Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Bonnet/Hood sliding forwards

Have the springs on the side catches lost their tension?

Ray - i don't think so. The catches need quite a push to get down far enough to release.

Have you checked the condition of your bonnet hinge brackets? If not, do so. I will post some photos to show you the wear that occurs over time and causes the bonnet/hood halves to slide forward.

Excess wear suggests that the distance between the scuttle mounted hinge bracket and that of the cowl is too close thus causing the wear. It can suggest that fitment of the cowl and bonnet sides was not done sufficiently well.

The only resolution to this is to ease the cowl forward by loosening the fasteners or by closing the bar that joins the inner wings. Closing will have an effect of lifting the cowl slightly and extending the distance.

Finally, the bonnet catch tension will have little affect upon the bonnet halves sliding; excess wear will.

Beware that any adjustment suggested can have an affect over bonnet fitment and wing to bonnet/hood gaps. It's not difficult but proceed with caution and small adjustments checking constantly.

I hope that this helps.

Some images uploaded into the Morgan Photo Gallery.

Thanks, David. I'll take a closer look at the bracket's on my car

dave

When I had my Roadster, the bonnet catch latches (i.e. the fixing on the bonnet) would slide forward at speed. There were witness marks on the grease on the fixed part of the latch... (from a nearly central position to off the catch altogether) furthermore, the bonnet would actually start to lift at speed.

I drove it through France without the bonnet strap (mistake) and had to keep my speed down as I could clearly see the bonnet lifting. When I ordered my +8 I specified a bonnet strap for this reason (as well as liking the look).

You're welcome Dave.

The brass brackets are easy to remove with the bonnet left in situ. Any wear will be immediately evident.

One can repair the brackets by cleaning thoroughly and soldering the worn areas and filling the voids until the original shape is achieved. Alternatively replace with new.

By the way, the brackets are subtly different; the front one should have a rounded chamfer to the top edge whereas the rear one doesn't have the chamfer.

Don't be worried about adjusting the cowl; just undo the various fasteners and tease it into the right position. Don't be over-enthusiastic with the bar that joins the inner wings together. Push it too far out and the cowl flattens and the inner wings and wings splay out. Pull it too far together and the cown rises and the inner wings pull in. depending on whether the radiator is mounted on this bar, adjustment can also affect the radiator's position.

Good luck.

Ok, so finally I can see what is going on. A previous owner has switched out the standard brass fittings at the ends of the chrome bar for simple end caps, and these caps do not have the brass flange holding the bonnet halves in place. A quick run up the road to Morgan West showed exactly what was going on, helped make sense of everyone's descriptions, and now two shiny new brass end brackets are on order.

Thanks everyone.

dave

Good morning folks, after I've finally got my bum into gear and looked up how to upload images I'll give it a try: to keep the bonnet sliding forward I just stuck a piece of wood with doublesided adhesive tape at the back of the nose cowl like so. Any time I close a bonnet half I move it back not to break off the device.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f343/mise303/bonnet_zpsibvos9yt.jpg
Please forgive me if the image doesn't show up

Michael

..it should have been 'from sliding forward'