Morris Minor Owners Club

Evening chaps,
I'm interested in what one might use to keep the bonnet up if it hasn't got the support beam and prop OR how such a thing is assembled so I can build one. None of the spare bonnets I have in storage seem to have a complete prop.
I know they make gas-charged telescopic supports, but that seems like overkill for the lightweight Minor bonnet...
Mog came with an old wooden broom handle for a support, but after I broke that in a fit of rage, we've been using a length of PVC pipe. I'd rather something more permanent.

Minor bonnet is actually quite heavy.... Broom handle works well for most MGB owners - and for my TR7 boot where the gas struts gave up many years ago.......

Well, maybe I ought to stick with a broom handle, then. I'd rather something more permanent.

Since you are on this side of the Atlantic you need a handier parts source. As it happens there is a guy about 10 miles from me that has a lot of Minors and parts stacked in sheds and rusting in the yard. Post a picture of what you have and I will see if I can find what you need. If your bonnet (engine hood) does not have the cross piece that the prop needs you might have to buy the whole thing or fabricate a cross piece. The prop itself is likely available.

Darrell

Hmm...I'm fairly sure I could fabricate something easily (read: no money for extraneous stuff). I'm just not sure how the prop works. Is it a scissors-type thing that's in two parts, or is it a fold-down thing like the boot lid prop? This is what's in Mog's boot:[frame][/frame]
Perhaps a similar thing would work for the bonnet? Or perhaps gas-charged struts, or perhaps the original thing, whatever it is.

On the later cars it's an elbow type thing that over centres to lock.

Here's a pic (mine hasn't got a spring on it):[frame][/frame]

One end fixes to a bracket to the right of the battery box and the other to the strut which goes across the middle of the bonnet. Here's a pic of one in situ (not my engine bay!):[frame][/frame]

Aha, brilliant! That's quite helpful. Looks very easy to fabricate...it's just two slats of steel and a random tube, right? Hmm. And it just locks by over-centering? There's no sliding shroud or anything?

Fingolfin wrote: And it just locks by over-centering? There's no sliding shroud or anything?

Yes, nothing else required

That's not a a random tube, it's a spring.
It's made from fairly thick steel, if you zoom in to they locking tab you can get an idea. .5cm at a rough guess.

Make sure it's 'secure' - because when it drops on your head you won't be amused......

Here are some pix of my "homemade" prop. Just some galvanized flat stock. A little notch on one and a little "hook" on the other. No spring, either.[frame][/frame]

[frame][/frame]

That looks really excellent, thanks! I'll work out a design for Mog's here soon...