Amazon: Adjusting the bonnet hinges

[simonvolvo]

Any bright ideas on how to go about doing this?

The object of the exercise, obviously, is to line up the bonnet nicely with the car body when the bonnet is closed.

[amazon69]

Loosen them enough to move the bonnet on the hinges (not too loose), then lower the bonnet to gauge alignment with the wings, and then bump it left and right from the lower position. Lift, tighten. As to the height of the back of the bonnet, that's a bit more trial and error..ie tighten the bolts, see how high it sits, if too high, loosen, push down, tighten, repeat, etc.

[simonvolvo]

Originally Posted by amazon69

Loosen them enough to move the bonnet on the hinges (not too loose), then lower the bonnet to gauge alignment with the wings, and then bump it left and right from the lower position. Lift, tighten. As to the height of the back of the bonnet, that's a bit more trial and error..ie tighten the bolts, see how high it sits, if too high, loosen, push down, tighten, repeat, etc.

Thank you. But I still have a problem.

My thinking was that you should first adjust the height on the two sides (by adjusting the fixings of the hinges to the body). If you adjust the height after having adjusted the fixing of the hinges to the bonnet, the adjustments already made go out of kilter. That is because by moving the hinges up or down they also move backward or forward (due to the +- 45° slope).

In my case, however, I can’t get beyond the first stage (adjusting the height). The left hand side of the bonnet is a little too low whilst the fixing of the hinge to the body on that side has been adjusted up as far as it can go. The right hand side of the bonnet, again, is a little too high whilst the fixing of the hinge on that side has been adjusted down as far as it can go. I have put some spacers between the bonnet and the hinge on the left hand side, and that improves things a little, but it just doesn’t seem right to me that one should have to do that.

Is my chassis and/or bonnet bent, or am I doing something wrong?

[123GT-AMAZON]

the hinges are handed aswell so make sure they have been fitted the correct way round left fro right etc

kind regards
robert

[Volvorama]

It's often the case that the pins/rivets in the hinge mechanism have worn such that it does not pull the bonnet down completely.
The hinges also get bent sometimes too.

[simonvolvo]

Stupid me!

It suddenly dawned on me that the height of the rear of the bonnet is determined not by the height of the hinge, but by the height of the rear sealing strip! All that the adjustment up/down of the hinge does is to change how hard the hinge pulls down on the bonnet.

With that profound insight I was able to sort the problem.

Apologies for having wasted your time.

[Bladerider]

Originally Posted by simonvolvo

Stupid me!

It suddenly dawned on me that the height of the rear of the bonnet is determined not by the height of the hinge, but by the height of the rear sealing strip! All that the adjustment up/down of the hinge does is to change how hard the hinge pulls down on the bonnet.

With that profound insight I was able to sort the problem.

Apologies for having wasted your time.

So how did you sort the problem? the sealing strip is not adjustable.

[simonvolvo]

Originally Posted by Bladerider

So how did you sort the problem? the sealing strip is not adjustable.

A piece of small-diameter rubber tubing under the left hand rear edge of the bonnet, to bring it to the same level as the right hand side. A temporary fix. You’re right, the sealing strip is not adjustable, but the rubber has hardened so I really should get a new one.