Since I’ve had Percy his Bonney has always been a little misaligned, not a problem really, only a minor (heh) cosmetic issue. This was until I changed my wiper blade arm for a new one. It seems to be marginally taller at the base than the old one, and this resulted in the bonnet catching it and lifting it out of the body when I opened the bonnet one day! I’m looking to assign the bonnet properly to avoid this, as opening the bonnet is something we all must do fairly regularly
I am thinking about the possibility of exposing “non-finished” paintwork if the hinged move, but I suppose it’s a price to pay? I’ve attached photos of the panels. Do I simply undo the 4 nuts under the bonnet and move it?
Is your concern the alignment on the LH front edge above the chrome rail or the rear of the bonnet clipping the wiper ? Many cars have bonnets that clip the wiper.
Are the hinges in good order and ok ? Any broken studs or play in the hinge pin ? You could adjust from the bolts holding the bonnet to the hinge as you have shown or, also by slackening the nuts holding the hinge to the bulkhead(probably have to remove the glovebox liner to access them). There should be enough play to ease it forward slightly. Remember though, moving the rear of the bonnet forward will impact on the alignment of the bonnet at the front too.
Is your wiper arm fitted correctly or slightly larger than the one previously fitted ?
The fit of the bonnet isn’t really my primary concern, I just want to make sure I can access the engine bay without damaging my wiper mechanism. I suppose I could file down the edge of the arm till it fits to avoid moving the hinges? The hardware all seems in relatively good order.
Looking at the second picture down of the wiper arm/spindle. The nut that is holding the wiper drive in place looks to be screwed too far down resulting in the wiper spindle being too far out, so the edge of the arm hits the bonnet and you have to bent the arm to get the wiper on to the screen.
I did notice the longer threads around the wiper box when I compared it to another (later) car, however I think that because my car is an early '64 it's still using '63 wiper gear, as these were the blades and arms that were present when I bought it. I had initilly bought a 64 wiper blade but had to return it as the arms were different. I haven't seen a pre '63 1000 to comfirm this though...
Filing the arm will only put off the problem until the next arm is needed ! Try the adjustments on the bonnet as mentioned but with the front looking like it does, suggests a deeper issue elsewhere, get the front right and you may well find all else is ok. Minor panels can be a game to get right but worth the effort if you’re to avoid the front looking as it does.
Last edited by les on Tue May 16, 2023 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You haven't shown what the alignment of the bonnet is at the front, looking downwards.
To me, the gap on that rear looks far too small, indicating the bonnet needs to come forward a mm or two.
But what do I know, I've a SII, so your bonnet back fitment looks odd to me anyhow....
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Ours is very similar at the front, it's the pattern wings a previous owner fitted the rh one is 10mm shorter at the front than the left, it's not so noticible from a normal standing height though.
There is not much you can do about it easily, lift the wing up an the large gap to the bumper valance on one side looks even worse.
There's a lot of thread showing on that wiper wheel box. I wonder whether there's an issue with the plastic spacer on the inside. It's a thoroughly awful job to get to though especially on the driver's side. The spacer looks like this:
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1969 1098cc Convertible “Xavier” which I have owned since 1989.
As a temporary fix maybe a spacer washer on before the rubber. I know you said the gap at the front wasn’t your main concern but seeing that each time the car was used would drive me crazy, and as mentioned sorting that might solve other clearances.
