So once all the family and household obligations were met this weekend, the family went off to see some moving pictures involving a pirate or something… and I spent some quality time in the barn with the car up on the lift. The point of the exercise being addressing some ongoing alternator problems. The exact issue isn’t relevant so much as the foolishness of doing some things by myself while working on on object that weighs thousands of pounds.
I disconnected the Jag’s bonnet in order to get some more space to work in the area up by the front of the engine. The bonnet seems to be a lightweight object when you manipulate its sprung bulk on the hinges. It is anything BUT however once unbolted from its brackets! I had strung it up to the barn’s hay lifting block & tackle, but did not have it under enough tension. When the last of the two bolts was removed it went for a little trip along the arc of its hinge. Thank goodness I DID have it attached to something as it could have resulted in a very expensive damage otherwise! Through some miracle of reflexes I managed to make some truly remarkable and swift maneuvers and catch it before it broke loose. (I’m still stiff and sore however!) I finally secured it, and carried on with the repair.
I will say that I’ll have to do this yawning bonnet trick again, as it does make for a nice, convenient work area. The damn thing just weighs a ton, so care needs to be taken when unbolting. For all the grief we give, I will say those British Engineers managed a neat trick with the E-type’s bonnet. The hinge and bracket are very easy to work with, and remarkably minimal, but do an awesome job of managing the massive bulk of the bonnet itself. Very well balanced and easy to operate given the size and weight. I’m impressed.
I did learn that my replacement/spare alternator turned out to be too large, so I’m going to return it to NAPA for a properly-sized Hitachi.
Good thing I found out before some road-side swap was required!
So the mechanical engineering design was a little better than the electrical engineering design?
Apparently, yes. Of course the Brits have been renown as panel beaters for ages.
The electrical issues are more accurately laid at the feet of the component supplier, Lucas, The Prince of Darkness.
When I used to work on my coupe, I would just release the balance assemblies and put a piece of carpet on the floor. If you have the car raised to the right height, the bumper over-riders will rest on the carpet with the bonnet angling slightly away from the front of the car.
Cool, thanks Roger, I’ll keep that in mind.
I had the car up to the first “lock-notch” on my low-budget scissor lift (which BTW, is the best $800 I’ve ever spent! I’ll never change oil with a car on ramps again!) I could probably put some small bench or something under the bumper overriders at the right height.
I ended up leaning a 2×12 against it, and a padded box of oil under the nose, though both were overkill after the block & tackle were set properly. I was just paranoid because I experienced a brief vision of bent frames, scratched paint, and a damaged bonnet consuming every last dollar of my net worth. 😉
One of these days this car will kill me.
–chuck
it won’t kill you Chuck – just take all your money
always thought the way the E-type bonnet went forward looked like it was just waiting to hit the ground if it all went wrong…
speaking of Prince of Darkness – this seems to be the issue with the Holden dizzy here and sounds like I need to rid myself of the Lucas unit and get a later Bosch one… so your pointless system will not be any use in the end – oh well – old cars… never a dull moment and always expense…
Jerome
Your paranoia is well founded, Chuck. A friend had his bonnet fall backwards from that position to the closed position, with expensive and heart-rending damage to the cowl and bonnet. It certainly doesn’t hurt to run a strap under the release hook to a point somewhere in front of the car to prevent that possibility.