Sorted out my 240 bonnet hinge adjustment, easy peasy

[zagatoman]

Hi all,

Decided to sort out my bonnet hinges on my 240 today as I have the problem of the bonnet sticking up at the back. Many people have had this problem with lots of different solutions that sometimes work and sometimes not.

I took a long hard look at the offending hinges and couldn't find any twisting or damage, all looked fine to me. I thought that if I could give the hinges a bit more extra adjustment it could all be sorted. I took them out one at a time and set about cutting and drilling and put back. They both worked a treat and the bonnet now fits flush and I can now even make the bonnet lower as I have now tons more adjustment. I could lower them down another 10mm if needed in the future.

The cutting and drilling only took me 10 minutes for each hinge, the complete job only took me an hour.

I have included A, B and C images to show the places metal will have to be removed to give you the extra adjustment. You might have to bend the bodywork just under the hinged adjustment bar so as it can get lower down because of the lower position of the slot the adjustment nut sits into. A couple of hard banks with a lump of wood and a hammer sorts of out no problem.

I might have made the description on how to do it a bit complicated but is in fact very simple to do.

You will have to take the spring off and on again but this is not a problem to do, just be careful.

Good Luck

Paul

[minesa240x3]

Hi Paul well done on solving the problem but you might like to add"Make sure the hinge is moving free and easy before refitting and continue to lubricate now and again".As I'm sure this is the commonest problem that makes them deform.

Nice to know that I can buy hundreds of bent hinges now and sell them as "Newly modified and refurbished hinge" only £60 a set Lol.

Regards Brian.

[zagatoman]

Hi Brian

You are totally right, I should have mentioned the continual maintenance.

Many people have said this problem occurs because the hinge deforms and twists because of lack of maintenance, I could not find any evidence that twisting had happened and all areas were well lubricated. I inspected the hinges in operation opening and closing the bonnet, everything moved square and in-line as it should with nothing showing that it was twisted.

I am very please with the result and hopefully this will help others with the same problem.

Would be very interested to hear what other people feel had twisted on their hinges.

Paul

[Clifford Pope]

Well done Paul - nice solution.

[honestjoe]

Hi paul..This could be good news for a lot of us..Well done for tackling this..its one of a few jobs that we seem to live with rather than wake a sleeping dog!..When my hinges went it was not long after i bought my bus..on shutting the bonnet it went ever so slightly sideways and would not line up..It took two strapping blokes..vice grips and extension poles to get it serviceable again..Its fine and works perfectly to the point i actualy almost forget it at times..but quite a few folk have noticed it and one in particular said it let down an otherwise wearing well bus!..Cheers hj.

[Paul240480]

Thanks Paul, I've asked for this to be moved over to 'articles'as it needs to be kept 'handy'

[Tonymontana81]

Originally Posted by zagatoman

Hi all,

Decided to sort out my bonnet hinges on my 240 today as I have the problem of the bonnet sticking up at the back. Many people have had this problem with lots of different solutions that sometimes work and sometimes not.

I took a long hard look at the offending hinges and couldn't find any twisting or damage, all looked fine to me. I thought that if I could give the hinges a bit more extra adjustment it could all be sorted. I took them out one at a time and set about cutting and drilling and put back. They both worked a treat and the bonnet now fits flush and I can now even make the bonnet lower as I have now tons more adjustment. I could lower them down another 10mm if needed in the future.

The cutting and drilling only took me 10 minutes for each hinge, the complete job only took me an hour.

I have included A, B and C images to show the places metal will have to be removed to give you the extra adjustment. You might have to bend the bodywork just under the hinged adjustment bar so as it can get lower down because of the lower position of the slot the adjustment nut sits into. A couple of hard banks with a lump of wood and a hammer sorts of out no problem.

I might have made the description on how to do it a bit complicated but is in fact very simple to do.

You will have to take the spring off and on again but this is not a problem to do, just be careful.

Good Luck

Paul

Where might I access the 3 photos?

[jsmall]

Yes I would love to see the photos.

[braindamage]

My car also looks like someone had made a bad choice when modifying their car in the scene from ten to fifteen years ago.



Would like to get it lining up again properly, but don't want to start randomly cutting hinges, so if anyone has access to some pictures of what has to be done it would be good.