Listers,
Many of you will remember the "bonnet from hell" episode from last year,
where Leon found himself with a stuck bonnet in my TR6. If you remember, I
used rather draconian measures to "unstick" the bonnet.
When I got the car home, I found that it was the cable itself that had hung
up, so I replaced it with a new one. The new one worked perfectly for 6
months, and then suddenly stuck, just like the old one (except it took 9
years for the old one to stick). When I say suddenly, I mean suddenly; It
worked fine one day, and not at all the next! Thanks to the *fix* I
implemented last year, getting the bonnet open was not a problem this time.
When I did, I found the new cable was the problem. If I removed it and
straightened, it worked just fine, but when it was routed around the engine
compartment as it should be, I could not open the bonnet. I rerouted it,
making sure there were a minimum of sharp bends, and it now works again, but
it still takes a LOT of effort to get it to open, plus the cable is very
unsightly now.
Enough is enough -- time for drastic measures again! I have ordered a
powerful solenoid, and I will reroute the cable to the passenger side, with
NO BENDS, and connect it to the solenoid. I will add a button in the hole in
the bracket where the handle used to go, on the drivers side, so I should
have NO MORE TROUBLE WITH THE #@&^#%# BONNET RELEASE!
The solenoid will be here in a day or so, and I will install it as soon as it
gets here. In the meantime, if any one is interested, I have posted photos of
the hole I cut for access on the Internet (I'm getting to where I like this
Internet thing!). After I install the solenoid, I'll post details of that on
there as well. If for nothing other than a laugh, you might want to check it
out. It's at:
http://members.aol.com/danmas4/bonnet.htm
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://members.aol.com/danmas/
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition - slated for a V8 soon
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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