21 replies to this topic

[Compdoc]

A friend of mine has just bought a 1990 Mini with a fibreglass bonnet that looks the worse for wear, so I suggested (foolishly), that he purchased a new Heritage bonnet and some hinges, and I would fit it for him.

Unfortunately, when I went to fit it, I realised that the previous owner had smoothed the bulkhead and ground off the hinge brackets!

It seems that nobody makes these brackets, and as my friend has just coughed up £250 for a new bonnet + hinges, I feel a bit obligated to try and scratch build some.

We fitted the bonnet including hinges to the car and using a mobile phone endoscope I could see up into the corners of the scuttle, but obviously could not get any accurate measurements.

Now, I know this is a bit of a long shot, but if anyone is, say, fitting a new scuttle panel and can get access to to the hinge brackets, could they please measure the distance between the bulkhead, and the centre of the hole, for the hinge pin. This should give me a fighting chance.

Thanks in advance.

[gaspen]

A friend of mine has just bought a 1990 Mini with a fibreglass bonnet that looks the worse for wear, so I suggested (foolishly), that he purchased a new Heritage bonnet and some hinges, and I would fit it for him.

Unfortunately, when I went to fit it, I realised that the previous owner had smoothed the bulkhead and ground off the hinge brackets!

It seems that nobody makes these brackets, and as my friend has just coughed up £250 for a new bonnet + hinges, I feel a bit obligated to try and scratch build some.

We fitted the bonnet including hinges to the car and using a mobile phone endoscope I could see up into the corners of the scuttle, but obviously could not get any accurate measurements.

Now, I know this is a bit of a long shot, but if anyone is, say, fitting a new scuttle panel and can get access to to the hinge brackets, could they please measure the distance between the bulkhead, and the centre of the hole, for the hinge pin. This should give me a fighting chance.

Thanks in advance.

 

I searched my gallery but I only found this. You will see the shape of the brackets, maybe this helps you a little bit.

 

 IMG_20200626_130723.jpg   43.73K   4 downloads

[Compdoc]

That's great, I can see the strenghtening is on the inner bracket only. Thanks for that. Just need the hight now.

[GraemeC]

I may be wrong, but I thought M-machine did the hinge brackets

[Compdoc]

I may be wrong, but I thought M-machine did the hinge brackets

Yes, I did as well. Their picture shows the hinge connected to the bulkhead bracket, but I phoned them this morning and they said that that particular part number was for the hinge only and they do not manufacture the bracket as there is no demand for it. Apparently, it only comes with a complete bulkhead. I suggested, (in a joke), to my friend that he purchase one of these, but we had to revive him with weak tea and smelling salts!

[Mito]

It might be easier to find someone breaking a mini and have them cut them off for you.

[Tornado99]

Could an alternative arrangement that does not use the hinge points be considered, such as the pinned type bonnet setups?

[Compdoc]

It might be easier to find someone breaking a mini and have them cut them off for you.

Yes, that's a good idea. Although, if I manage to get hold of some brackets, how to weld or bolt them to the bulkhead in such an inaccessible area. I'm beginning to think that Tornado's idea might be the only way forward.

Second hand Minivation hinges that bolt to the inner wing have been suggested, but I bought some of these a few years ago and they really are not fit for purpose, much too flimsy for normal use.

[sonikk4]

They are literally held on with three spot welds on each section, having removed these before to replace the metal underneath, very easy to do with the scuttle off.

But if the scuttle is on and providing you have them located correctly to start with then bolting them in place would be another option. Here I would use floating anchor nuts on the rear of the bulkhead. Gives you a little bit of wiggle room for adjustment if the position is slightly out.

[Red Riley]

I'm probably missing something, but how was the fibreglass bonnet attached? Can't you use the same?

[Compdoc]

I'm probably missing something, but how was the fibreglass bonnet attached? Can't you use the same?

The original fibreglass bonnet was held on with two bonnet pins that protruded through the top corners of the bonnet and fixed with a couple of giant R clips. My friend who owns the car, which is otherwise pretty original, wanted to to return the car to original spec.

 

They are literally held on with three spot welds on each section, having removed these before to replace the metal underneath, very easy to do with the scuttle off.

But if the scuttle is on and providing you have them located correctly to start with then bolting them in place would be another option. Here I would use floating anchor nuts on the rear of the bulkhead. Gives you a little bit of wiggle room for adjustment if the position is slightly out.

Floating anchor nuts definitely sounds like a good idea, the owner is stripping out the dash tomorrow so that I can drill from the inside of the car. With the scuttle on I couldn't even get a Dremel with a 90 degree angle head, up into the corners. So the chances of drilling from the back and getting it spot on is pretty remote.

[viz139]

I am looking at fitting a servo on a Riley Elf with the early hinges that are further in and will hit the servo. Having looked at fitting the later type hinges further out, trying to locate them right and than weld up under the scuttle I decided to buy articulated hinges instead that fit to the inner wing.

Similar to these.

https://www.minimani...ed-Bonnet-Hinge

[Compdoc]

I am looking at fitting a servo on a Riley Elf with the early hinges that are further in and will hit the servo. Having looked at fitting the later type hinges further out, trying to locate them right and than weld up under the scuttle I decided to buy articulated hinges instead that fit to the inner wing.

Similar to these.

https://www.minimani...ed-Bonnet-Hinge

These look very like the Minivation hinges who are no longer trading. The ones I bought a few years ago had their logo etched into them, so these may be knock-off's although the ad does say, "This item is not available".

I believe the later version used the original hinge fixings instead of mounting to the inner wing, so I would think the wing mounted ones weren't very good. Mine had peened over connector pins with a nylon washer in-between, which gave a lot of sideways movement and a feeling of flimsiness.

[Tornado99]

Cole of Classic MiniDIY youtube fame has a video installed a late version of the minivation hinges, which had pneumatic lifters etc. Ultimately he removed them after seeing stress bends/cracks happening on the bonnet edges. He ultimately went with a pinned setup.

[sonikk4]

Cole of Classic MiniDIY youtube fame has a video installed a late version of the minivation hinges, which had pneumatic lifters etc. Ultimately he removed them after seeing stress bends/cracks happening on the bonnet edges. He ultimately went with a pinned setup.

 

Roundnose bonnets are notoriously flimsy at the best of times, but Minivation did do different strength dampers. Also they did a mod later on which moved the damper mount position which alleviated the stress.

 

I went through all of this on my Clubby and now that i have the mod done its made things a better especially now it does not kick the rear of the bonnet up. But they are not the strongest and i have to do a mod on my old set to see if i can fit a replacement pin and straighten the plates when i made a mistake.