly the same problem.

You can get a whole new rod, but there is a much easier and cheaper fix. As you've probably noticed, the rod is hollow, get a small metal bar that fits inside the rod. Glue it into the sheared end and then glue that into the sheared rod.
I used an old alan key that I had lying around, took a dremel to get rid of the kinked end and a fair amount of superglue/araldite to secure it within the original rod.

A few months on and it's still going strong, showing no signs of coming apart yet.

[satman]

Mine too...but got it replaced as the car was under a dealer warranty when i bought the car...new one fitted, and IIRC took about a week to get from the factory...

[mystery tramp]

Thanks for the advice. I took the trim off at the weekend to investigate further. Looks fairly easy to replace and the new rod was only about £4 from tvrgear so have ordered one.

Judging by this post www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=90299&f=6&h=0&hw=bonnet I can manage with one in the meantime, as long as I keep under 120.

[mystery tramp]

OK ... good news and bad news.

Good news: The part arrived very quickly from TVRGear and the courier even managed to find my house (a first I think). It's also the right part and, after a little persuasion, I managed to extract the broken piece of spar from the white plastic end bit and screw the new one in.

Bad news: I can't get the old spar off the central mechanism bit. Looking at the new one, and the existing mechanism, it looks as if there is a threaded rod that screws into the spar (I can see an internal thread on the new one)and similarly into a short spar at the other end that attaches to the rotating mechanism thing. Both ends of this short threaded rod have what I assume to be lock nuts for the corresponding spars. I have successfully undone the locking nut (assuming that'w what it is) for the spar that is broken and hoped that it would then just gracefully unscrew. No luck. Even with a spanner on the other lock nut to hold the rest still and pliers on the old spar it won't shift. I peered inside the new one and it definitely seems to thread the normal way. Anybody got any ideas/experience? I don't want to break anything if I am going about this wrong.

[tannertime]

You're right - it should just un-screw when you remove the locking nut. FWIW, I had the same problem and drilled through the plastic and the rod and inserted a small split pin - cheap, cheerful, but it may be an option if you can't undo the spar.

[jmh99]

what ever you do cover the front wings with cloth or rubber matting. I had to straighten one of the rods out and having completed the job dropped my mole grips on the front wing. BKs - two deep chips.

Still on the bright side may be the only economical means of repair is to get the head light conversion !

[beemer]

trooper1212 said:

I had exactly the same problem. You can get a whole new rod, but there is a much easier and cheaper fix. As you've probably noticed, the rod is hollow, get a small metal bar that fits inside the rod. Glue it into the sheared end and then glue that into the sheared rod. I used an old alan key that I had lying around, took a dremel to get rid of the kinked end and a fair amount of superglue/araldite to secure it within the original rod. A few months on and it's still going strong, showing no signs of coming apart yet.

blimey, you've just reminded me that I "fixed" a broken rod last year halfway to Le Mans by the side of the autoroute (visibility was slightly impaired at frogspeed!!).

All I had was a small screwdriver, a file & a pair of mole grips. Used the molegrips to smash the plastic handle off the screwdriver, the file to take the flat bits off, bit of brute force to attach the two sections, and we're off again. Nearly a year later, and still rock solid - I'm not going to bother replacing it, new ones will always snap again.

cheers
sean

[gary judd]

trooper1212 said:

I had exactly the same problem. You can get a whole new rod, but there is a much easier and cheaper fix. As you've probably noticed, the rod is hollow, get a small metal bar that fits inside the rod. Glue it into the sheared end and then glue that into the sheared rod. I used an old alan key that I had lying around, took a dremel to get rid of the kinked end and a fair amount of superglue/araldite to secure it within the original rod. A few months on and it's still going strong, showing no signs of coming apart yet.

I had the same problem kept snapping and was very interesting at about 100 mph plus . did the same thing as you after third one broke but cut the rod in half and inserted seel rod the whole length , this stops the ali rod from bending under pressure at high speeds.you will need to adjust the length of the rod once you have cut through it because it shortens it and does not fit in the keep properley. this makes the bonnet fly open at high speeds as mine did in france had to stop and make a quick repair

gary judd