There wasn’t time to investigate why the bonnet wouldn’t shut the last few inches, so I had a chance to sleep on it. The problem was that it’s not possible to see inside the bonnet area at the point its travel begins to be obstructed.
Only the engine and radiator has been installed so it shouldn’t be too difficult to work out. I remember reading somewhere on the E-Type forum that the Series 2 had an extra spacer somewhere in the engine mountings. Although I thought this only affected the carburettor clearance but these were still to be fitted.
Some off-cuts of the foam rubber Dynaliner were place strategically on all the high points. I was aiming to lower the bonnet to the obstruction and then inspect the Dynaliner. The foam would take a little while to return to its previous state so the indentations of any impact would remain and be easily traced.
A couple of attempts still didn’t reveal an area of compression in the rubber …. more head scratching. It was definitely not the engine as this was almost entirely encased in Dynaliner.
It finally dawned on me – it must be the radiator support struts impacting the vertical sides of the air intake channels. When they were first installed, it was mentioned whether they should be fitted on the inner or outer side of the damping rubber grommet.
With hindsight, they did look angled when mounted on the outer sides. The brackets were removed and the bonnet was lowered to prove the theory. Spot on …. the bonnet reached the landing rubber without being obstructed.
The struts were reinstalled but this time on the inboard side of their grommet. The bonnet was lowered, having finished the job, only the problem was still happening!
However this time, when the bonnet was raised to investigate, it revealed a 4-5 inch scrape in the paint on the air intake duct. Gutted.
The strut positioning was only part of the problem. They were causing the ‘springiness’ of the impact because the bonnet edge was hitting the strut and just pushing it aside.
Once it had be repositioned and was out of the way, it allowed the bolt head, securing the strut to the radiator, to take a gouge out of the paint work.
The bolt head was sitting too proud because I’d used a washer between the radiator and the strut and one between the strut and the bolt head. Without them, it would probably have been ok. However I’m going to remove all the washers, fit a thin-headed bolt and reposition the radiator on the bottom mountings to try to centralise it with the bonnet.
Oh man, totally devastated for you.
But like a famous Brit once said – the first cut is the deepest.
Keep truckin’.
Peter