Morris Minor Owners Club

1952 morris minor convertible. I was working on my engine today and I took it round the block and now the bonnet won’t open. I checked the bonnet release handle and it doesn’t seem to be broken. I checked the release on the bonnet it seems to be working. But I did notice the bonnet is not sitting square ( in didn’t usually it was sitting square.)

Did you do anything with the bonnet while working on the engine?
Did you remove it or take the front panel off?
It's either pure coincidence or you've disturbed something....

Or - have you left something - a tool perhaps? - in the gutter of the inner wing and the bonnet is now jammed on it?
Maybe try to pull the bonnet release at the same time as someone else is pushing or pulling the bonnet itself?

ManyMinors wrote: ↑Tue Mar 25, 2025 5:15 pm Or - have you left something - a tool perhaps? - in the gutter of the inner wing and the bonnet is now jammed on it?
Maybe try to pull the bonnet release at the same time as someone else is pushing or pulling the bonnet itself?

My father used to leave his pipe in that gutter and he'd get very angry when he broke the pipe stem closing the bonnet.

Stephen

No I didn’t disturb anything geoberni but I think the next post is right I could have closed the bonnet in some sort of tool thank you ManyMinors

I have got the bonnet open but there’s no tools in the gutters so how do you adjust the bonnet ? It’s still to the right

I think you can only really adjust at the hinges. There should be rubber gaskets between the hinge and the bonnet/scuttle but if these have perished perhaps the bonnet has slipped askew. Be careful adjusting the hinges. The bonnet is very heavy and you really need two people for safety. Another possibility is that the internal bonnet bracing has come adrift and the bonnet has "spread". Sometimes the weld fails on the main cross brace.

Stephen

You can adjust the pin at the front of the bonnet. You have to take the front badge off if I remember correctly and then hope that the thread is not TOO rusty. I think there are 2 nuts locked together which control the position but you can make the pin longer or shorter effectively by screwing it up or down which might help you?

I don’t think that the bonnet has “spread” because I have checked it so I will have to adjust the hinges/bonnet pin