Herald bonnet link plates - longer versions

[Colin Lindsay]

I've been fettling a 1200 bonnet recently and the gaps are not what I'd ideally like, but the link plates (photograph) are at their utmost extension; they're hitting against the welds round the chassis front cross-rail and so won't move any further towards the bulkhead. Ideally I'd like to drop the front of the bonnet slightly but if I do, the gap increases as the links effectively get shorter because of the steeper angle and so the bonnet becomes pulled ever further forward. I remember these were sold a few years back in an extended longer form; does anyone remember where they were sold or who by? (I think eBay but can't find them any more) Has anyone tried modifying these, or making, for example, curved versions? 

[Pete Lewis]

having all the mixed clues about which way up they go ,to get mine right just made longer from some flat plate 

the angle is restricted by all the interference around the straps 

my bonnet had no crush tube in the front pivot ,just a drilled boss so to pivot the pivot bolt has to be free to rotate the bush , so it has to pivot on the fixed hole  to keep its position , the slotted clamped on the dumb iron 

the parts list showed them this way up   the wsm shows as reversed which makes no sense , you cant have a loose bolt on a slotted hole and expect it to remain in place 

my view you pivot on the hole and  height  is adjusted by the slots 

pete

 

[Gary Flinn]

I made some slightly Longer and thicker straight versions in Stainless steel when I rebuilt my Vitesse?

I cut a slightly longer slot in them to help give more adjustment too

Can you not file aware slightly the part that catches without compromising the strength?

 

[Colin Lindsay]

3 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

my view you pivot on the hole and  height  is adjusted by the slots 

pete

 

That's the way I've fitted mine, hole to the chassis and slot to the bonnet tube, but by the time you get the bonnet to the correct place they're at such an angle that they're hitting against the welds where the bonnet front cross tube welds to. If you drop them down, to correct the bonnet height at the front valence and line up the gap against the vertical face of the doors, the further they point downwards the less they point inwards and so increase the gap still further. I find that mine have to bend in considerably, too, to be bolted tightly to the bonnet tube, and this, again, shortens the length. I don't want to grind any of the chassis away, so slightly longer would allow additional clearance.

[PeteH]

Hi

I was (am) having this issue too. Trying to solve Bonnet/door gaps whilst accommodating the front bonnet height!. Not helped IMV by having had to put acres of new steel into the Front tub!. and along the Door Cill area. In theory the plates should not need extending, BUT? the practicalities dictate. AND I have yet to trial fit the front valence!.