bonnet hinge replacement

[JS2004]

Looking for some guidance on fitting a bonnet hinge - never tried anything like this before

 

The front bumper / bonnet fitment has now been fixed. New bumper and bonnet are on the car, but it seems the passenger side bonnet hinge has been damaged during fitting.

 

It is causing the top part of the bonnet, above the hinge, to stick up and not sit properly, resulting in the bonnet & front passenger wing to not line up correctly. The line where bonnet meets bumper (between lights) is also not correct (the gap gets wider, the further towards passenger side you get)

 

The bodyshop said to get hold of a new hinge, which I have done. Id like to attempt fitting this myself, but I am not sure how difficult of a job this is.

 

Should I leave it to the professionals or is it something I can have a go at myself? Im mainly concerned about the bonnet weight and weather it would bend out of shape or something whilst trying to fit it. From previous posts Ive found out it weighs about 13kg (so its not heavy) but its aluminium - just not sure how easy / difficult that would be to accidently bend out of shape (thus making it worse)

 

Id post pics.. but its at the mechanics getting a misfire sorted right now.

 

Cheers

Edited July 10, 2012 by JS2004 (see edit history)

[paul mac]

as you have said the bonnet isn't heavy but it is most definately a 2 man (or woman) job, being light as a feather even the wife/GF could manage it , as for bending dont worry the thing is designed to hit 150mph + so is pretty damm strong, the hinges themselves have self locating bolts so you really cant go wrong, i find sticking some masking tape/padding taped to the corners (nearest the windscreen) helps avoid any scratchs or chips in the event it slips a bit when you have the bonnet up in the air to unbolt the hinges

[JS2004]

Excellent - I shall give this a try. Got masking tape on the ready and beers to lure the unsuspecting brother in law to help =)

 

The way I was thinking of approaching it would be put bonnet up, with bonnet stay, have helper hold the corner im working on in place, remove bits, reinstall new bits and then hope it shuts correctly and those lines fall all nicely into position. If all goes to plan move to plan 2 - beer and admire work lol then plan 3... install front foglights

 

Cheers

[Terminator]

Don't rely on the stay, it is only stable when the other two corners are fixed. Get your unsuspecting helper to hold the front and rear of the side you are working on.

[JS2004]

Ah, thats a very good point - thanks for pointing that out. Ill get them to hold the front and back - It should only be a 20 min job, max, im hoping

[JS2004]

I was messing around with this today - have not swapped the hinges over just yet.. but noticed something.

 

On the passenger side (the one thats sticking up a bit) the bonnet isa secured to the hinge via 1 bolt, and the other bolt seems to be missing. I have two securing the drivers corner of the bonnet to the hinge, but only one on passenger side..

 

Could this be why its not sitting correctly? its secure but dont know if the 2nd bolt acts as an adjuster of some sort? id never noticed that until I had a look today.