364 replies to this topic

[stuart bowes]

Oh yeah good call! Thanks that's a really neat solution

[stuart bowes]

took a bit of fiddling to get it down to the right angle but one side done 

 

 

the springs arrived but they were WAY too strong, like valve springs lol you'd just bend the bonnet trying to stretch them out

 

have ordered a pack of various sizes with a few in that look possibly right, should get me close anyway and then will have a better idea what sizes / wire thickness etc to try next

Edited by stuart bowes, 03 August 2023 - 08:07 PM.

[stuart bowes]

double springs added to get as close as I can to the right strength from the pack of varied springs I ordered.  Typically only 2 of them in the pack of course and I would need 4.  but anyway I'm sure the other springs will come in handy at some point

 

 

(and the little assortment of bolt / washers / spacers / lock nut to the right showing how I provided the connection points)

 

the main bolt will eventually be a clevis pin and R clip for a slimmer profile but that hasn't arrived yet

 

it feels almost spot on and would just about support the weight of the back end of the bonnet (i.e. not flop about when opening and closing) but I feel I could possibly go a little stronger before risking bending the bonnet

 

currently 2 x these springs 

 

 

so I'll see if I can find something with the same dimensions but a slightly thicker wire

Edited by stuart bowes, 06 August 2023 - 02:37 PM.

[KTS]

try the springmasters site if you haven't already

 

https://www.springma...a-0-18mm-5-00mm

[stuart bowes]

I think I've found the right ones on ebay for for £11 for four, free delivery

 

I've gone up to 1.5mm wire thickness, 50mm unstretched length and 10mm diameter which actually is necessary to keep them separated, so hopefully those don't turn out to be too stiff.. but if they are maybe one each side will work ..  who knows

 

in the mean time anyway I can get on with finishing off the other side ready for it all to come together 

 

thanks for all the useful suggestions along the way from everyone though, greatly appreciated 

[stuart bowes]

well they were also no good, and springmaster are WELL expensive ?! unless I'm looking at the wrong things ?

 

anyway I found https://www.leespring.co.uk/ which has a decent range at sensible prices so hopefully this next batch is the winner.   bloody better be, this is turning into one expensive modification  (Although the worst bit by far has been time wasted just waiting on deliveries)

 

figured just because of delivery costs I might as well get a couple of options

 

A

Outside Diameter (mm):12.7

Wire Diameter (mm):1.24

Free Length (mm):44.45

 

and B

Outside Diameter (mm):12.7

Wire Diameter (mm):1.24

Free Length (mm):50.8

 

the ones that were nearly right were

1.19mm wire diameter

11.09mm outer diameter

47.6mm long

 

so A and B are just ever so slightly stronger and the lengths are just either side of it to hedge my bets a little on the preloading

Edited by stuart bowes, 10 August 2023 - 08:30 PM.

[KTS]

Did you change the springmasters display price to 'per single unit' ? the default is per 100 units..

[stuart bowes]

ahhhh I see.. so it was 1-11 packs of 100 @ about £400 lol that would make more sense fair enough

 

the pricing was about the same though as the ones I found so no major loss cheers anyway

[stuart bowes]

Hinges fitted. bonnet down:



bonnet up to normal angle:



and pushed up as high as it goes



the upper limiter doesn't work because I seem to have got my pivot position a bit off, the back edge of the bonnet sits down on the scuttle. Although obviously it would hit the wipers before that point

still the springs work perfectly, there is no sag when opening and closing, and when extending upwards they are not overly strong, I think just a pair of gas struts will be perfect to hold it upright and provide the upper limit at the same time

some fettling to do to finish it up but basically complete

one added benefit is, now I can just pop the springs off the hooks and pull the R clip. pop out the clevis pin and the bonnet is very easy to remove and refit

Edited by stuart bowes, 15 August 2023 - 07:38 AM.

[Jarvis_SPI]

Looks very good.

 

Any chance of posting some dimensioned drawings?

[stuart bowes]

I can try, I'm not sure how useful this will be, I know it's a bit of a mess.. but the main thing is obviously the hole positions, aside from that it's not majorly important I suppose

 

part 1

 

part 2 

 

 

points to note re: fettling and extra parts required..

 

- part one the top left corner clashed with the scuttle so obviously the bit in red is trimmed off to avoid that, you can still use the dimensions to locate the hole positions and then you're on your own creating the red curve, basically copy the original hinge shape

 

- part one with the folded edge make two mirrored / handed versions obviously

 

- the shape change in post #242 turned out to be irrelevant as mentioned above so the upper limiter is probably going to end up being dictated by gas strut positioning  (?) your guess is as good as mine I haven't got that far yet lol

 

- all of this is 3mm sheet

 

- essentially what I did was.. make part one, push it onto the original hinge studs and use that positioning to mark and drill the big 8mm hole.  then remove that and use that hole to mount part 2 with a bolt, to the opposite side from the studs.  weld that together around the bottom edges and then cut off the top part of the old hinge (where the studs are) and then finish welding and tidying up

 

- for the pivot I used M8x16 clevis pins https://www.ebay.co....ar=612959078763 which took forever to arrive, and washers to suit

 

- for the hinges I used two each side of these (4 total) https://www.leesprin...earch=LE049E04S the cheaper option 

 

- on part two where I have crudely marked with a red asterisk I ended up having to weld in a bit of extra meat to maintain the correct 'down' position stopper position so when cutting out leave a bit extra and then file down to perfect rather than the the other way around

 

i think that basically covers it obviously add in a load of time messing about fettling and so on

 

the bolts to replace the original 4 mounting studs could be M6 if you like but I went with 1/4" UNF just to keep that one thing 'original' - just personal choice on that one I guess

 

one final disclaimer I haven't confirmed yet if this clears the wiper motor but i think it does .  at least I'm very much crossing my fingers on that one (if anyone cares to weigh in with how much clearance there is on that, I took my motor out ages ago now)

Edited by stuart bowes, 14 August 2023 - 10:01 PM.

[Jarvis_SPI]

I can try, I'm not sure how useful this will be, I know it's a bit of a mess.. but the main thing is obviously the hole positions, aside from that it's not majorly important I suppose

 

part 1

 

part 2 

 

 

points to note re: fettling and extra parts required..

 

- part one the top left corner clashed with the scuttle so obviously the bit in red is trimmed off to avoid that, you can still use the dimensions to locate the hole positions and then you're on your own creating the red curve, basically copy the original hinge shape

 

- part one with the folded edge make two mirrored / handed versions obviously

 

- the shape change in post #242 turned out to be irrelevant as mentioned above so the upper limiter is probably going to end up being dictated by gas strut positioning  (?) your guess is as good as mine I haven't got that far yet lol

 

- all of this is 3mm sheet

 

- essentially what I did was.. make part one, push it onto the original hinge studs and use that positioning to mark and drill the big 8mm hole.  then remove that and use that hole to mount part 2 with a bolt, to the opposite side from the studs.  weld that together around the bottom edges and then cut off the top part of the old hinge (where the studs are) and then finish welding and tidying up

 

- for the pivot I used M8x16 clevis pins https://www.ebay.co....ar=612959078763 which took forever to arrive, and washers to suit

 

- for the hinges I used two each side of these (4 total) https://www.leesprin...earch=LE049E04S the cheaper option 

 

- on part two where I have crudely marked with a red asterisk I ended up having to weld in a bit of extra meat to maintain the correct 'down' position stopper position so when cutting out leave a bit extra and then file down to perfect rather than the the other way around

 

i think that basically covers it obviously add in a load of time messing about fettling and so on

 

the bolts to replace the original 4 mounting studs could be M6 if you like but I went with 1/4" UNF just to keep that one thing 'original' - just personal choice on that one I guess

 

one final disclaimer I haven't confirmed yet if this clears the wiper motor but i think it does .  at least I'm very much crossing my fingers on that one (if anyone cares to weigh in with how much clearance there is on that, I took my motor out ages ago now)

 

Great, very helpful. Thanks!

[stuart bowes]

minor update sandblasters rang yesterday to say they're done with my subframes :)  collecting tomorrow AM

 

I have red oxide primer and chassis paint ready so job tomorrow is going to be getting that done so it doesn't get left sitting as bare metal for any length of time.  I don't feel like the age of the subframes and the overall value of the car really warrants the added cost of powedercoating in this instance

 

the next rebuild or repair would just be a new frame really I think especially in the case of the rear one, the front one actually looks totally fine as it already was 

 

no excuses then it's all about getting the boot floor welding finished and the rear subframe completed and re fitted and one end actually back on the floor 

Edited by stuart bowes, 22 September 2023 - 08:51 AM.

[Retro_10s]

Eh that's jolly good news. 

 

Part of me really wants to pull the frames on mine, but I just don't have the space in a single garage, I did it on my last mini and it was fine but there's a lot more stuff in there now, so I'll just struggle on with it in situ. 

 

Look forward to seeing the subbies!

[stuart bowes]

Subframes as received back from the sandblasting

 

 

and the welding that I decided needing doing, primarily the little slot where i'd nicked it while cutting the boot floor but also just to tidy up the ends where the factory welding was lets just say sub par (or at best, a little half-arsed)

 

I realise these are also spot welded so probably all I've done is tidy up, rather than have any real effect on structural integrity, but whatever

 

pictures are fairly self-explanatory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was also literally just one or two tiny little rust spots that I drilled out and welded back in and smoothed off, should have taken pics I suppose but just got carried away working

 

I was going to weld around the towers of the front subframe as well but I didn't for two reasons, one - I'm not racing it and it's survived 30 years like that as have countless hundreds of thousands of others, and two - I've already used half this gas bottle with the parcel shelf and the bonnet hinges, and other little bits, and I still need to finish off the underside of the boot floor yet

 

so anyway I just got on with red oxide primering it which ls still going on now, taking ages to really get into all the gaps, it'll take a few days of leaving to dry, turning over, doing more, etc

 

 

I've decided after that's done I'll etch prime spray into all the gaps and crevices I couldn't really get into with a brush,  then black spray paint into those same places getting loads in there, then I'll do the chassis paint (brush again) then obviously when it's fitted it'll be all wax-oyled as well

 

I also ran a die up and down the rear subframe mounting studs to clean up those threads, all good there (7/16 UNF in case anyone was wondering)

Edited by stuart bowes, 24 September 2023 - 09:17 PM.