Fitting/aligning FW Bonnet – is this good enough ?

[ren]

Hi All;

I’m slowly building a FW “Limited Edition” and finally getting to the point of putting the body work on. At the moment the main section is on but nothing has been fixed as I want to make sure that it all fits together. Well, it sort of does. The scuttle sits very nicely on the side sections, and the rear seems to me to be fairly symmetric and level. However, when putting on the bonnet, I don’t seem to be able to get as nice fit as possible. Some pics:

n/s

o/s :

I can probably close the gap a bit on the n/s by moving the scuttle a bit forward.

For this fit, the bonnet is actually very central on the chassis and can get good alignement with the sidepanels. With respect to the fixing to the front chassis member with hinges, it is a couple of mms higher and further out on the n/s than the o/s but it does not seem like something to worry about.

The manual seems to suggests that the gap between the bonnet and scuttle should be about 5 mm, so I guess I should be satisfied with the above fit ? (or should I even increase the gaps ?)

However, my main eyesore is that the bonnet sits proud of the scuttle. It sticks out by around 4 mm:

I have tried messing around with this – i.e. moved the side panels, angled the bonnet, filed the lugs a bit etc., but this does seem to be the best fit I can get. It also seems to me that the only way to lower the bonnet at the n/s would be to take a couple of mms off the entire n/s edge, but surely trying to do this that would just end up making the fit to the sidepanel look terrible.

So, should I just be happy with this ?

Thanks

[FILFAN]

Mine isn't perfect but I'm sure there will be some good advice along soon.

Great colour though

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Sorry, can't comment directly on the FW bodywork, (not having fitted any!) you first panel gaps look nice and tight, I've seen many far wider!

But, I'd make two possibly contradictory points! It's a kit car, the gaps and evenness will be as good as you make them, so do them to a standard that you will be happy with. Otherwise it will just annoy you all the time.

The second is that grp isn't a stable material like steel or aluminium bodywork is. It will move and change shape in the sun and heat. (Those of us with the removable ZK bonnets know full well not to leave them flat on the ground in hot sunlight, or they'll flatten out a bit and not fit properly when you come to put them back). So just be aware that what might be adjusted to fit to German/Japanese production car panel gaps now, might not be like that in a year!

[jonjh1964]

This looks very similar to mine - one side sits slightly high but there is very little you can do to adjust - make sure you've cleaned off any high points on the Bonnet fit edges. The key to fitting FW bodywork seems to be to use the Bonnet with hinge fitted as the datum and adjust the Side Panels to ensure a good fit at the Scuttle. If you have wide front wishbones ensure that you have clearance between the Lower Wishbone and the Side Panel front edge on the O/S, both JoeB and I had to "fettle" this to get the clearance through the entire suspension range. Also, as you've no doubt already found, the bodywork is not symmetrical - so you have to get the best balance of all round fit.

Jon

[Doug Dastardly]

You might find that by sanding a bit off the return edge of the bonnet, it will sit lower on the scuttle.

I put masking tape along the scuttle where the bonnet return sat and by pushing down on it I could tell where the bonnet was touching, and it turned out that it was only touching in a couple of places. By buffing up these points it began to sit lower and on bigger points. I found the worst area was around the bonnet creases down the sides.

By the time I got my bonnet sitting correctly my rear was a bit squint so there was more clearance between the bodywork return and the chassis rail behind the seats on one side compared to the other.

I've tried to make myself clear but it's not the easiest thing to explain.

HTH

Doug

[Doug Dastardly]

The other thing I remember is after fitting everything and fastening it, I fitted the headlight brackets which tightened everything up a bit.

You may want to have these loosely fitted in place before final fastening. This may turn out to be unpractical but it's what I would try if I was doing it again.

[Dommo]

That's significantly better than mine if it's any comfort! My bonnet sits further forward (or rather, the tub sits further backward - can't get that any better due to the MX5 diff) but I experienced similar issues in that the top edge sits slightly higher than the scuttle. Nature of the beast I feel...

[ren]

Many thanks, all !!!

Armed with your advice, hints and comments, I ventured into the garage to try to see what I could do without going too far. In the end I did get a slightly better fit – or rather I managed to reduce the overlap at the top but perhaps at the cost of a slightly worse fit elsewhere.

I think I am now happy with how it looks – I don’t think I can do any better.

Thanks for the comments about what is realistically feasible. Bodywork and a hint of OCD do not go well together .

[Joeb_444]

As you know Ren we have similar OCD, that looks great, its going to move anyway !

 

Best wishes

 

Paul & Joe.

[Norman Verona]

Looks very good to me. I know mine isn't a Westfield, but the bonnet just flops on and is never correctly aligned. However, it is a carbon fibre item so is very flexible.